Say the name Nixon to most people older than 45 and all sorts of images are conjured up, most of them unpleasant: Watergate, resignation, the 18-minute gap, Cambodia, etc.

Say the name to most people younger than 45 and . . . who? President or something?

Frost/Nixon ought to change that. Not saying it will, but it should.

I am younger than 45 (at least in 2009) and I just watched this compelling movie (Frost/Nixon) directed by Ron Howard and staring Frank Langella as President Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost.  It came off quite well as a heavy weight match with both men trying to get back to the top of their field, but only one could win.

For the record, I am not a journalist, well I am more of a citizen journalist as one of my colleagues has helped me find that niche. One of the most revealing things to me about these interviews especially with controversial political  figures is the power  that interview may have  to make or break careers.   For example, the Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interviews will go down in recent history as one of the most memorable and controversial interviews.

Good journalism can come from any person. Frost wasn’t a journalist and didn’t work for a news organization. He was a well-educated talk show host who put up his own money to produce the Nixon interviews independently. “Serious” journalists thought of him as a lightweight, an attitude that comes through pretty clearly in this piece about the interviews that Mike Wallace did for 60 Minutes.

The Frost/Nixon interviews reminds us that the truth matters and proves as a democracy accountability remains crucial.