Woodward, Quickly

I caught a quick Q and A over at Poynter with Bob Woodward. Quick, like 20 minutes. The audience was made up of a great group of journalists from Denmark and students at Indiana University. I wrote down what made my ears ring. He said a lot more than this.

Is there ever a time when you're too persistent?

We used to put FAA stickers on people's computers. Focus, Act Aggressive. If you're civil about it, and persistent, you can go to the limit with people.

There was a general in the Bush book who wouldn't talk to me. I tried everything possible. Then I found out where he lived. This was when I was 65, a few years ago.

Did you ever see All The President's Men? Or read the book? What is the time you get the best information?

Night

You get the truth at night. You get lies during the day.

What's the best time to visit someone at home?

8:17 is the perfect time. They've eaten. If they're home, they probably haven't gone to bed.

With this general, I knocked. The door opened. He looked at me.

He said: "Are you still doing this shit?"

Three hours later, I left with the answers.

People like to talk. They will talk.

Very few reporters have access to the president. Why you?

We can eliminate charm.

I have the time. I don't carry a partisan flag.

Larry King told me once: "I don't know your politics."

The truth is, I don't have them. If I taught a class in journalism, I'd teach empiricism.

What are the most important challenges to journalism?

I think there's a journalism bubble, like the housing bubble, or the dot-com bubble.

I think there's too much emphasis on speed and feeding impatience.

In a bubble, something gives. What's going to give?

Something that we miss (like the dangers of the Japanese nuclear plants after a tsunami). We'll miss something, and it will be big.

You people -- 19 to 39 -- are going to figure out how we fix it.

The fix is going to take years.

(Sidebar: Reporters who are working on big, important projects should have assistants doing things like drafting, getting interviews, scheduling, getting documents.)

The more you research, the more the mystery deepens.

How do you know when to stop reporting?

You want to realize that you're never going to get everything. A newspaper story is a snapshot. A book is a snapshot.