Carl Bernstein visited the IU campus this November to discuss and engage with students and faculty. At the start of the 2024 academic year Bernstein was announced to be IU’s newest Poynter chair.
As the chair, Bernstein attended lectures and Q&A’s at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Maurer School of Law, to discuss the U.S political landscape and the current state of media.
Each year IU picks one or two public intellectuals to serve as Poynter chair. Their role as chair is visiting the Bloomington campus throughout the academic year, participating in public lectures, seminars, discussions, and Q&A’s. IU’s Poynter center wants to connect professionals in their respective fields with students, faculty, and staff as well as with the community.
Carl Bernstein’s Q&A at the IU Cinema
Carl Bernstein is best known for his work with Bob Woodward and uncovering the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of former president Richard Nixon. During his time as a journalist at the Washington Post, Bernstein and Woodward published a New York Times bestselling book, “All the Presidents Men”, where they chronicle their reporting of Watergate.
In celebration of the book’s 50th anniversary the IU cinema showed a screening of the adaptation of “All the President’s Men”. Bernstein later gave insight on the creation of the movie and his relationship with Bob Woodward.
During his Q&A to a sold out conference at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Bernstein gave his thoughts on the recent U.S Presidential election. Student volunteers from the O’Neill School asked Bernstein how Nixon would compare to Donald Trump.
After reporting and researching President Nixon during his time as a journalist Bernstein had only one comparison to say about Nixon and Trump. He described the two men as both trying to undermine the U.S democratic electoral process and chose Trump to be the bigger extremist than the two.
Bernstein’s next day during his visit attended a conference at the Maurer School of Law where he sat down with Maurer law professor Steve Sanders to discuss the modern news media and contextualizing critical issues of law and democracy for the American people.
The New York Times best selling author gave his thoughts on various aspects of modern media and how it differs from his time. Bernstein urged the older generation in attendance to not be nostalgic for the so called “glory days” of journalism and not be frightened of the current state people consume news. He criticized social media’s lack of expertise when it comes to publishing news, and the divide algorithms make for the newer generations.
Carl Bernstein’s conference at the Maurer School of Law
On Bernstein’s last event of the week, he attended IU’s cinema screening of “All the President’s Men”. A more lighthearted event, Bernstein held a Q&A where he discussed his writing process and his working relationship with Bob Woodward.
Telling stories of how the Washington Post newsroom dubbed their partnership “WoodStein”, he later went on to point out the inaccuracies of the movie. The famous line “follow the money” was made only for the film and was not a strategy used by the duo.
With laughter erupting from the theater, Bernstein would describe the numerous different strategies he and Woodward used to get their investigative work published, their favorite strategy was Good cop, Bad cop, and Carl Bernstein was never the good cop.
Bernstein will continue to visit the IU campus next spring to fulfill his Poynter chair responsibilities, where he’ll engage with students and faculty and continue the conversation of the current U.S political landscape and modern media’s role in it.
