Postgate: How the Washington Post Betrayed Deep Throat, Covered Up Watergate, and Began Today’s Partisan Advocacy Journalism

by John O'Connor

Deep Throat’s lawyer discovers the Washington Post betrayed his client—while covering up the real truth about the Watergate scandal.

The conventional wisdom of Watergate is turned on its head by Postgate, revealing that the Post did not uncover Watergate as much as it covered it up. The Nixon Administration, itself involved in a coverup, was the victim of a journalistic smoke-screen that prevented mitigation of its criminal guilt. As a result of the paper’s successful misdirection, today’s strikingly deceptive partisan journalism can be laid at the doorstep of the Washington Post.

After Deep Throat’s lawyer, author John O’Connor, discovered that the Post had betrayed his client while covering up the truth about Watergate, his indefatigable research resulted in Postgate, a profoundly shocking tale of journalistic deceit.

In an era when numerous modern media outlets rail about the guilt of their political enemies for speaking untruths, Postgate proves that the media can often credibly be viewed as the party actually guilty of deception. Americans today mistrust the major media more than ever. Postgate will prove that this distrust is richly deserved.

Genres: History

315 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2019

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably, if I hadn’t been 11 years old at the time of President Nixon’s resignation, I would be more familiar with the names and players in this real life event. As it is, I was somewhat familiar with the surface, and always knew that something didn’t make sense. I had questions, and hoped this book would answer them. Why would a President and burglars have anything to do with each other? What mystique does Bob Woodward still hold over Washington DC?

Well, for me, the book delved deep into the fray, showed that the CIA was behind the break-in yet managed to deflect the blame to the Republican Administration; and carefully laid out the author’s point that Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (the author sometimes collectively calls them “Woodstein”) developed a narrative to tell the world about Watergate, took freely of Mark Felt’s help along the way but betrayed him in the end, and came away from the experience as though they were amazing journalists when in reality they were propagandists. Although it wasn’t the main point of the book, it looked to me that the CIA was gunning for an independent journalist, Jack Anderson. I came away from the read shaking my head in disgust as it looked as though power players once again get away with crime while innocent people lose their jobs, their reputations, and sometimes their lives.

There are many general references to a prostitution ring which also was targeted by the CIA, but not because they meant to shut it down. Sounded as though they only wished to get dirt on people to use as blackmail ammunition. No specific details are discussed in the book.

I still have my questions, but I would disagree with the author that Watergate is our nation’s most significant political scandal. There are too many others to name, and we are only beginning to reap the bad fruit.

[Taylor J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book. The prostitution ring is real and our nation is ran by blackmail. Both Bush’s, Clinton and Biden became President because of blackmail.

I’m sure Richard Nixon wasn’t a great man but all the characters in this book are much worse.