Transcripts For CSPAN2 QA 20160803

Marty baron, executive editor of the Washington Post, when did you first get interested in the News Business . I was in Junior High School and very interested in what was happening in the world. My parents were immigrants and they were interested in this country and what was happening and what was happening around the world. I think through their reading of newspapers and watching Television News and local news and national lose, i got interested in it myself. I know you grew up in tampa, where did your parents come from and why did they come to the United States. They came from israel and they came to United States, my father believed in the american dream. They had a made a stop in stop in paris and in 1954 they came to the United States and my father started working in the Service Industry in florida. When did you start to understand what journalism was supposed to be . I think in high school i had an idea of what was happening and i was pretty sure i wanted to make it my career at an early age and i read about it, knew about it, absorbed that sort of thing. i thought i should have a fallback in business would be one of them in their other business is as well this. Would assure definition of a journalism . To make up public aware of what is going on their own country and community and around the world and importantly powerful individuals need to be held accountable is one of the most important missions. Cspan a couple of years ago you were approached but he stood up in the room before you moved just recently and said the following. Watch this and explain. I asked him to arrange a meeting right away it is private and i cannot say why the you may want to bring a lawyer. That was preposterous. I dont actually know his name i will not tell you right away there were some stamps on that i had never seen before. It was a hard decision to make what to publish or what not to publish. Carol also security measures so how does that feel . [laughter] cspan what do you remember after that . What did you have to do . I certainly remember the part of the story of enormous consequence of this sensitive documents and i felt the of a rate of that on my shoulders but first to find out the story he laid that out and we talked about it in me had to decide if we would proceed with the story. There were many others and we had that conversation in got back to him promptly we were willing to move ahead. Cspan he didnt work for you at that time . He had worked for the Washington Post in the Previous Year but at the time he was working on contract for though he felt this was a story he should bring to though Washington Post and felt most comfortable and had heard good things about me thankfully but could not be sure either. He took some risk but it was calculated on his part. Cspan how did you bring him back . We put him back on contract we wrote that out for the Legal Protection should he needed it is important to him. We did agree to provide that but first we had to decide if were going to pursue this story because that really raised all sorts of important privacy considerations for americans. What we saw was a dramatic increase of surveillance by did the government with enormous implications of the privacy of americans in the emergenceof a surveillance state that was the merchant and a powerful way as to if they wanted this from their government and my view and of my colleagues, the consensus view was that that is a of a debate the public should have. Now the balance between security a gaudy American Public participate it has huge implications. Cspan when did you find out who was . Later. It was that matter of weeks may be one month. I am not sure bart new flow was but then he learned to love is. Cspan when was the first time you had to go to the government to ask them and what was their reaction . Lombard was ready to go it was being written at the time and he approached intelligence officials that the nsa and they said they did not want him to write the story in regent and they felt we shouldnt publish a. But we said we felt was important and we invited them to comment and they didnt initially but ultimately they did but they would not engage. Cspan then did the others follow to try to get you not to publish in the government . Guest i did not hear directly. Subsequent to that we have many stories with people in the government with one inconsequential meeting we had officials about the with highlevel intelligence and many reporters had interactions with the federal government as well. So in these instances republish and then let the consequences out there to see what happens. We know what they are intending to publish it and go into some detail with considerable detail and give them the opportunity to make an argument if that information should be public or not down to the smallest detail. We will have discussions or even debates if they are relevant if they have a bearing on the sources or the methods. We do not want to publish information that reveals individual intelligence sources for example, or methods certainly not without overwhelming Public Interest. Cspan was there a time you thought you would not publish . The first jury were absolutely confident and all the other stories republished over a period of one year or beyond we were comfortable we had substantial discussions about which stories involves Public Interest and that was the threshold. Cspan when you have a story like this how much you involve the publisher, the order into was the order at the time . The Washington Post company. The ceo of the chairman was don gramm and the publisher was his niece. We informed both of them we intended to publish the initial story as well as subsequent because at had implications for our institution i could not publish it without letting them know and they signed onto it. They knew generally what it was about they were aware it could have implications for our institution in. Cspan you have been at the Washington Post three years. This is video now that the ownership has changed but you are on the set being interviewed the only reason they want to run this to hear what she said about the post and what has changed in the short period of time. You have five to thousand daily subscribers the 700,000 what are those doing where are they . Wide you have 700,000 during the week . I think the readers are different for starters as they have more time on sunday. A lot of people get the sunday paper delivered on saturday plus we have the coupons. [laughter] and a lot of people get us a paper for the tv week in the coupons and the magazine and set back. Cspan inch to a short years and i were dead at 340,000 circulation but the 19 million has gone way up explain. 