Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. During a discussion on NBC’s This Week on Sunday, former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson took a very interesting approach to the conversation. Much to the surprise of her fellow panelists, Attkisson explained why we have “gone backwards” since the days of Woodward and Bernstein.
Watch the analysis courtesy of The Daily Caller:
“I think that we’ve gone backwards since that time when we really felt empowered as journalists,” Attkisson said matter-of-factly.
So how would a Nixon-type scandal unfold in today’s digital and social media-driven world? Attkisson offers a pretty good idea:
“Nixon would basically refuse to turn over tapes to Congress. His aides would refuse to testify to Congress, or take the Fifth, or lie to Congress with a fair amount of impunity. Woodward and Bernstein would be controversialized on social media by special and political interests who use Facebook accounts And then, at the end, Nixon would go on a popular late night comedy show, during which time he would humorously refer to his attackers as people who were political witch hunters who believe in Area 51-type conspiracies.”
“Wow,” Pat said on radio this morning. “Is that not exactly what would happen, if he had his media on his side like [President Obama] does?”