[Commlist] CFP: Nixon resigns! 50 years of the Watergate syndrome

Call for Papers
Nixon resigns! 50 years of the Watergate syndrome

Guest Editor: Andrea Carson (La Trobe University)

The 1970s were a turning point for journalism. Investigative reporting, 
pioneered by the ‘muckrakers’ in the early 20th Century, made a 
comeback, and with it political cynicism and a loss of faith in the 
goodwill of the political class. Popular contestation had been breeding 
up since the end of the 1960s, but over the next decade it expanded from 
young leftists to the general population. In a matter of months, a 
reelected president with a landslide majority became a reviled leader 
that shamed a nation. His farewell salute from the helicopter stairs 
remains as one of the most iconic images of his tenure at the White House.

In hindsight, it is difficult to tell myth from reality. For all the 
talk about journalism’s role in Nixon’s debacle, the Washington Post 
investigations were well under way when he got reelected. Perhaps the 
record enrollments enjoyed by journalism schools across the US owe more 
to Alan J. Pakula’s film than to the Woodward and Bernstein’s articles, 
which may have had more influence on the political and the judicial spheres.

The shadow of Watergate would be long and durable. In the 1990s, the 
journalists and academics behind the ‘civic’ journalism movement decried 
what they called the Watergate syndrome, and adversarial attitude of 
journalists towards policymakers and candidates that resulted in 
generalized political cynicism and apathy. To be fair, the suspicious 
mindset of political reporters was not exclusively attributable to the 
reporting that followed the burglary at the Watergate residential 
complex in Washington, DC. It was in tune with the college students’ 
contestation of the police repression at the Chicago Republican 
Convention in 1968. Or with the increasing popular discontent with the 
Vietnam war. Adversarialism was even more present in Hunter S. 
Thompson’s gonzo journalism. Only a lunatic, he famously claimed, would 
do that kind of job: political reporting.

A central figure in the Watergate case, the whistleblower, has become a 
fixture in political revelations since. Anonymous leaks have been 
instrumental for accessing hidden truths. In a way, we owe public 
accountability to individuals who have betrayed their superiors. From 
the NYT’s Pentagon Papers to the WSJ’s Facebook Files, reporters have 
relied on these traitors in the name of the public’s right to know. From 
Daniel Ellsberg to John Snowden, by way of Julian Assange and Hervé 
Falciani, the whistleblowers have been casted as enemy spies, double 
agents, or heroes.

The International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics would like to 
invite submissions for a special issue celebrating the 50 years of 
Nixon’s resignation after the Watergate investigations. The topics 
likely to be covered will include:

• The reception and influence of the Watergate scandal in journalism 
culture, both in the US and elsewhere.
• The ethical conundrums of anonymous sourcing in investigative reporting.
• The relationship between political scandals and popular participation 
and engagement in politics.
• Investigative reporting now: collaborative and transnational?
• Case studies in the coverage of political scandals
• Political corruption and political change
• The figure of the whistleblower in journalism
• Accountability and the costs of opposing authoritarian governance

Submissions will be considered in a two-step fashion: first, interested 
authors should submit an abstract by November 30, 2023. Those authors 
whose abstracts are deemed appropriate for the special issue will be 
notified by January 31, 2024 and will be invited to submit a full paper 
by May 31, 2024.

The titles and abstracts of the proposed papers may be sent to 
(francisco.seoane /at/ uc3m.es) <mailto:(francisco.seoane /at/ uc3m.es)>, and should 
include title, author(s) institutional affiliation(s), and a 300-word 
summary. Please, state in the subject of your email ‘Watergate special 
issue’.

For more information about the International Journal of Media & Cultural 
Politics, please visit the website:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-media-cultural-politics 
<https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-media-cultural-politics>

APC Policy:
Publication in the International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 
does not entail any Article Processing Charges (APCs).

SUBMISSION TIMELINE:
Abstract submission deadline: November 30, 2023
Notification on acceptance: January 31, 2024
Article submission deadline: May 31, 2024


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