71. 6 million unique visitors in the United States to look at our website every month. That was the number for november and that was a record and october was a record. October we passed the New York Times with unique visitors here the United States and we widen that lead in the month of november. The numbers have grown tremendously in those who are reading the Washington Post. Cspan if it seems that since you have come along the change of the ownership to jeff peas those end of the Digital Communications and i want to show your new Office Facility what does that feel like . You come in and it is all different now . Do you feel the difference . It was an important step in history. At was in terms of history of the Washington Post in terms of watergate and many other stories. We have entered a new era were mower people get their Information Online and theyre smart phone and we have to move and change in our industry with consumption habits. In the are able to work collaborative flee with the experts and video teams with those who specializes with social media and were much more integrated. This new facility allows us to do that and on top of that it has technological facilities that we need. Host td recorded in the wall street journal to say the internet is its own medium but we approach all stories they may not always be traditional but we are now living in a traditional news telling time. What do you mean . Guest look, when you tell a story on television you dont read a newspaper story or on radio you dont read the Television Script for go along comes the web it allows us to do all sorts of things to tell stories in a way that are material different than the way they were in the past. It is a different way that ordinary people interact on their desktop the tablets, smart phones and laptops and allows people to tell stories in different ways and to deploy the tools we have to incorporate tweets if people are on the sea with a are seeing can incorporate that and if it makes sense to annotate that is a type of story that is the story telling format that cannot be replicated in print and so those were extremely well on the web and we want to do that on top of that a lot of times on the web people can be more conversational and accessible and it is the stronger voice the personality of their greater than in a more structured formalized format that generally appears in the newspaper. Cspan how many people were robbed your Editorial Staff when you first got there and how many now . There were maybe 650 . Now it is roughly 700. Cspan it seems you have your foot in the old camp and the new camp. Analytic dash boards and traffic figures will be looked at as a part of performance reviews did you know, that . I probably did swallow hard maybe when i said that but it is just the reality. We need to know how people are reading information and how they are coming to us coming directly to our web site, facebook, snap chat chat, google o or any other venues we can know that. I dont think there is anything terribly radical as those of us in the newspaper industry for a long time we were taught journalism this is how this work he essentially how do people read newspapers but now more people are reading on digital devices. So how are they reading . We need to know how they are reading us. I also suspect people with the radio talk show business has been up on Mainstream Media every day. All these people have said and ask if this has done any damage. The moral code, of moral compass is something to behold. Activists help to render the Mainstream Media. I will show a montage of the media. The Mainstream Media is out of control. And is beyond repair. We have a list of questions the us Mainstream Media. Guest are there any more adjectives . [laughter] they get commercial advantage out of criticizing us but they use that term because many are the Mainstream Media like fox news is the largest cable news operation in the country but they call Mainstream Medias so does Rush Limbaugh he is the most successful talk show host and the country that would make him Mainstream Media so that is them. The other point i dont think this should affect us we should do our jobs honorably and we should stick to the purpose and not be distracted. No question that attacks have hurt our image your credibility but that is down from what used to be in from what it ought to be. But comments like those that you showed, and the credibility is low among the of population that doesnt agree with that profile. We just cannot get distracted by that we have to do an honest and honorable job this is pointless in intended to gain commercial and advantage. Cspan coming at a florida, texas, for cisco, and they said you were living in a bubble in washington. Guest i do think it is a little bit of a bubble but i am not from washington night trip to florida ive worked in california, boston, dior, tr aveled around the country, and many of these places can be bubbles. No question in the half to be very careful absolutely. That day vastly represent america and that is something we have to be aware of. It is important for our correspondence to get out of washington. Cspan coming from the of National Review here he is talking about the post. They want indepth coverage people does love covering the conservative movement adding depth to a the ranks but this is an organization and that prizes ought to objectivity and wants to get more information. Cspan why did you hire him . He did the exceptionally good job of the movement is important we went to a understand that very well. With that lovell love understanding of the conservative movement. That is why we hired them. Cspan on your editorial page you have nothing to do with that but others saw of the conservative side but back to the talkshow host do they not recognize that or they dont like to . Be the neck i know i am not in charge of the oped your editorial but we have a wide variety of voices in you have a wide variety. I want our reporters as well and they have done and an exceptional job to track the conservative to track and to listen to people and what is motivating. Lets ask you to recall when you went to the l. A. Times first she went to the miami herald would be remember from your days at the miami herald . My first job was a wreck porter at stewart a town of 12,000 the entire