Tag Archives: Washington Post

“The Crisis of American Democracy:” WaPo media columnist Margaret Sullivan on the collapse of local journalism

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Most people might assume that the greatest threat to the media is President Trump’s relentless assaults on what he falsely calls “fake news.” But Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan argues, “Another crisis is happening more quietly. Some of the most trusted sources of news—local sources, particularly local newspapers—are slipping away, never to return. The cost to democracy is great.” Sullivan is the former public editor at the New York Times and the former editor of the Buffalo News. Her new book is Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy. She documents how nearly half of newsroom staffs have lost their jobs since 2008, the forces working against journalism, the dire implications for democracy, accountability and public participation, and where she finds hope (hint: Vermont’s own vtdigger is one). (July 15, 2020 broadcast)

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist, Washington Post

From Nazis to Watergate to Trump: Legendary WaPo editor Harry Rosenfeld connects the dots

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An unsung hero of the Watergate scandal was Washington Post editor Harry Rosenfeld, who directed Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein in their Pulitzer Prize winning exposes that brought down Pres. Richard Nixon. Rosenfeld was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1929 and, after witnessing German attacks on Jewish owned businesses and synagogues, he emigrated to the US with his family ten years later. Rosenfeld began his newspaper career at The New York Herald Tribune, then joined The Washington Post as Metro Editor. After 12 years at the Post, he left to become editor of the Albany Times Union. In 2013, Rosenfeld wrote From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaper Man. Now 88 years old, Rosenfeld describes life under Hitler, how he hired Bob Woodward and the back story of covering Watergate, the vital role of a free press, and the parallels he sees between the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany and in the U.S. under Trump. (March 7, 2018 broadcast)

Harry Rosenfeld, editor, Washington Post & Albany Times Union