In the last 24 hours, international media has been abuzz with the unravelling of what probably is the greatest mystery in journalism.
Everyone knows about the watergate scandal.
Lots of people have heard about the "Deep Throat" (i have even watched it hehe..).
Seriously, "Deep Throat" was the ultimate insider who decided to turn a whistleblower. He got the sobriquet from a controversial porn movie of the same title, which ahem...featured "activities related to the title" :)
He was the second in command of the FBI who leaked out information about the criminal activities of the President of the US of A. And he chose to remain anonymous; atleast till yesterday. Yesterday, he came clean.
Read the article here.
I Am The Guy They Called "Deep Throat"
Congrajulations Mark Felt, u deserve all the accolades coming your way!
congrajulations Woodward & Bernstein. you guys are not just hard-nosed investigative journalists but also men of honor!
anish
ps: and to think that today US judiciary is about to grant prison terms to journalists who are not willing to divulge their confidential sources!
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2 comments:
his intentions were never honourable....else why wait 30 years to come out clean
Hi,
I have read ur blog on the subject as well. I must say i totally disagree with your view points.
You say his intentions were not honorable because he waited 30 years to come out with the truth. Now that is a strange logic. Just because he came out with the truth 30 years after the incident, his intentions do not become any less honorable.
If you read a bit more into the Watergate story you would understand that there was a significant threat, even of life, for Deep Throat. After all, he was fighting the highest power in the world that did not care about dirty tricks. Who knows the extent to which Nixon and his cronies would have gone to silence Deep Throat?
Mark Felt is today a feeble old man, who was probably forced by his family (who may have wanted the money) to reveal the secret. That does not take away fact that but for his leaks, investigation would have gone astray and Nixon would have continued his shenanigans. Also please note that, Felt could have told his story earlier and used the money for himself (believe me, he would have got serious money). He did not.
He of course committed a small offence by leaking the information. But he did that only after the investigation was repeatedly derailed by president, Attorney General and his own boss. What else was he supposed to do? Sure, I agree that he was not made head of FBI and was hence unhappy with Nixon. That certainly doesn’t take away anything from his action. He saw a crime being committed by the highest office in the world, a crime whose cover-up was then supported by the highest investigative office (US Attorney General's) in the country. He also saw his own agency's investigation being derailed. I think, in the circumstances, what he did was quite honorable and even heroic.
And finally, there are times when a person (whether he is in government service, military or just a private citizen) has to rise above the normal set of rules that govern a society. In such times, one’s own individual sense of justice and morality should prevail over blind and even criminal obedience to the rulers. I believe that Watergate scandal was one such situation. Mark Felt's actions ultimately strengthened American democracy and hence is worthy of praise!
Justice deserved; Justice served!
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