I come down on Mr. W. Mark Felt, the former #2 guy in the FBI, with a less than positive position. The #2 guy who BTW was passed over as the next head of the FBI. For him it was political payback.
The local paper and others label him as both a hero and a whistleblower. He is neither and here's why.
Whistleblowers go to authorities to report their accusations, so things can be fixed. He didn't do that. Felt went to the press. So he's not a whistleblower.
It's understandable that people who didn't like Nixon would feel Felt is a hero because it led ultimately to the resignation of Nixon. To me, the means doesn't justify the end when done under the table or illegally. Now I don't know if what Felt did was illegal, but it certainly was not his job to report FBI matters to the media. It was his job to use the system to police itself.
The secrecy the reporters placed over the identity of 'deep throat' could just as easily be seen as a conspiracy to protect the 'whistleblower' from what could have been a prosecution or career ender, although it was purported by the reporters as a 'freedom of the press' issue.
To believe this guy a hero, you have to excuse quite a lot. You have to ignore Felt's dereliction of duty by not following procedures with sensitive information. You have to excuse his motives, which were obvious at the time. He was 'old school' FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, the last corrupt FBI Director, and not in favor with the President, and was not chosen as the new director of the FBI. Oh well.
And you also have to ask whether it is legal or ethical for a perp to be concealed under the cloak of the First Amendment protection of freedom of the press? The media likes to think that it is the venue for whistleblowers. They're totally wrong. It makes them the venue for scandals.
Looking back as far as my memory can go on this topic, it seems to be the defining moment in gotcha journalism, where the media changed its focus from reporting events to shaping them.
9:40:46 AM 
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