Our law would sink ‘Woodstein’

Sir — Declan Lynch (Sunday Independent, September 23) is, of course, right as far as he goes about how great Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein still are.

But what he omits is to mention one place in the democratic world where they would be anything but heroes, namely Ireland and its courts.

Back in late 1970s, it was famously said that if Watergate had happened in Ireland then Nixon would still be president but everybody would know who Deep Throat was.

And that is even more true today. Suppose for a moment that Woodward and/or Bernstein happened to mention an Irish citizen in something they wrote and then happened to be in Ireland. Assuming that citizen had the money, ‘Woodstein’ would be hauled before the courts for the horrendous libels committed by them.

The lawyers would both spend and take their time to go to extravagant lengths to tell what a great lad their client was and what a horrible libel Woodstein had committed against them.

And Woodstein’s own reputation as the greatest reporters in American history?

Sorry, but the court would not even think about not thinking about it.

In Irish law there is simply no such thing as a good reporter.

The only question would be how many millions of copies of Woodward’s Fear would equate in cash to how much damage had been done to somebody’s reputation as far as the court was concerned.

A thought for Journalism Matters Week. Frank Desmond, Turners Cross, Cork city