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The Post man’s still delivering

BJR editor Hagerty interviews Leonard Downie Jr, the Washington Post's executive editor for the past 15 years. He is the longest serving editor of any major newspaper in the United States, yet remains largely anonymous outside the industry. Downie's views on the British media include: "...there is a general tendency in the British media [for writers] to be essayists rather than reporters. There's a lot of detail that doesn't appear in most British reporting - it's more impressionistic, more analytical, and it's less deep and less facts-seeking. I particularly admire the proper analysis and the level of intellectual engagement, which is very high... But one thing that... disturbs me is the whole lobby system - the conspiring with officialdom to produce stories that are almost impossible to trace the origins of and to be misleading to the public as a result. It makes government more opaque rather than more transparent..."

And he also observes: "The depths of investigative reporting and accountability reporting here, and the premium on accuracy, is paramount. In Britain, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, for example, are both very aggressive newspapers right now, but every time they report something that interests us, the first thing we have to do is check it out. Just because they've reported it doesn't mean it's true. I would hate for people to see The Washington Post that way."

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