"It will remain for British authorities"

Journalism Carl Bernstein looks for Watergate comparisons in the #notw scandal:

"The circumstances of the alleged lawbreaking within News Corp. suggest more than a passing resemblance to Richard Nixon presiding over a criminal conspiracy in which he insulated himself from specific knowledge of numerous individual criminal acts while being himself responsible for and authorizing general policies that routinely resulted in lawbreaking and unconstitutional conduct. Not to mention his role in the cover-up. It will remain for British authorities and, presumably, disgusted and/or legally squeezed News Corp. executives and editors to reveal exactly where the rot came from at News of the World, and whether Rupert Murdoch enabled, approved, or opposed the obvious corruption that infected his underlings."

Sadly he misses the clearest comparison from his end. Nick Davies's dogged investigation at The Guardian, an investigation almost entirely unreported by the rest of the press up until this week when it's being publically praised by actors, politicians and fellow journalists mirrors Woodstein's own Watergate investigation which was considered equally eccentric at the time. I like to imagine Alan Rusbridger giving Davies a pep talk similar to the one Jason Robards as Post editor Ben Bradlee gives the fictional version of them at the end of All The President's Men.

Ben Bradlee: You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a shit. You guys are probably pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath. Rest up... 15 minutes. Then get your asses back in gear. We're under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys fuck up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight.

Here's Davies talking about the story, which includes a rather startling section about David Cameron and George Osborne which I've not seen elsewhere: