Story: Watergate Anonymous Source "Deep Throat" Comes Forward: 06/01/05
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june05/deepthroat_6-01.html

Reading Comprehension Questions:

1. Who is Mark Felt?

2. What role did the Washington Post play in the downfall of President Richard Nixon?

3. What was the Watergate scandal?

4. What laws did President Nixon and his associated break?

5. Why did President Nixon put recording devices in his office?

6. According to the article, why did Mark Felt talk to Woodward?

Discussion Questions (more research might be needed):

1. Do you think Mark Felt was a hero, or a traitor? Give examples why different people might have different views of his actions.

2. Recently, anonymous sources cause problems for Newsweek magazine and other news organizations. Bernstein said: "This is a case history and a case lesson of why it is so important that we have confidential sources. If you were to look back at the original stories, I think hardly any of them had named sources. There's no way this reporting could have been done, nor is there any way that good reporting at a lot of places can be done, without anonymous sources."

Do you agree? How should reporters use anonymous sources?

3. What effects did the Watergate scandal have on American politics? Does Mark Felt's admission change the way you think about what happened during that era?

Send your answers, in essay form, to extra@newshour.org for possible publication!