From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Brooke Gladstone. And I'm Bob Garfield.

Here's an old movie that's no doubt flying off video rental shelves.

The money's the key to whatever this is. Says who? Deep Throat. Who?

Well, that's Woodward's a garage freak, his source and the executive. Garage freak. Jesus.

What kind of a crazy story is this?

What kind of crazy story?

The kind that slowly, incrementally grips the world and ultimately topples a presidency.

The kind that fills history books and bestsellers that goes Pulitzer and Hollywood.

The kind that inspires a generation of journalists to shine the bright light of inquiry into the darkest corners of government,

the kind of mythic tale that permanently enshrines itself in the psyche of a nation.

At the heart of that myth, the garage freak known as Deep Throat.

The identity of Woodward and Bernstein's source was Watergate's last secret. Until this week, we witnessed the unmasking under ambiguous circumstances

of the former FBI official named Mark Felt. On the Don Imish show, Bob Woodward tried to explain

why Deep Throat remained under

deep cover for 31 years. This is a man who was in turmoil, not sure whether he did the right

thing or the wrong thing, and saw the Watergate cover up and chose the route to talk to me.

Motivation.

That was the central theme of the week's media free-for-all.

Why did the number two men in the FBI risk career and prosecution to speak to Woodward?

Why did he remain silent for so long?

Why, at the age of 91, addled by dementia and stroke, did he finally come forward?

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