Source Protection

It was a cinematic image that lured thousands of young people into journalism, Robert Redford coaxing information out of Hal Holbrook in a dimly lit parking garage. And since, in real life, Bob Woodward fiercely protected Deep Throat's identity, what lingered was the mystique of a dogged journalist, plying his trade in the shadows. Three decades older and millions of dollars richer, Woodward still...

If only Bob Woodward had used his inside sources for good instead of evil. Of course, he did just that in exposing the evils of the Nixon administration, but the revelation that the Washington Post journalist had concealed for 17 months the fact that a White House official had leaked former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to him has dulled the luster of this icon of investigative reporting...

Bob Woodward probably hoped that the long holiday weekend would break the momentum of an uproar that suddenly confronted him midway through November. But three days after Thanksgiving, on NBC’s "Meet the Press," a question about the famed Washington Post reporter provoked anything but the customary adulation. "I think none of us can really understand Bob’s silence for two years about his own role...

Most of the hundreds of readers who wrote and called after my column on Bob Woodward ran last week said I was way too soft on him and on The Post. I think their concerns and questions deserve to be answered. One of those readers, Bob Woodward, thinks that some of his critics have "pigeonholed" him unfairly. "For 34 years of reporting for The Post and 13 best-selling books, I have tried to focus on...

Bob Woodward's recent actions bring a whole new meaning to the title, "All the President's Men." The veteran newsman for the Washington Post, who joined with Post reporter Carl Bernstein in investigating the Watergate coverup in the 1970s that brought down former President Richard Nixon, has gone from seeker of truth to concealer of truth. Woodward revealed last week he testified under oath to...

The case against Scooter Libby is up in the air, but the case against the press is solid. Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr. on criminal charges, including obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the CIA leak investigation. The press indicted itself on grounds of coziness, self-interest and dishonesty. So far, Plamegate - the...

The recent revelations about the man often seen as the "moral hero" of the Watergate scandal, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, have the feel of an interment ceremony. Reading press accounts of how Woodward swallowed the first Plame leak for a mere two-plus years without a peep and then went out on the Larry-King circuit to dismiss the significance of Plamegate, what came to mind was the burial...

What the heck's going on here? Bob Woodward -- the Bob Woodward -- is now making news instead of breaking it. The Washington Post's bigfoot reporter has made a cameo appearance as The Deposed in the ever-expanding Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame-Bob Novak-Scooter Libby-Judith Miller Follies written, directed and prosecuted by Pat Fitzgerald. Ziegfield never had such a cast, and now it includes an icon of...

Bob Woodward's journalism career has come a long way - from obscure police reporter to star of the Washington Post and one of the country's most recognizable journalists. Now the Watergate reporter whose stories brought down President Richard M. Nixon is tangled in a web of Washington journalists involved with the Bush administration's leak of Valerie Plame's secret identity as a CIA operative...

What the heck's going on? Bob Woodward - the Bob Woodward - is now making news instead of breaking it. The Washington Post's bigfoot reporter has made a cameo appearance as The Deposed in the ever-expanding Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame-Bob Novak-Scooter Libby-Judith Miller Follies written, directed and prosecuted by Pat Fitzgerald. Ziegfield never had such a cast, and now it includes an icon of...