Access Hollywood! I mean, DC.

This really is an amazing story by Howard Kurtz about the racket Bob Woodward had at the Washington Post until the whole Plamegate fiasco hit him. He was really just a book author being paid by the Post on retainer, a guy who wrote 2 stories for them in 3 years, who would allow the Post to excerpt his books when they came out. And his books are little more than narrative re-creations of his interviews with high-level White House officials. He's a stenographer and an admitted fabricator who frequently reshapes conversations he would never possibly be present for to fit his narrative.

This is journalism?

I agree with the readers in the online chat:

But the bonds of trust with some readers seem to have been frayed, if feedback to the paper is any measure. When Downie hosted an online chat recently, the questioners' tone was strikingly hostile.

"Do you think Woodward was covering up for the vice president?" one reader asked. "I used to regard Mr. Woodward as a hero," said another. "Mr. Woodward appeared to be more interested in protecting his book than reporting the news," said a third.

I think it's time we ended this whole occupation of "access journalism," which can be too easily managed by the high-ranking officials who give you the access. The journalist (or stenographer) craves the access for future stories, so he/she won't write anything that harms the relationship. What you end up getting is no different than a White House press conference under the guise of "insider" journalism. Politicians have figured out this game. Guys like Woodward haven't.

UPDATE: This bit is unbelievable:

"He needs as his window into history the people who talk to him," says former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry, noting that not everyone in that White House cooperated with Woodward. "That gives you a very flawed and distorted view.

"I certainly was a source on some of his books. I felt like I ended up having a prominent role that really didn't reflect reality. My role was inflated because I talked to him. You become part of the breathless narrative."

Woodward's a reconstructor without the credibility to reconstruct.