Marty Baron: Newsroom Giant

by Janet Donovan on November 12th, 2024 

“We may be ready for a glass of wine or two. This has been such a tumultuous year. Tonight we are so honored to have the opportunity to hear from a newsroom giant who’s also known as one of the greatest newspaper editors of his or any other time – Marty Baron, the courageous former executive editor of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Miami Herald, who is also the recipient of many prestigious awards,” President and CEO of Corporation for Public Broadcasting told guests at the Board of Directors Dinner at the National Press Club with special guest Martin Baron in conversation.

“Marty Baron took charge of The Washington Post newsroom in 2013, after nearly a dozen years leading The Boston Globe. Just seven months into his new job, Baron received explosive news: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, would buy the Post, marking a sudden end to control by the venerated family that had presided over the paper for 80 years. Just over two years later, Donald Trump won the presidency.

Now, the capital’s newspaper, owned by one of the world’s richest men, was tasked with reporting on a president who had campaigned against the press as the “lowest form of humanity.” Pressures on Baron and his colleagues were immense and unrelenting, having to meet the demands of their new owner while contending with a president who waged a war of unprecedented vitriol and vengeance against the media.

Read more here.