Bob Woodward's Reporting Called Into Question by New Belushi Bio

Bob Woodward's Reporting Called Into Question by New Belushi Bio

The Valerie Plame affair isn't the first time that Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward has come under fire.

NEW YORK, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Belushi, the new biography of comic icon John Belushi, refutes much of what Bob Woodward wrote about Belushi in 1984's notorious Wired, underlining Woodward's credibility gap. Belushi co-authors Judith Belushi Pisano (John's widow) and Tanner Colby say that during their interviews with Hollywood heavy hitters for the just-published oral history, they uncovered a pattern emerged of twisted facts, critical omissions, and outright fabrications by Woodward:

* "Whenever I started telling him the good things about John he would literally put down his pen and wait for me to finish," says screenwriter and Belushi friend Mitch Glazer.

* "Wired has so many things wrong," director John Landis says. "It ... has me giving John some big roundhouse, John Wayne punch in the face, and it's just not true ... The only two people in that trailer were me and John. John's dead, and I never told that story to Bob Woodward."

* "It was my first experience of getting tricked by a journalist," says Belushi's "Continental Divide" co-star Blair Brown.

Additional comments are available on the Belushi website (www.belushibook.com).

Woodward is now under fire for crossing journalistic lines by withholding vital information from his editors at The Washington Post regarding the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. Looking for answers and hoping for closure, Belushi-Pisano entrusted Woodward to tell John's story but she soon realized that Bob Woodward had his own agenda.

"When the writer becomes bigger than the story, there's a problem," says co-author Tanner Colby. "You could call it a lapse of journalistic integrity, but Woodward isn't really a journalist anymore. He's a brand that sells books."

Belushi: A Biography seeks to correct much of the damage done by Wired, focusing instead on John's career and creative accomplishments. It's an oral history featuring over a hundred new interviews with Belushi contemporaries like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and SNL producer Lorne Michaels. It also contains dozens of personal photographs from the Belushi archives.

"I think it's important for people to see a larger portrait of John," Belushi Pisano says. "His death was a tragedy, but his life was vibrant, fun and exciting. For anyone who wants to know about the real John Belushi, the true story has finally been told."

Source: Susan Blond, Inc.

CONTACT: Chrissy Meaney of Susan Blond, Inc., +1-212-333-7728, ext. 119,
fax: +1-212-262-1373

Web site: http://www.belushibook.com/

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