All the President's Men (1974)

The film All the President’s Men presents the story of the Watergate scandal through the lens of two journalists from Washington Post. It began with one of the reporters, Bob Woodward, who was tasked to cover the story of the robbery of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex. As he probes those involved further, he discovers something much deeper. Woodward is paired with another journalist named Carl Bernstein.

In order to produce a story for the Washington Post, the pair jump through multiple hoops to piece together a story that is factually correct. It could be said that Bob is extremely pushy when it comes to interviewing people who could give him the information to write the story. In the beginning of the film at the courthouse during the trial of the five burglars, Bob tries to interview a man who we find out to be is an attorney for information regarding the case. The man entertains him for a short while but refers him to the attorney (Mr. Starkey) who is representing the five men. Later, he comes back to the attorney he initially talked to and continued to prod him for more information. He is clearly irritated and does not want to continue talking to Bob, yet Bob continues following him and asking further questions.

Throughout the film, Bob presents his skill in uncovering information by talking to multiple people. In one scene, he calls up a woman and tries to ask him about Howard Hunt, which the woman denies knowing. However, Bob is able to tell that this woman in fact new the man and writes notes down stating that she was “nervous” and knows Hunt. Later on, in the film, the pair go around with a list of CREEP employees and go to each one in their residence, hoping to gather information. Their efforts are wasted, as no one in their list wants to talk about the issue. They notice that everyone refuses to talk about it and deduce that they are covering something up.

I would say that the main message of the film would simply be to show the audience the reality of how much trouble journalists go through in order to let the truth come out and be revealed to the people. One could also say that exerting effort into what one is tasked to do could lead to fruitful rewards and discoveries. This could be said because the two were only asked to write about a topic that was not related to the Watergate scandal. Through their research and information gathering, they were able to uncover that the Nixon administration and CREEP were trying to undermine and sabotage the Democratic opposition.

As journalists, one of the things that they would face is being disliked by those that they interviewed. They would often be pushed away by the people whom they wish to talk to. This happens multiple times in the film. The second difficulty that these two journalists in the film have is being disregarded and not given much attention to. When Bernstein travelled to Florida to talk to State Attorney Dardis, he is barred from entry into the office as he is told by the secretary that he did not have an appointment, when he in fact did. The next day he returns and enters the office, to the surprise of Dardis, and demands to have a discussion. Dardis tells Bernstein to come back tomorrow. The final problem that these two journalists had was that people had little faith in their story. The higher ups and their superior at the Washington Post thought that their story was not believable.

I believe that I’ve learned two lessons regarding journalism upon finishing the film; the most important I would say, which is data gathering. I know that in journalism, there are many factors to remember, yet I feel that research and data gathering is the most important factor. If the pair did not go through copious amounts of work and effort, they would not have discovered the fund that connected CREEP to the sabotaged opposition. In the film, we can see both journalists going through multiple pages of information and data in order to find people that could further help their story. I also learned that believing in uncovering and spreading the truth, even if those around you give it little to no importance is also extremely important, especially in our country’s current state.

Journalists like Carl and Bob, who wish to uncover the truth that those in power wish to suppress, are very important to our world. Through these people, important information are revealed to those who wish to also know the truth. In the Philippines, under the current administration, the truth is sometimes suppressed. However, there are many journalists who are just like Bernstein and Woodward. The one that comes to my mind was the journalist, unfortunately I have forgotten her name, who discovered that Duterte did in fact have a bank account by simply depositing PHP500 into their supposed account.