FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Renowned journalist and author Carl Bernstein took the stage at Fairfield University on Tuesday night to both discuss his new book and give his thoughts on the state of American democracy.
In his new book, “Chasing History” the 79-year-old former journalist details his start in the industry at just 16 years old and his journey to becoming the reporter whose work alongside Bob Woodward, sparked government investigations that led to the eventual resignation of former President Richard Nixon.
“Woodward and I, as reporters, had studied Nixon for nearly half a century,” Bernstein said, “during which, we believe with great conviction, never again would America have a president who would trample the national interest and succeed in undermining democracy for the audacious pursuit of personal and political self-interest…and then along came (former President Donald) Trump.”
Bernstein, who spent 62 years in a newsroom, reminisced about his early start as a reporter for The Washington Star covering President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 run for office and his subsequent years of service.
“[Kennedy] was President at a time when the country and the political system and the judiciary and the Supreme Court really dealt with the problems and the opportunities of America,” Bernstein said, continuing that no matter how fractious the debate, the national interest was held above all else.
He added that he doesn’t believe it's nostalgic to look back at that era and believes we were in a better place.
“The common good was served in this country,” he said, continuing, “From the end of World War II, we created the greatest meritocracy in the history of the Earth, not a plutocracy like we have today.”
Bernstein said one of the first things he learned as a young reporter was that “truth is not neutral.”
“I think one of the great mistakes we, in journalism, have made over the past half-century is the idea that politics and journalism exist in this country somehow outside the larger culture,” he said.
The 79-year-old – during a short question-and-answer session with panelists Phillip Eliasoph, founder of the Open Visions Forum, David Downie, associate professor of politics and environmental studies and Karla Barguiarena, communications professor and former reporter – was asked about his critique of local television news.
He said his criticism comes in large part because the growth of television news meant the death of local newspapers.
“Those newspapers… were the fabric and glue of cities and towns all across this country,” he said, continuing that the papers gave people a sense of community, a sense of civic fabric.
“At the same time, there’s been precious little of that and has been precious little of real news that both serve the community and has the same values of the best obtainable version of the truth on TV news in almost every market in this country," Bernstein added.
Bernstein said that in his time the evening news used to be known as a lead and bleed. That the news would start with a car crash and the news would continue from that point.
“How many people here believe that your local news on television resembles what’s really going on in your community?”
He continued by saying that he doesn’t think there’s a possibility of change for television news because of the economics behind it. But, he concludes, good stories will always find a way to the light.
After the event, FOX61 asked Peter Van Heerden, the executive director of the Quick Center why Bernstein was chosen as a speaker. He said in part it was due to Bernstein’s journalistic experience, but also because “truth-telling, and honesty and journalism and seeking the truth is something that’s really important for all of us at this moment.”
He added that he enjoys providing spaces for these monumental figures to talk to small audiences and become just people.
“There’s this interesting moment of complete settled honesty,” he said, “Where a person is a person no matter how famous they might be or how big they are…”
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