Bob Woodward Analysis

The movie “All the President's Men” (1976), is based on the work of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein two Washington Post newspaper writers, who uncovered the cover-up of the White House's involvement in the Democratic Party National headquarters, Watergate, break-in. At first, Bob Woodward discovers what seems to be a minor break-in but is surprised to find that top lawyers were already on the defense case. He also discovers that names and addresses of Republican fund organizers were being accused, which further aroused his suspicions. When he brings this to the attention of the head of the Washington Post, he is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. Their findings of this

It is important to look at ethical dilemmas in a systematic way, thus increasing the chance of achieving a solution that gives the best possible outcome. An ethical problem solving model taken from American sources (Paradise and Siegelwaks, 1982; Austin et al., 1990) was used to develop a six-step process to follow, in order to achieve this (Bond 2010, pg. 227). This process informs this paper, and I am in the role of counsellor.

The method of ethical decision making which was developed by Dr. Cathryn A. Baird presented two components contained in all ethical decisions which are; The Four ethical Lenses and the 4+1 Decision process. The Four Ethical Lenses issue claims that different ethical theories and the means in which we tend to approach the situations which form part of our ethical traditions are looked at in four different perspectives. From each perspective there are different values on which to decide whether the action taken is either ethical or not and each lens also lays emphasis on determining whether the decision made is of ethical requirement. In the 4+1 Decision Process, people who are responsible for making final decisions in an organization do it

The muder of Meredith Kercher was covered very differently from beginning to end. Media bias was present on both sides of guilty and not guilty. The story was hard to keep straight as information was either left out or presented falsely. News articles presented soon after a story, is useful for awareness of the issue; however, exact details are generally not presented fairly or true fully.

From job-related experiences, when I am placed into situations with individuals who have different ethics from me, I cautiously take steps to determine ethical dilemmas choices without violating the rights or opinions of all involved. In addition, the experiences working with teams at work, have taught me to carefully view the opinions of others before entering into open disagreement over a given course of action. I strongly believe, apart from the ethical position,. an individual has his or her individual right to express their opinion. The results of my EAI, combined with my experiences throughout school and work, have educated me that all ethical decisions require cautious thought. I firmly believe, in order to achieve the best results, one needs to take numerous factors including but limited to culture, into consideration while also allowing for future implications of any action dictated by ethical decisions I make.

The third approach to ethics is situational ethics. This approach seems to be a compromise between legalistic and antinomian views as a situationist follows the rules of society, but will set them aside if love seems better served by doing so.

At this time, only one other impeachment inquiry existed, so Bernstein and Woodward’s work had to be as accurate as possible. They made sure of this through a few precautionary measures. First, they agreed never to let an article go to print unless they both fully agreed the article was worthy of printing should. When they were investigating the truth of a fact or statement, they always made sure that they checked it with at least two sources. When they made a large implication, such as that of H.R. Haldeman, Assistant to the President, they investigated with as many as four or five sources. To make sure that they were not overly ambitious or biased, they frequently ran their story ideas, topics, and facts, over with their editors, Sussman and Rosenfeld.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were the investigative reporters to the Watergate scandal. Bernstein was a reporter at the Washington Post; he had

Creating and defining my own ethical framework is essential in future success as a businessman, a leader, and a team player. As a business student, I have learned that it can be a very cut throat industry and in order to get ahead, at some point and ethical dilemma will undoubtedly be an obstacle I have to overcome. The way I handle these dilemmas can make or break my career; business ethics are a key part of earning and sustaining respect, trust, and a good rapport with both clients and competitors in your industry. Therefore a solid ethical framework is an important tool for me to have as a standard for handling these types of dilemmas so that I can grow successfully while staying true to myself and to

Now, let's see how learning about the Four Ethical Lenses and a simple method for decision-making can help you resolve a typical ethical dilemma. Ready?

Based on study of thousands of real ethical dilemmas, Kidder presents four ethical paradigm pairs:

In terms of general ethical approaches, my views do not strictly fall in line with any one approach. My approach to

Two reporters from the Washington post named Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward had taken an interest in this event and perhaps maybe even knew there was more to it. Two days after the scandal at the Democratic Headquarters, Bob Woodward called in a favor from whom he referred to as “an old friend”, who came to be known as “Deep Throat”123. He was later revealed to be a high ranking federal agent who met with the reporters in extreme caution and secrecy to reveal details of the investigation into the Watergate scandal. An important detail of Deep Throat's significance is that he expressed the confidential tapings of White House conversations, to which only a few people at the time knew about existed. He also disclosed that there was 18 ½ minutes of the recordings that were missing, suggesting that the missing time was blank on purpose19. The identity of Deep Throat remained a mystery for over thirty years, when a man named Mark Felt revealed himself confirming that he had in fact retained high authority in the time of the ordeal21.

Secondly, authors/practitioners have provided frameworks to help clarify conflicting values and ethical dilemmas. For example: Mattison (2000, p.206) offers a framework to analyse ethical dilemmas such as:

The question that I wish to address in context of these two principles of my personal ethical system is whether my ethical system is capable of being universally applied and followed. Can we think of a possible situation when this system will break down so that it becomes indefensible? In other words, for an