By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY
MARTIN BARON, RETIRED managing editor of the Washington Post (WP) newspaper, was among several authors hosted at the weekend long 19th Annual Book Festival, August 30 – September 1, at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center. He spoke about his first book, “Collision of Power Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post” to a full capacity crowd on Saturday afternoon. Baron was interviewed by fellow journalist Barry Meier, author of “Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug’s Trail of Addiction and Death.”
Baron, also, ran the newsrooms of the Boston Globe, NY Times (NYT) and Miami Herald. While at the Globe, the newspaper won acclaim for its investigative Spotlight series on the Catholic Church’s child sex abuse scandal in 2002. The work was turned into a movie, which won the 2015 Best Picture Oscar. Actor Liev Schreiber portrayed Baron.
In introductory remarks, Baron said that seven months after accepting the WP position the newspaper was bought by Amazon Founder/CEO Jeff Bezos and two years later Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
Meier described the opening scene in “Collision of Power” at a White House dinner, hosted by Trump. Baron expressed reluctance to attend but relented. Trump used the dinner “to dress down” Baron and Bezos and lean on them to be fairer in its news coverage of him. Bezos’ only comment was that he was not involved with news coverage. Trump retaliated by undermining Amazon and barring WP reporters from his rallies in 2016.
Baron admitted that the media, considered among the “elites,” was caught flatfooted when it came to Trump. “We’d never seen before a candidate like Trump. We’d never seen before a president like Trump.”
To deal with him the WP increased is fact-checking staff. It determined that Trump told 30,000 lies and misleading statements during his four-year term. Baron said he was trying to decide if Trump was “unknowingly lying, delusional, bullshitting or purposefully lying.”
Baron concluded that Trump had “no respect for truth” when after repeatedly denying that his son, Don Jr., met with Russian officials, Trump acknowledged such a meeting.
Baron explained that the media was caught in the middle between right and left advocates. “There were attacks from both sides. Why cover him?” At WP the worry was not “to be seen as an arm of the Democratic Party.” Baron credited the NYT as “the first publication to challenge Trump.” He, also, credited Bezos for never interfering with WP news coverage.
Reflecting on his 12 years at The Globe, Baron expressed extreme satisfaction with the Spotlight series on the 10-year Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal, which generated “950 stories over 18 months.” The documents that led to an undisclosed settlement between the church and state were “under seal.”
Baron proposed to Globe lawyers that the newspaper file a lawsuit to gain access to the documents. Globe lawyers thought it was a 50/50 chance their lawsuit would prevail. Baron joked those were “good odds” for a newspaper. The Globe prevailed.
The documents revealed that a priest, John Geognhan was alleged to abuse 80-130 boys over 30 years, that Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, head of the Boston archdiocese, was aware of Geognhan’s behavior and simply reassigned him to different parishes within the diocese.
Geognhan retired from the ministry at age 58. He was prosecuted in several Massachusetts jurisdictions, starting in 1991, before being found guilty and sentenced to 10 years at a maximum security facility, where he was stomped to death by fellow inmate, Joseph Druce, in the first year of his sentence.
In the interim, Geognhan was defrocked by Pope John Paul II in 1998 and the Catholic Church reached a $10 million settlement with the families of 86 boys. Baron said that survivors, priests and devout Catholics expressed their “thanks” for the Spotlight work.
In a Q&A session Baron said that a backlash against the media has been led by Trump the past 15 years and that trust in the press has declined since President Nixon and Watergate. He called the press a “convenient target.”
He also faulted Congress for “not doing its job. The bi-partisan congressional hearings of Watergate would not happen today.”
In addition Baron faulted a fragmented media market, which allows the public to access outlets that affirm their worldview.
Baron was asked, “How do we break out of this box?” Baron responded that 25–35% of the public believes outrageous things. He cited a poll where 10% of the American public believes “the earth is flat and 9% are unsure.” He said the challenge is to “get 5% more of the public to trust the media.” Digitally the press can show people things. “Check our work.”
An audience member faulted the press for being “too willing to be neutral.” Baron rejected the word “neutral” substituting “objective” and “independent” instead. “It is not journalists’ job to take a side but to report fearlessly and unflinchingly.” He cited a sign at the WP that reads, “To tell the truth as much as the truth can be ascertained.”
Baron admitted that investigative journalism is expensive. The Times and WP have a newsroom staff of 1,700 and 1,200 respectively. Baron extolled the value and role that small, local newspapers – “the weeklies and bi-weeklies” – play. He noted that when natural disasters strike in the U.S. “People turn to mainstream media” for the news and details not the bogus internet outlets purporting to be news.
