Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. (AP Photo)
On Sunday, Marc Andreessen talked about press coverage of Watergate on his rollicking Twitter feed. Andreessen is a partner in the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested $50 million in BuzzFeed.
1/Something I believe that nobody I know believes: Woodward&Bernstein Watergate coverage precipitated 40yr collapse of trust in print news.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
2/That long slow slide of trust can be seen, among other places, in Gallup polls over the years: http://t.co/G4LrmPHGUQ — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
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3/After Nixon resigned 40 years ago this weekend, Washington Post Watergate coverage became exemplar for entire next generation reporters. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
4/Political press became obsessed with unearthing scandal, which metastasized throughout print journalism. Gunning for Pulitzer bait. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
5/There are clearly scandals that need to be unearthed, like Watergate. BUT: Endless scandal frenzy is exhausting and demoralizing. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
6/Particularly when applied indiscriminately across news landscape, and particularly when extrinsic press motivations are so clear. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
7/Irony is we now know Woodward&Bernstein less reported Watergate than had story fed to them by Mark Felt, partisan in internal FBI battle. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
8/I think the 40 year echo effects of Watergate have more to do with the existential crisis of newspapers than anyone would ever admit. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
9/As news consumers, endless barrage of scandal, tragedy, and conflict has real psychological effects. Makes world seem worse than it is. — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014
Correction: Due to an editing error, this post’s headline originally misspelled Marc Andreessen’s last name.
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