The Best Obtainable Version of the Truth

In a bit of journalistic serendipity, I happened to hear Carl Bernstein speak at a small luncheon just a few days before Ben Bradlee’s death. Bradlee has been rightly eulogized as a giant of American journalism. But seeing Bernstein at roughly the same time has really driven home the amazing achievement we memorialize with the word “Watergate.”

To be honest, I don’t think I expected much from Bernstein’s talk. He was the less famous member of Woodstein after all, and his post-Watergate career has been nowhere near as prominent as Woodward’s. But Bernstein was gracious, funny, impassioned, and acute, as he surveyed the current political and journalistic landscape.

One phrase from Bernstein’s talk has stuck in my mind ever since, elevated to headline status thanks to Bradlee’s passing: In describing what he and his colleagues were striving for in covering Watergate, Bernstein says it was “the best obtainable version of the truth.”

Today it’s not always obvious that news organizations are mainly interested in the truth. Nor do they have the humility embedded in Bernstein’s phrase, that the truth can be hard to come by. It’s yet another reminder of what an astonishing alignment of the planets led to Watergate and its aftermath: first, the presence of a truly criminal president; but more important, the combination of a wise, honest editor with a magical gift for leading his reporters; two young men who were hungry for a big story, but knew they had to earn success through sheer hard work and following the rules; and, lest we forget, a stalwart publisher, Katharine Graham, thrust into her role and rising magnificently to the occasion, standing up to threats that might reasonably have made others in her position back down.

Would Watergate happen today? I don’t mean the crime; I mean the journalistic response that helped solve, even redeem it. Surely there are hundreds of talented journalists today with the drive and integrity to cover such a story. But are they supported by editors and owners willing to back them up, no matter the consequences?

Let’s hope so, if we’re still interested in learning the best obtainable version of the truth.