COYER STORY: COVERING WATERGATE: SUCCESS AND BACKLASH

Alert, courageous newsmen standing as sentries against the abuse of power—that is the dominant image most journalists have of their Watergate performance. On campuses, any newsman remotely part of the action is assured of a hero's welcome. Applications to journalism schools are at an alltime high, and many of the youngsters say that they want to be investigative reporters. Coverage of Watergate and related scandals has won four Pulitzer Prizes and a number of lesser awards. All the President's Men, the how-we-did-it book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, became a bestseller after three weeks in print,...