Aaron Irwin€¦ · Davies uncovered the WikiLeaks scandal as well as being one of the first to...

ComparisonsAaron Irwin

‘Bringing Down Empires’

It’s not everyday someone brings down a

US Presidency, or a huge media mogul.

My Choices

Woodward and Bernstein & Nick Davies

Woodward and Bernstein

Watergate scandal

Exposed Nixon’s plans

Espionage

Provoked Nixon to resign

Nick Davies

Responsible for

uncovering phone

hacking scandal

that closed down

News of the World.

Also had a part in

Wikileaks.

1943: Born March 26, Geneva, Illinois.

1965: Got his degree in History and English Language.

1965-1970: Navy Career

1972: Joined Washington Post

Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward

Nine Months on…

He was paired with Carl Bernstein to look into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee HQ.

Carl Bernstein

1944: Born February 14, in Washington DC.

1960: Copyboy for Washington Star

1965: Left The Star, became a prize winner at the Elizabeth Daily Journal in New Jersey.

1966: Joined the Washington Post

‘Watergate’

Break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

Five men arrested, one a CIA security guard named Frank McCord.

Story called a 'caper’ by many, ‘Woodstein‘ were tasked to cover the story.

What They Found

They found out Nixon's re-election

committee had a lot to do with it.

Also that a slush fund had been set up by

then attorney general John Mitchell, with

there being laundered funds and the

break in was espionage by Nixon's

committee, or him cheating the system.

Repercussions

President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974,

and remains the only president to resign

from the presidency.

Over 100 people were arrested, including

many White House aides for their part in

the Watergate scandal.

Nick Davies

1953: Born March 28,

1974: Got his degree from Oxford

University.

1976: Began Journalism career as a

trainee for the Mirror Group.

Why He's Relevant

Davies uncovered the WikiLeaks scandal as well as being one of the first to pick up on News Of The World’s phone hacking scandal, which led to the Leveson inquiry.

Therefore like ‘Woodstein‘, Davies brought down an empire, albeit different, with one being a media giant and another being the most powerful man in the world…

Why Compare Him To

‘Woodstein?’

Both were investigative journalists.

Discovered big scandals.

Both well respected within the Journalistic

field. Peter Oborne of The Telegraph

described Davies as ‘Britain’s greatest

investigative journalist.’

Wikileaks Davies sought out WikiLeaks founder Julian

Assange about some stories he could possibly gather for The Guardian.

“Maybe the real story isn’t that four paragraphs, it’s the secrets. It was extraordinary that nobody else was trying to get hold of Julian [Assange] to ask him what these secrets were and whether they could have them.”

Milly Dowler

Davies ran a story on The Guardian into murdered schoolgirl Dowler’s voicemails.

‘Believed to have found evidence of the targeting of the Dowlers in a collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World.’

News of the World

After an investigation conducted by Davies, it

was discovered the NOTW interfered with

police investigations.

NOTW journalists intercepted and deleted a

range of voicemails left on Dowler’s phone.

This led to one of the biggest scandals in

recent UK history, and the closure of NOTW.

Bernstein…

“The lowest form of popular culture – lack

of information, misinformation,

disinformation, and a contempt for the

truth or the reality of most people’s lives –

has overrun real journalism. Today,

ordinary Americans are being stuffed with

garbage.”

Comparisons

Both print predominantly.

Both decided to focus on corruption.

Technological Advances.

Both wrote award winning books.

Hack Attack,

Flat Earth News

Davies has written a few significant books.

Especially Hack Attack, which is about the phone hacking scandal and taking down Rupert Murdoch.

All The President’s Men, The

Final Days

‘Woodstein‘ co-wrote

two books on the

Watergate scandal.

The former being

made into a movie.

Both tell the story of

Nixon and the hidden

slush fund.