The scoop
: The Post reports on the story behind the story in Vanity Fair and how The Post got scooped: because Woodward kept his promise not to reveal Deep Throat’s identity until he was released from the pledge. The Vanity Fair story was edited by my colleague and friend, David Friend.
Vanity Fair, too, was late to the story but moments after it broke on the internet, the text came online.
: Also in the Post, Hank Steuver contemplates life after the secret:
What could be more of a letdown than finding out who Deep Throat is? Finding it out in Vanity Fair? And not really finding it out in Vanity Fair so much as feeling it crash-land across the Internet and the cable news networks, days before the magazine even hits the stands? Finding out that you don’t care anymore? Watching it not resonate among people younger than 30?…
Perhaps Deep Throat’s lovely (and daring) parting gift to Washington, especially to reporters, is simple: He actually exists. He is not fabrication or composite. He is one man, a fact not easily proved had he taken his secret to the grave. That in itself, in an era where trust has been shredded beyond recognition, is something to behold.
: And on anoymous sources, from Kit Seelye’s NY Times media report:
The emergence of the ultimate anonymous source comes at a time when newsrooms are struggling with questions about the use of such sources.
“We’ve had all this stuff about anonymous sources and God knows yes, we all know anonymous sources are overused,” said Lou Cannon, a former reporter for The Post. “But this really shows you, this story would have never come out if we had a rule against anonymous sources.”
