Omerta and Journalism: Watergate Style

In this OpEd appearing in the Sunday Times of Trenton I argue that Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and the Washington Post broke the most sacred sacrament of journalism by violating unilaterally the 33-year-old vow of anonymity they gave "Deep Throat" to reveal his identity only after the source was dead.

I called John O'Connor, the San Francisco attorney who represents Felt and his family. O'Connor confirmed to me that neither Woodward, Bernstein nor the Post ever asked to be released from the vow to Felt of omerta-for-life.

More surprising was that no reporter had ever asked that question of O'Connor until I did, weeks after O'Connor's Vanity Fair article hit the newsstands on May 31.

Many readers, like Woodward, will find that the vow was effectively cancelled when Felt "outed" himself in O'Connor's article and decide that I'm nitpicking.

But I maintain that whether or not Felt was incompetent, Woodward, et al. should have waited before confirming Felt's identify to the world (they originally had declined to comment) while they sought (and would have received) a release from their journalist's vow.

The entire OpEd (approximately 1,300 words) is posted at http://www.lavinthal.com/Articles/OpEd_20050731.html.