The Power of the First Amendment

Alan Pakula's film "All the President's Men" was shown on the Rossiya TV channel. Very, I must say, an instructive movie about the horrors of American democracy.

About how the federal administration abuses its official position during the pre-election period and what comes of it. And it turns out from this (you will not believe) the resignation of the administration! At least when the administration is caught red-handed and it's happening in America.

It turns out - Watergate ...

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford play the real characters of the story under their real names: it was Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward who caused the scandal that forced President Nixon to resign with their investigation.

You feel a strange feeling watching this movie in Russia in 2007.

Two journalists go to the workers' houses... I almost wrote "Kremlin" - republican, of course! administrations and seek the truth about the abuses.

These abuses, by today's Russian standards, are not a trifle, but generally nonsense! My God, my God, the headquarters of the opposition was tapped there! They didn’t withdraw from the elections, they didn’t arrest the campaign circulation to the root, they didn’t smash offices, they didn’t prohibit the appearance of competitors on TV ... window...

And here are two journalists insisting on their right (on behalf of the American people and the law) to know the truth about the abuse of power - and nothing happens to them, mind you! Some high-ranking type hisses into the phone that they will regret it ... but in the end, of course, he will regret it himself.

The point, however, is not a happy ending - much more instructive is the psychology, the self-awareness of the conflicting parties.

People from the Nixon campaign, who fell under the eyepieces of independent journalism, behave in different ways: some simply do not open the door, others avert their eyes, talk in circles ... rubbish knows that right and truth are on the side of journalists!

She knows that she and her corporation have broken the law - and it could cost them dearly.

The leading patriot, yelling into the phone about America's movement along the path of peace and progress (that's what you need to write about, and not engage in mouse fuss around some strange checks and signatures!), This leading scoundrel also understands the weakness of his position. And it is noteworthy that the hero of Redford does not lead with his ear to patriotic tantrums on the telephone, but only writes down in order to calmly quote on occasion and strip his opponent naked.

Journalists understand that they are a force. They have the First Amendment to the US Constitution on their side, the Founding Fathers, tradition, social order… They know it's a double-edged game; that if they speak without evidence, they will be fired and maybe even convicted of slander. But they also know something else: if evidence is found, the president will be fired!

The first power against the fourth is a sharp, but equal and fair game.

It is embarrassing even to compare the conditions of this game with the laws of our current taiga. People who write to me about the criminal offenses of the authorities, about open blackmail (performed in writing, on official forms), about pressure (by the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB), about shameless bribery (what kind of checks through Mexico are there - all openly and directly from the budget) , - my correspondents hide behind pseudonyms and beg not to give them away.

And they write, mind you, to me, not to the Prosecutor General!

Meanwhile, the channel "Russia" shows a movie about the horrors of American democracy.