Culture

Lise Hand: That ‘scruffy guy in jeans’ wasn’t the new copy kid, it was Dustin Hoffman

On its 50th anniversary, Watergate continues to be a defining moment in investigative journalism, both on and off the screen.

A 1976 promotional portrait of Robert Redford, right, and Dustin Hoffman standing in front of the Washington Post Building in a still from director Alan J Pakula's film 'All the President's Men'. The actors portrayed Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who were the first to investigate the Watergate scandal

It was a two-reporter race to the ‘Evening Herald’ newsroom door and my colleague – we’ll call him Brendan – won by a short brass neck. This was a disaster. The first person to arrive for the 7am early shift got the cushy number, dialling around the city and main county Garda stations to check if any newsworthy holy hell had broken loose overnight on their particular patch. It was a restful task, especially communing ...