The death rattle from Washington is coming from the offices of the Post

There is an eerie death rattle emanating from the offices of The Washington Post on 15th Street in Washington — it is the final gasps from a dying newspaper — one that has, in spite of its sycophantic relationship with Washington’s power elites over the years, managed to bring down a Nixon administration that systematically violated the Constitution and helped expose a Reagan era arms-for-hostages deal that was linked to the Oval Office itself.

On July 7, Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, the grand-daughter of long-time Post publisher Katharine Graham of Watergate fame, announced that former Wall Street Journal editor Marcus Brauchli would succeed Len Downie, Jr., as executive editor of the Post. Washington Post Company owner Donald Graham has finally seen the flagship newspaper of Washington transformed from a top daily to a subsidiary of what Graham now calls his firm — “an education and media company.” Some 75 percent of the Washington Post Company’s business now comes from its Kaplan test preparation and private education unit. In such a context, any reporting by the Post of matters dealing with public education should be seen with a jaundiced eye, notwithstanding the pronouncements of Deborah Howell, the Post’s ombudsman, who, in reality, is nothing more than an extension of the Post company’s public relations flack department.

George H. W. Bush used to say that when he was a kid his mother made him eat broccoli but when he became President of the United States, he refused to eat broccoli. Just like Bush, many Journal and Post reporters are finding it hard to swallow the Brauchli who made a series of backroom deals with NewsCorp’s Rupert Murdoch and the Post’s Graham and Weymouth. The Post’s Howard Kurtz, who also doubles as a CNN talking head, tried to describe the angst at the Post about Brauchli and the fact that Brauchli was, against tradition, hired from outside the Post’s ranks, but Kurtz, the Post’s media reporter, did no go far enough about his soon-to-be boss.

After Murdoch bought the Dow Jones Company and the Journal from the Bancroft family last year, Brauchli was named the Journal’s editor. Murdoch agreed to name a three person independent panel that would approve any changes in the top three Journal editorial positions, including the job held by Brauchli. However, soon Brauchli cut a deal with Murdoch which saw him step down as editor, take a golden parachute reportedly worth a few million dollars, and become a NewsCorp consultant. The “independent committee” that was to be informed of such changes in management never had a clue of what was afoot between the Journal’s head office and Murdoch.

Meanwhile, Brauchli met with Weymouth to discuss the future of the Post and in a scene from the Dick Cheney playbook of executive searches, according to long-time Washington journalists familiar with the inner workings at the Post, Downie’s job was being offered up to Brauchli. The only trouble was that Downie was one of the last people to find out about his own impending departure and replacement.

The Post’s circulation is dropping dramatically and it now has as its chief editor a slash-and-burn manager whose idea of journalism is engaging in corporate Kabuki dances with the likes of Murdoch. Based on the propagandists who work for Fox News as “journalists,” one can see the future of the Washington Post — and it is a very dismal future to contemplate.

The freshly-dug grave in the cemetery of Washington journalism has a new grave stone and it is inscribed with the following name: The Washington Post.

Wayne Madsen
Online Journal