Article by Belushi Biographer on how Woodward botched Wired.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/03/bob_woodward_and _gene_sperling_what_woodward_s_john_belushi_book_can_tell.single.html
Tanner Colby worked with Judy Belushi to write Belushi: A Biography. In this article he critiques Woodward's efforts. It's a good read, but the gist of it can be summed up in these two paragraphs.
...Wired is like that throughout. Like a funhouse mirror, Woodward’s prose distorts what it purports to reflect. Moments of tearful drama are rendered as tersely as an accounting of Belushi’s car-service receipts. Friendly jokes are stripped of their humor and turned into boorish annoyances. And when Woodward fails to convey the subtleties of those little moments, he misses the bigger picture. Belushi’s nervousness about doing that love scene in Continental Divide was an important detail. When that movie came out, it tanked at the box office. After months of fighting to stay clean, Belushi fell off the wagon and started using heavily again. Six months later he was dead. Woodward missed the real meaning of what went on.....
Over and over during the course of my reporting I’d hear a story that conflicted with Woodward’s account in Wired. I’d say, “Aha! I’ve got him!” I’d run back to Woodward’s index, look up the offending passage, and realize that, well, no, he’d put down the mechanics of the story more or less as they’d happened. But he’d so mangled the meaning and the context that his version had nothing to do with what I concluded had actually transpired.
So while Woodward reported the facts he completely missed the mood. When Belushi did something people thought was funny or impressive Woodward wrote it like he was an unprofessional pig that annoyed everyone. The facts of the situation are correct, John did something on this day, at this time, like this, but why John did it and how everyone reacted to it are completely misrepresented.
Another critique is that Woodward overwhelmingly printed negative stories. Good stories about John are few and far between in Wired.
Like I said it's a great article and should be read in full. share