Ecos meta-jornalísticos da revelação da fonte do caso Watergate Sabe-se quem é o "Garganta Funda". Mas o estudo deste caso, com a perspectiva que dão 30 anos de mudanças alucinantes nas relações internacionais, nos estilos de vida, nos media e no jornalismo, continuará a alimentar as páginas dos jornais e revistas e a investigação académica. De alguns textos dos últimos dias, ficam aqui alguns respigos: "Would The Washington Post break Watergate if it happened today?" Simon Houpt, Is the Post's Watergate glory all in its past?, Globe and Mail, 4 de Junho "Felt's story reaffirms the ability of smart and dogged reporters, courageous editors and owners, and truly informed yet anonymous sources to help get information before the public that is vital to a democracy's functioning". Michael Getler, 'Deep Throat': An Omb's Observations, Washington Post, 5 de Junho Sobre o filme de Pakula ?Os homens do presidente?: ?It shows two young seekers?newspaper reporters handsome enough to be Robert Redford, cool enough to be Dustin Hoffman, guided by a wizard in a cave (Deep Throat in a garage)?toppling the Evil Empire (Richard Nixon's White House). The filmmaker, the late Alan Pakula, deftly used lighting to enhance the feel of a Manichaean struggle. The newsroom where the reporters work is always bright, open, a place of truth. Almost everything else is dark, shadowy?nests of liars and prevaricators. How long ago, and how romantic, the story seems. Reporters are not exactly heroes these days. Anonymous sources like Deep Throat are in disrepute, and many large news organizations, including NEWSWEEK, are under fire for their mistakes. What happened to the days when reporters were searching for truth, instead of gabbling on talk shows?? Newsweek, A Long Shadow, 13 de Junho "Was Watergate bad for journalism? On its face, the question seems absurd. The drama of two young metro reporters for The Washington Post helping to topple a corrupt president cast a golden glow over the news business in the mid-1970s. Newspapermen became cinematic heroes, determined diggers who advanced the cause of truth by meeting shadowy sources in parking garages, and journalism schools were flooded with aspiring sleuths and crusaders. But the media's reputation since then has sunk like a stone, and one reason is that some in the next generation of reporters pumped up many modest flaps into scandals ending in 'gate', sometimes using anonymous sources who turned out to be less than reliable. Journalism became a more confrontational, even prosecutorial business, with some of its practitioners automatically assuming that politicians in the post-Nixon era must be lying, dissembling or covering up. Howard Kurtz, ?Deep Throat and Shallow Journalism?. Washington Post, 6 de Junho