As written in some film reviews, the Watergate scandal is one of the most iconic success stories in the American journalism industry. I believe that in the relevant film reviews, everyone has fully understood the Watergate scandal and the role of the media, and so do I. But what I care most about is not what happened to the Watergate incident, the movie, or the actors. I just wanted to know who the so-called "unremarkable entertainment talk show host" David Frost was. How in the world did he win the battle with Nixon, the "shrewd political old man".
Thanks to google, I got myself an answer.
After omitting the keywords "movie, Oscar, dialogue", I got an article by Sun Xiaoji published in the Vertical and Horizontal Weekly-Cultural Supplement on November 3, 2008. Now move it as follows. If you can change everyone's little misunderstanding about David Frost, I believe it will be helpful to better understand the Frost/Nixon incident.
A successful person must not be a mere mortal. To be a successful one, you must make the effort you must make, or you need some skills.
Quoting Nixon to Speak the Truth
By Sun Xiaoji
From Oliver Stone's "W" parody of Bush and the White House to Steve McQueen's re-enactment of Margaret Thatcher's iron-fisted policy of 1981 The film "Hunger" (Hunger), the London International Film Festival which ended on October 30, left more light to political figures in history or reality. But what really embodies the theme of the festival's "politics, history, memory" is the opening blockbuster "Frost/Nixon" on the 15th. Director Ron Howard's adaptation of the Broadway play takes audiences back to the memoirs of the 1970s and legendary British host David Frost. body.
David Frost was born in a pastor's family in Kent, England in 1939, but he did not follow the advice of his parents to preach, but chose the media path of "learning and remembering" and was admitted to Cambridge with honors University. During his studies, he showed an extraordinary talent for acting and a passion for journalism. Frost joined Anglia Television after graduation, and soon, Ned Sherrin, a BBC program producer, decided to buy Frost's "potential stock" , let him host the then famous talk show "TW3" (That Was The Week That Was). In the British TV boom of the 1960s, satire and sarcasm about politicians accounted for half of the major talk TV shows, and Frost also established his witty and wise hosting style in this show very timely. In 1963, "TW3" entered the American TV circle on the other side of the ocean because of a special program about the assassination of President Kennedy.
From there, Frost's name became known to American audiences. Subsequently, The Frost Report, Frost On America, The Frost Interview, The Frost Programme, The successive opening of "Frost series" such as "Breakfast with Frost" has further established his personal brand and popularity. He also became, aside from Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the most well-known Englishman of his era to American television audiences.
In 1977, Frost ushered in the most important visit of his life - a dialogue with former US President Nixon. Previously, Nixon was forced to resign from the presidency two years later due to the Watergate scandal in 1972. Although Nixon had been out of office for three years at the time, he had not made public appearances in the media to express his views on the Watergate scandal, nor did he really admit his mistakes. Frost worked hard to force Nixon to confess the truth in the interview, and Nixon, of course, took every step of the way, turning Frost's questions into opportunities for self-defense. The two began the historic conversation in a spacious study, where at least 45 million U.S. viewers tuned in to the show on May 19.
Interestingly, when Nixon accepted the invitation, Frost once said to him: "Only one of us can win." And Nixon did not show weakness, replying: "Then I will be your toughest opponent. "Both of them are well aware that in the cruel arena of television, every slight mistake is enough to be drowned out by the condemnation of public opinion.
What's more interesting is that before accepting the interview, Nixon's aide Jack Brennan once said to him: "Frost's wisdom is far from yours." Brennan's words may not be right, but winning or losing in the media arena has always depended on adequate preparation and on-the-spot wit. At this point, Nixon lost a move before he even started the war. Frost's smoke bombs successfully deceived Nixon's team, and his behind-the-scenes think tank made a lot of desk preparations that Nixon's team could not imagine. The most important point is that Frost, who is well versed in the media, knows how to properly "narrate" secret political discourses in the TV entertainment industry.
Frost had previously conducted three less important interviews with Nixon, which consisted of nothing more than routine questions. Through these interviews, he hoped to disarm Nixon and cover up the "ultimate question" he was about to ask. And Nixon's questions to Frost always avoided the truth and did not dare to answer directly. For example, when Frost asked whether the Nixon administration had violated judicial independence by obstructing the Washington Post and national security investigations into the Watergate scandal, Nixon moved on from Lincoln's Civil War speech, saying "in national security When threatened, the president's orders have legal effect." Frost retorted that the current situation was very different from that of the Civil War, and Nixon argued that the Vietnam War had ideologically divided the United States into North and South. so on and so forth.
However, with the help of rigorous questioning and a large amount of data carefully prepared by the think tank, Frost achieved the final victory, forcing the "emperor president" to surrender in front of hundreds of millions of TV audiences. After all, in the case of Watergate, the Nixon administration was not on the side of justice and justice. At the end of the interview, Nixon had to confess: "I deceived my friends, I deceived my country, I deceived our system of government and the dreams of young people who want to go into government service...I deceived America. The people, and will bear it for the rest of their lives.”
In fact, the $600,000 cat-and-mouse game between Frost and Nixon had another purpose: to reshape himself in the public mind. image. Due to the fact that the programs he has hosted for many years are more than humorous but not serious enough, coupled with the accumulated contradictions with internal colleagues, he has made many enemies in the media circle. Frost desperately needed a strong "talk" to "show" his true skills, while also shutting up those who disagreed with him. No doubt he did so successfully by getting Nixon to tell the truth.
Frost also became a "professional" for visiting heads of government, establishing his unique position in the media and political circles. He has visited British prime ministers from Wilson to Blair and US presidents from Nixon to George W. Bush. No one has beaten this record so far. In 2005, Frost recorded the final episode of "Breakfast with Frost" for the BBC and joined Qatar's Al Jazeera the following year. In 2007, he gave former Pakistani Prime Minister Bey Bhutto her final interview before her assassination.
At the London International Film Festival, 69-year-old David Frost himself made a special trip to attend the premiere of Frost and Nixon. In an interview with reporters, he expressed that he was very satisfied with the documentary: "This is not just about my film, this is my life itself." Of course, he also "complained" that the film's only flaw is in the ointment. It only portrays him as the second protagonist after Nixon. Is Frost really a "secondary" character? Of course not, whether in movies or in reality.
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