Thoughts on Media and Celebrity, Provoked By the “Guidelines” for Covering the Washington Post’s Watergate Anniversary

Believe it or not, once upon a time the media were called
“the press” (only the Nixon White House called them “the media”),
journalists weren’t celebrities, and public relations managers
didn’t dare try to tell them when, where, and how they could
do their jobs. This was in the time before Watergate. Taking
nothing away from the historic and expert journalism performed
by
Bob Woodward,
Carl Bernstein, and the
Washington Post, which led to the resignation of
President Richard Nixon, Watergate totally
changed the game, with a big assist from the always-hungry great white
shark that is cable TV. Members
of the press recognized they could become famous and make money
in the process. To emulate Woodstein became a career goal.
And it worked.

Today, members of the Washington corps of journalists
are an elite set. Many have agents to handle their television, book,
and movie deals; they are the featured attractions at gala
affairs, often serving as master of ceremonies; their names land
on lists of the city’s most powerful and most social, and on
guest lists among the “VIPs”; they get asked for their autographs;
and they earn thousands of dollars for speeches in which they
opine on the mysteries of the nation’s capital. Some, under
certain circumstances, even refuse to speak to the media. In a
word, many—not all, but many—are authentic celebrities.

At the same time, public relations managers have blossomed
into a comparatively powerful force of their own (secret: many
are former members of the media), and they have become more
successful at trying to control what gets reported, and by whom,
and when and how. Some journalists resist being controlled, but
fewer and fewer all the time.

That said, we didn’t think we’d ever see the day when the
Washington Post itself would cross over and, in
announcing one of its own events, also try to control media coverage
with fairly rigid “guidelines.”

Wednesday night we received an e-mail from the
Post announcing its own June 11 “special event to
commemorate the 40th anniversary of Watergate.” The announcement has a
star-studded
headline: “The Washington Post commemorates the 40th
anniversary of Watergate with event featuring Bob Woodward, Carl
Bernstein,
Ben Bradlee, Charlie Rose, Jim Lehrer, John Dean and others.”
We’re not sure why Rose and Lehrer are featured, apart from
their celebrity, but the “others” are actual Watergate players:
former White House counsel
John Dean, former House impeachment committee member
William S. Cohen, former White House “plumber”
Egil “Bud” Krogh, and
Fred Thompson, who was legal counsel to the Senate Watergate committee.

In a clever piece of location booking, the event will be at the Watergate Office Building, where the break-in occurred at
Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972.

Fair enough. We agree with the
Post’s claim that “this will be a rare opportunity to hear first-person narratives” from those who were there. The part of the
announcement that rubbed was when the
Post started to dictate the terms of coverage for its
sisters and brothers in other news organizations. This kind of media
management
is familiar to anyone who tries to cover news in this era, and
maybe it’s inevitable that even the media will try to manage
the media. Some highlights:

Please contact us to request press credentials by June 8 at 12 PM ET.
Members of the press approved for credentials will be notified in advance.
Valid conference press credentials are required to attend.
Press without conference credentials will not be permitted to the event.
An agenda will be made available for all confirmed media.
Any and all filming is for television broadcast only. (Not online.)
If you wish to post clips online, you must only use the excerpts provided by the
Washington Post by way of the video embed function in the
Washington Post’s video player.
Media are not permitted to broadcast any portion of the event between 6 PM and 9 PM ET on June 11, 2012.
Immediately following the discussion or after 9 PM ET June 11, 2012, media are permitted to air three-minute excerpts of
the event, provided onscreen and audio credits to Washington Post Live are used.
The event can only be aired in full 48 hours after the event, provided on-screen and audio credits to Washington Post Live
are used.
As space is limited, media will be able to RSVP on a first come, first served basis.
All references to event must credit Washington Post Live on air, onscreen, and in print.

The release includes a quote from Washington Post editor
Marcus Brauchli: “The Washington Post has a unique place in history because of its role in Watergate.” Yes, we agree—and look what it’s come
to.