Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward believes many journalists have become “unhinged” in the Trump era. “A number of reporters have at times become emotionally unhinged about it all, one way or the other. Look at MSNBC or Fox News, and you will see those continually either denigrating Trump or praising him. I think the answer is in the middle…it’s important to get your personal politics out,” Woodward said during an interview this week with Newsweek.
“It’s destructive to become too politicized. The emotion should be directed at doing more work, not some feeling or personal conclusion,” he added.
Woodward, a veteran Post reporter of forty-seven years, gained notoriety in the 1970s when he, along with fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein, investigated the burglary of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. The burglary, it would turn out, was authorized and financed by the committee to re-elect then-President Richard Nixon.
The scandal would eventually cause Nixon to resign in ignominy.
Asked about the state of American journalism and whether there were any trends that caused him concern, Woodward replied, “Some of the trends are frightening. But I think people still want good information. [The White House]… is an environment that requires lots of patience and willingness to spend time against the problem.”
“Talk to twenty people. Forty people. Not just two or six. The key to unlocking what’s secret is a lot of concentrated reporting,” Woodward added.