He leído bastantes artículos sobre Mark Felt, y el Washington Post, tras saberse que hace treinte años fue la "garganta profunda" del "Watergate". Muchos de esos artículos y comentarios han sido referidos por José Luis Orihuela en su cuidada selección en eCuaderno.
Con independencia de los mejores o peores artículos y juicios sobre los motivos personales y profesionales de Felt para hacer y callar hasta ser ahora descubierto y entrevistado por Vanity Fair (curioso contraste entre vanidad y secreto), y con independencia de las valoraciones hoy más o menos interesadas o desinteresadas de los efectos polítcos y periodísticos que provocaron sus actividades como fuente oculta, hay dos aspectos de "interés humano" que resultan dignos de atención.
El primero es el relato en primera persona que Bob Woodward hizo ayer (Thursday, June 2, 2005) en el Washington Post: "How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat'". As a Friendship -- and the Watergate Story -- Developed, Source's Motives Remained a Mystery to Woodward. Unido, desde luego, el "dossier": A Chance Encounter, a Date With History. As a friendship -- and the Watergate story -- developed, W. Mark Felt remained a mystery to Bob Woodward. More than three decades later, Woodward tells how he met Felt, and how an inside source helped develop a young reporter and bring down a president.
Es bien recomendable su lectura. Pero aún más recomendable parece la lectura del artículo que hoy (Friday, June 3, 2005) publica Sally Quinn, The Secret That Didn't Reach Washington's Lips.
Sally Quinn es la esposa de Ben Bradlee, el director de The Washington Post, que apostó por lanzar adelante la cobertura del "Escándalo Watergate", por la que el periódico ganó en 1973 el Premio Pulitzer. Cuenta Sally Quinn que -a diferencia de Elsa, esposa de Woodward- ella nunca supo ni preguntó a su marido quién era "Garganta profunda":
(...) No. I did not know who Deep Throat was. And no. I never asked my husband, Ben Bradlee. Why not? For several reasons. I have too much pride, to begin with. I knew perfectly well Ben wouldn't tell me and I didn't want to be refused. Secondly, I . . . how shall I say this? . . . have a big mouth. It would have been a huge responsibility to know. It was also clear that if somebody else spilled the beans, fingers would be pointed at me.
The most important reason, though, was that I really didn't want Ben to tell, not just me, but anybody. Deep Throat was Bob Woodward's source, not Ben's. And Ben had promised Woodward he would not reveal the source.
(...) There is a saying in Washington that nothing is ever really off the record, and if a story is too good it will eventually get out. That's pretty much true. Which is what makes the Deep Throat story extraordinary and why it's become such a legend. It's also why there were so many theories that there really was no Deep Throat, that he was probably a composite or something Woodward made up to protect himself.
(...) How is it that the identity of Deep Throat remained a secret for so long? Integrity. Mark Felt didn't leak to Woodward because of money or fame. He did it because he was a good citizen.
Ben and Bob and Carl Bernstein understood the importance of protecting a source and how damaging it would have been to journalism if they had revealed his identity. It's that simple.
So all those years I never asked Ben who Deep Throat was. But when I told people that I didn't know, they never believed me anyway. They would always allude, confidently, to "pillow talk." That was fine with me. I enjoyed the aura of being a secret-keeper, even if it was unjustified.
And Elsa, well, as I said, she is the Sphinx and besides, Bob really loves her very much.
Merece la pena destacar una historia sencilla y difícil como ésta, en la que aparecen rostros de personas, dentro del mundo complejo de Washington y del mundo complejo del periodismo, en el que sobre todo circulan máscaras de personajes.
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