Bob Woodward Masterclass Review 2023

If you do not know who Bob Woodward is, he is one of the most well-known investigative journalists with his most well-known case being that he exposed the rampant corruption of the Nixon presidency with aid from Carl Bernstein when he was only 29 years old.

With this course materials the journalist is passing on his skills so you can learn from what he knows. You will get some amazing clips from behind the scenes, and he adds plenty of stories that add a great personal touch to the course.

You get a good value if you already have a Masterclass subscription, and it is a good motivator to use the service.

Furthermore, you get some good advice on improving your professional appearance, as well as development towards leadership skills, and general career management advice.

It is worth noting that compared to some other Masterclass courses, Bob Woodward’s is quite a bit more comprehensive and quite long, this can be seen as a strength or weakness depending on what you are looking for.

This also might not be a perfect choice for you if you do not want to dedicate the time needed to do your own personal projects.

If you want more details on Bob Woodward’s Masterclass course deeper than what has been mentioned here, then the rest of this review will give you all the information you are looking for!

More On Bob Woodward’s

As well as being in the field investigative journalist, Bob Woodward is a writer who has plenty of books which he has published. In fact, 12 of his 18 published works have become number 1 nonfiction bestsellers.

He also worked as a senior editor in the Washington Post and worked on investigative journalism.

Of course, Bob Woodward is most well known for his work on exposing the Nixon presidency, but this course will ensure that you are aware of his other skills and will be able to gain some of his skills over the length of the course.

Bob Woodward Course Description

In the first section of this Masterclass Bob Woodward course, he makes a point to emphasize just how important modern-day journalism is, and how there should be no limits when it comes to discovering the best obtainable version of the truth you can get.

In the second part of the course, you will have the focus shift to investigative journalism, this will be split into 5 sections, these 5 sections are titled: Guiding principle, Finding the story, How to approach depth reporting, Hunting down the document, and Developing the theory of the case.

These sections will walk you through how to get out of your comfort zone and make the most compelling new stories possible. He focuses on the importance of being focused, persistent, as well as proactive when working as an investigative journalist.

The third section of the course focuses on the Watergate Investigation which is split into 2 separate parts the challenges faced in reporting on Watergate, and how the mark of the Watergate scandal became deep throat.

One of the most important sections of the course is the fourth part and which focuses on how you will work with sources.

First Bob Woodward focuses on how you find sources and then how you will know which sources are worth following and trusting, and which are not worth your time and should be avoided.

He then moves into developing the sources and how you should share what you know while keeping in contact with the sources which you need for the story.

There is then a specific focus placed on how you can build trust with your sources and just how important it is to build this rapport with them.

There is a focus in this section on how to build intimacy with sources while also ensuring that personal boundaries are maintained. Then there is a focus on keeping your sources as a roster and how to maintain resources with them.

We then move on to a more specific example of how Bob Woodward built his relationship with Bill Casey who was the director of the CIA and how useful of a source this was.

Bob Woodward emphasized just how difficult of a target the CIA is and how hard it was to get any good sources. Bob Woodward then goes into the steps which you should be doing before you conduct any formal interviews.

This section is quite specific and goes into details like deciding where you want to meet and considering whether or not you want to send the interviewee the questions in advance of the interview.

After this Bob Woodward then goes into how you should act while conducting an interview. This goes over the body language you should have and the kinds of questions that should be included.

Bob Woodward keeps his focus on interviewing by focusing on the challenges you could face while interviewing and how you can push through these obstacles and still get good results from your interview.

There is then a focus placed on Bob Woodward’s interview with Trump and how working with high-profile sources works. There is even a section where students directly critique Bob Woodward’s interview with Obama and look critically at this interview.

Finally, after all the focus on the investigative work, we conclude this section by looking at how to put this all into practice by writing it into a story and how you turn your information into a compelling story.

This is then followed by a section focused on polishing your story where Bob Woodward talks about evaluating your choices in wording and knowing when to stop working on a draft of work.

Bob Woodward’s Advice For Journalists

There is also a section dedicated to Bob Woodward’s advice to journalists. This is also split into sections. There are video lessons that he has learned from his editors, especially those related to facing rejection and knowing how to learn from criticism.

There are also some details on how to work with secrets, and knowing what information should be public and what should not be.

There is also a focus on how you can learn from your mistakes, and he then concludes his advice by reflecting on how journalism has changed with innovations like the internet.

Summary

Bob Woodward’s Masterclass course has been reviewed very well by Masterclass subscribers and it comes quite highly recommended by them.

There are some negatives with the advice sometimes being seen as basic, but others appreciate having the insight of Bob Woodward himself and seeing him work on a course like this.

When looking at the strengths of the course, we can see first and foremost how much of a personal touch Bob Woodward has had on the course, and his personal stories keep it incredibly engaging.

By having clips of his performances in interviews, we get practical examples to follow, and the focus on career management in later portions is greatly appreciated. The focus on improving professional appearance is also good to include.

However, this course is not infallible and has some flaws. For example, some people think the course is a little too long, but if you want more time for what you are paying for, you will likely appreciate this fact.

It can also be hard to follow if you have no personal experience or projects to work on as well.

We hoped that you have liked our own version of the Bob Woodward Masterclass review!