My recent post about the heroic-journalist myth of Watergate prompted a few blinkered, ahistoric observations.
Among was this comment, posted at Romenesko‘s feedback site:
“Who cares?” the comment reads. “Watergate was in the early 1970s. … Arguing the point now about what role a paper played almost 40 years later in a presidency that a significant number of people have no recollections of? Ya gotta admire those authors willing to tackle cutting-edge topics.”
So why does it matter? Why is addressing and debunking the heroic-journalist myth of Watergate — the notion that intrepid reporters for the Washington Post brought down Richard Nixon’s corrupt presidency — still important?
Several reasons present themselves, not the least of which is the vigor that characterizes the Watergate myth: It lives on in textbooks, in classrooms, in newsrooms. It’s a very robust myth, little-restrained in its reach and infiltration.
A hint of its reach…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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