June 17, 1972 changed journalism and politics forever. A simple, botched burglary marked the fall of President Richard Nixon and the rise to fame of two obscure young Washington Post journalists: Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Even though their investigative journalism revealed the truth, their questionable methods and ethics led to these questions; Does the end justify the means? Was their behavior ethical and legal? The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal during Nixon's presidency. Nixon, paranoid and fearful of losing his re-election, employed men to carry out various illegal activities designed to put Republicans ahead of Democrats in the election. The activities were only detected after a botched burglary of the Watergate building. The acts of corruption were exposed and 43 people were ultimately incarcerated, thanks to Woodward and Bernstein's dedication to uncovering the truth. Before criticizing the behavior of Woodward and Bernstein, we must consider the difficulties that hampered press freedom at that time. The First Amendment protections afforded to journalists were not absolute. Editors and publishers could face legal problems if their articles are considered brutally defamatory of individuals, blatantly disrespectful of ideals of community decency, or distinctly dangerous to national security (Schmoop editorial team). The Watergate scandal was one of the first examples in modern journalism where the government was not exempt from exposure to the public eye. Despite the difficulties of those times, certain ethical standards of journalism should not have been violated. The Society of Professional Journalists lists four ethical values ​​that...... middle of article ......nalismGlavinic, T. (2012). Watergate and the Washington Post: dubious tactics in the service of democracy. Retrieved from Student Pulse: http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/618/watergate-and-tthe-washington-post-questionable-tacticsHistory.com Staff. (2009). Watergate scandal. Retrieved from History.com: http://www.history.com/topics/watergate Mancari, J. (March 23, 2012). Woodward and Bernstein highlight the constants of journalism. From the Long Island Report: http://longislandreport.org/multimedia/woodward-and-bernstein-stress-the-constants-of-journalism/13637 Schmoop Editorial Team. (nd). History of American journalism. Retrieved from Schmoop: http://www.shmoop.com/history-american-journalism/summary.htmlSociety of Professional Journalists. (1996). Code of ethics of the SPJ. Retrieved from Society of Professional Journalists: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp