Marty Baron Made The Post Great Again. Now, the News Is Changing.
The ultimate old-school editor is grappling with a moment of cultural reckoning.
A New York Times article on their main domestic opposition over in the District is rare. I read the article, intrigued that WaPo had a single individual who had "made the Post great again." (Oh wait a minute! Is the Times subtly trolling WaPo with that lede? MAGA?) I wrote what I believed the opposite of what ails the Times, management by committee. Call me old-school too, I don't mind, but as I wrote on the Times story that their editor of the Opinion Page had been ousted, the Times seems to me to be adrift. The editorial board is of unmanageable size, the publisher is new and young. There is no Ben Bradlee--or Marty Baron--at the Gray Lady. This article, in the Times, about the Post, chronicles the challenges a 65 year-old has in managing a reporting staff young enough to be his children, some of them not of his skin complexion. Some minority staff have left and that is painful for any executive. But my take from this article is that the buck, whether it's a crisp new Ben Franklin or a phony, stops at Mr. Baron's desk. At the New York Times my impression is before that bill works its way through the confusing, laborious, time-consuming, multi-branched chain of command it has lost part value to erosion of inflation and comes back solipsistic, pastel rather than primary.
The Times is bloated. The Post streamlined. Sure, one man making the decisions, and a 65 year-old Whitey, is going to invite chafe underneath. But Mr. Baron has principles with which he rules and he enforces them against his stars, not just minorities. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh infuriated Bob Woodward with his lying duplicity and Woodward had Kavanaugh dead. He was going to out him as a source. Mr. Baron killed Woodward's explosive story. One of Baron's principles is that you give your word to an anonymous source that you will not reveal his identity in print, you damn well keep your word. The Times writes,
The ultimate old-school editor is grappling with a moment of cultural reckoning.
A New York Times article on their main domestic opposition over in the District is rare. I read the article, intrigued that WaPo had a single individual who had "made the Post great again." (Oh wait a minute! Is the Times subtly trolling WaPo with that lede? MAGA?) I wrote what I believed the opposite of what ails the Times, management by committee. Call me old-school too, I don't mind, but as I wrote on the Times story that their editor of the Opinion Page had been ousted, the Times seems to me to be adrift. The editorial board is of unmanageable size, the publisher is new and young. There is no Ben Bradlee--or Marty Baron--at the Gray Lady. This article, in the Times, about the Post, chronicles the challenges a 65 year-old has in managing a reporting staff young enough to be his children, some of them not of his skin complexion. Some minority staff have left and that is painful for any executive. But my take from this article is that the buck, whether it's a crisp new Ben Franklin or a phony, stops at Mr. Baron's desk. At the New York Times my impression is before that bill works its way through the confusing, laborious, time-consuming, multi-branched chain of command it has lost part value to erosion of inflation and comes back solipsistic, pastel rather than primary.
The Times is bloated. The Post streamlined. Sure, one man making the decisions, and a 65 year-old Whitey, is going to invite chafe underneath. But Mr. Baron has principles with which he rules and he enforces them against his stars, not just minorities. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh infuriated Bob Woodward with his lying duplicity and Woodward had Kavanaugh dead. He was going to out him as a source. Mr. Baron killed Woodward's explosive story. One of Baron's principles is that you give your word to an anonymous source that you will not reveal his identity in print, you damn well keep your word. The Times writes,
And the steadfast adherence to the longstanding rules of newspaper journalism and the defense of the institution, which have defined Mr. Baron’s tenure at The Post, prevailed.
Marty Baron got Bob Woodward to stand down. Yes, it seems apparent Baron could do better; he, like all of us Boomers, are wary of X'ers and Y'ers and this new-fangled social media. Speak with one voice! Here!
“The Post is more than a collection of individuals who wish to express themselves,” Mr. Baron wrote. “The reputation of The Post must prevail over any one individual’s desire for expression.”
That's a tough sell to the younger generations. But. That. Is. The. Way. It. Is. Going. To. Be. At. The Washington. Post--so long as Marty Baron is in charge. He's going to stay through the inauguration of President Biden but then he's leaving. And my take on that is that that's a shame. Do Not go the way of the New York Times. The Washington Post must continue to speak with One Voice. "The Post must prevail over any one individual's desire for expression." Just right. The Times is still searching for that one voice, those immutable principles, and the Times has suffered upheaval and newsroom revolts that make the Post look like one big happy family. The Times needs a Marty Baron, a Ben Bradlee, but don't know that that is what they need. Inspiring article, to me on the culture at WaPo.
