The “human story is the core,” was Bob Woodward’s unintentionally revealing explanation for how he approached his work after the Watergate revelations made him Washington’s dean of political journalism.
This approach assured Woodward high-value interviews while also placing him in the pocket of the same insider institutionalists who had benefited from President Richard Nixon’s removal: the operators who place the leaks and drive the coverage that maintains the power of the capital city. After all, when the focus is on the flaws and virtues of politicians (“the human story”) what gets lost is the story about structural power: which institutions are running what agenda and warding off what threats to their control. By ignoring this story, journalists like Woodward who purportedly keep power accountable become its tools.
Today, Woodward is 80, but as huge segments of America revolt against the structures he fronted for, Woodwardism is flourishing in response, most obviously in unrelenting attacks on the Supreme Court: the one Washington institution with the power and the intent to limit the influence of the capital city. In the process, The New York Times’ Jo Becker, now receiving front-page placement for her pieces on the court, is becoming Woodwardism’s preeminent practitioner. Becker is new to the court beat, but painting personal portraits rather than looking at power dynamics has been her real beat for 15 years. Like Woodward, it has assured her considerable success.
Failing to Take on the Administrative State
She won her first Pulitzer Prize in 2008, working
