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JON FRIEDMAN'S MEDIA WEB

Lifting the veil on Woodward and Bernstein

Commentary: Shepard's biography tells their not-so-pretty stories

By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch

Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Nov 29, 2006

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- I had an immediate reaction when I read that an enterprising journalist named Alicia C. Shepard had written a biography of Watergate sleuths Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It was, in a word, envy.

With "Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate," Shepard tackled the kind of juicy assignment that every reporter hopes to find someday. The saga involves overnight notoriety, lifetime fame, big bucks -- and the perils of each of these gifts.

"I was really fascinated by the concept of early fame," Shepard said. "How do you live the rest of your life when you hit the top at the age of 30?"

That question holds the key to Shepard's book (and her informative Web site, woodwardandbernstein.net).

The Watergate scandal began in 1972 and continued to fascinate America, even after President Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974. Woodward and Bernstein have remained newsworthy over the years.

When they sold their Watergate papers to the University of Texas for $5 million in 2003, it became a news event. And, of course, when Vanity Fair reported last year that former FBI agent Mark Felt was "Deep Throat" (Woodward's infamous secret source), the U.S. fell under the spell of Watergate-mania all over again.

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When the 20-something Woodward and Bernstein became celebrities in the 1970s, the media treated "Woodstein" like the Lennon and McCartney of investigative journalism.

Their groundbreaking Watergate stories in the Washington Post made them look like heroes, as the noose of the political scandal tightened around Nixon.

The subsequent best-seller, "All the President's Men," sent them into orbit as (very wealthy) household names.

Then the critically acclaimed movie adaptation of the best-seller, starring Robert Redford as Woodward with Dustin Hoffman portraying Bernstein, became a box office success and established the dynamic duo as pop culture icons. "Woodward and Bernstein were covered like the Brad Pitt and George Clooney of their day," Shepard told me.

Page-turner

Shepard, 53, is a journalism teacher at American University. She has worked for the American Journalism Review and the San Jose Mercury News, among other publications.

This book is an outgrowth of her 10,000-word Washingtonian magazine piece in 2003.

Over 288 riveting pages, Shepard has crafted a page-turner of her own. Sad to say, the Woodstein story isn't always pretty because of their failed marriages and professional setbacks.

Restraint

Shepard showed great restraint, particularly in writing about Woodward and Bernstein's divorces. Less responsible journalists would've employed the style of a shrill, breathless gossip-monger.

"After two decades of reporting experience, I realize that nothing is as simple as it seems," she said. "Life is complex."

To Shepard's credit, she also avoids the temptation of gloating about their post-Watergate debacles. Bernstein envisioned a second career in television news but he flopped as ABC's Washington bureau chief. Meanwhile, Woodward, hoping to show he was capable of becoming the Washington Post's top editor someday, presided over one of the biggest fiascos in journalism history.

As a Post editor in the early 1980s, Woodward helped steer staff reporter Janet Cooke's ill-fated piece about an eight-year-old heroin addict to publication. The Post was forced to return Cooke's Pulitzer after she admitted what many of its reporters had suspected all along: she had made the whole story up.

Shepard writes that Woodward and Bernstein have distinguished themselves in later books (Woodward's many best-sellers, and Bernstein's ambitious volumes on his family history and the Pope).

The task of writing about two journalism giants could appear daunting, but Shepard says she never felt intimidated. "I just wanted to document this amazing story in American journalism and who these guys were, warts and all," Shepard told me over a long lunch last week in Manhattan's World Financial Center.

She was, apparently, most affected by interviewing Redford, who originated the film version of "All the President's Men." "When I interviewed Redford, I felt a little star struck," Shepard conceded. "Then I realized he was a regular guy and he was as interested in the subject as much as I was."

Shepard, who spent an afternoon with Bernstein in New York and about 90 minutes with Woodward in Washington, was proud of her reporting on the book.

"I think they would be surprised -- and flattered -- at the level of research," she said. "I interviewed more than 175 people. I spent four years on this book. I visited three different archives, in Boston, Texas and Los Angeles. I probably know more about their past than they remember!" (David Halberstam should be proud of this book, too, since his terrific work in "The Powers That Be" seemed to be a great inspiration to Shepard)

Shepard continues to be impressed with Woodstein's accomplishments.

"They became the story -- and that never happened before in journalism," she notes. "They weren't famous in hindsight -- they were famous at the time! What they achieved by 30, most people want to achieve in their whole lives. Who else could sell their papers for $5 million? Dan Rather? Katie Couric?"

It's probably inevitable that someone should write a biography of these two American folk heroes. A biographer's work is even more complicated when the subjects are still alive and evolving -- and frequently making headlines.

Woodward and Bernstein are lucky that an observer as sensitive and careful as Shepard accepted the challenge.

MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: How do you judge the careers of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein?

WEDNESDAY PET PEEVE: Journalists love to trace history by noting the anniversaries of celebrities' deaths. Yet, as we mark the fifth anniversary, on Nov. 29, of the passing of Beatle George Harrison, there has been surprisingly little written or said lately about his distinguished life. It's too bad.

A READER RESPONDS to my column on Tribune Co. and the Chicago Cubs: "If the Cubs ever went to a World Series much less won, the Trib would make so much money they would have to hire extra people to count it. Sorry to say but people don't spend $50 for a seat and $8 each on 10 beers to watch a journalist write." Kevin Kane

(Jon's reply: HE's sorry!)

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Jon Friedman is a senior columnist for MarketWatch in New York.