county only had 50,000. I and a colleague were responsible for air producing a page of musec 77 days a week. Sometimes we really had to struggle to find a story in a place that didnt have thatmany people there is only one Movie Theater in the entire county that was big news. Is there nine months then they assigned p to boca raton a bigger place Dallas Center of the slowgrowth movement trying to impede development and i did that then because of my interest in business i was invited to miami to be a business porter for the miami herald so i started it 1977 or 78 then the fed deregulating Interest Rates opening the floodgates to a new investment vehicles. And mutual funds than they started to sell direct investments that open the floodgates into hiring of business reporters. What is a small technique you would have used as a reporter back then . To get people to talk. Guest i believe in the role of listening sometimes reporters do too much talking and i think sometimes if you ask a simple question they will go on and on. People like to talk. They dont like to remain silent delight to tell you what theyre up tussaud sometimes silence is the most effective. Is that uncomfortable sometimes just not to talk . I dont at all. Certainly immense role was into other peoples opinions listening to 700 people these days we talk about the crowds were saying they now lot more about their areas of expertise in for me to pretend to be an expert that is up a great mistake so theyll be stronger fair in a position as they tried to a use their knowledge. Host 17 years . What is the one story remember the most. I covered a lot of early stages of Michael Milken i was in its new york as a financial correspondent and moved back to us to angeles as an editor. Host . Cspan why the New York Times . It seemed like everything is happening in this seemed like a Good Opportunity i couldve gone to the wall street journal or the New York Times. Cspan how long we there . I was the editor responsible for the newspaper to be the managing editor to make sure the paper met the standards that they set forth in that we made changes as appropriate in to be the representative. It could have been 89 months and i committed to that but after nine months they decided i knew what i was doing so they put me in that position to go to the New York Times and the first place. Cspan if they dont read that a hard copy what is the difference between inside the New York Times and the Washington Post right now . Guest right now . I dont know that your time is right now but at the time my was there it is hard to describe cultural differences certainly the times i was part of but the post as the Collaborative Organization but people work really well together as a team. Cspan then to be the executive editor year 2000 . You will therefore, solace and also the election. They did not play a role. The county played an important role. It was too small to play any role. Which did the miami herald conclude . First of all, after the u. S. Supreme court decided there ribby a recount we decided we should determine for historys sake we went to every one of the 67 counties that we could do that under the law of florida we obtained all the ballots they did their account and we did our account and with it through every single ballot the supervisor recorded how the ballot was voted for could be counted because they were marked in a way that couldnt be counted so the question is how you judge the hanging chad . Of it was punctured if it was hanging on the you count that or not . So that was under various standards and read determined who actually won that election. Cspan comedy times . Guest we recounted once but we did read accounts as well so we hired others the yes george bush won a and we both came to the same conclusion under every reasonable scenario. Cspan how hard was that to decide to do that . Not so hard because we are aware of the records law allowed us to gain access. It was going to be expensive. We knew that we had to get approval from the ceo Parent Company he approved in he felt we should hire a the big six Accounting Firm at the time and have one of them also do a count so we set about the process to get one of the biggest Accounting Firms to go with us. None of the biggest would participate it was too radioactive. So then we went to the next level down to very reputable Accounting Firms. Then we were very grateful they agreed we said that sign the contract quickly before they decide they dont. The ceo of knightridder estimated how much it would cost . I said a quarter of a million but is closer to 850,000. He was willing to pay the bill and did not hold accountable hold me accountable also. Cspan then you came to the post in 2012 here is video of a woman that changed your life and a lot of peoples life ive been back to america was a columnist in this is from 1987 it to see what role she played in your life. The best advice and editor for gave me was you know, more about this topic and anybody so run this through the typewriter one more time. Right to like you know, what better than anybody else. Lake you spent three weeks lifting the story. Cspan what role did she play . Here are referring to the investigation of the Catholic Church in decadeslong from the archdiocese of boston so the day before a was to start i read a column about a priest accused of abusing as many as 80 children in she pointed up the priest for the plaintiffs for the survivors the allegation was the cardinal himself was abused by the priest and yet they repeatedly reassigned him from one parish to the next then though a lawyer for the defendants for the archdiocese said they were baseless and irresponsible then she said but the truth may never be known because these documents were under seal and they would never be disclosed. So when i went to my first meeting of my first day we went around the room to talk about the stories and nobody mentioned this and ask we were doing to followup we have one side saying one thing we have the oversize saying something completely different could we not find out the truth . It was pointed out to me in that beating the documents were under seal i said id do that but had reached on about the possibility of filing a motion to unseal the documents . I didnt tell the laws of massachusetts but in florida we would have gone to court keep in mind it had expansive public records law but these read not public records there were private put under seal by a court at the request of the archdiocese. My instinct led to unseal that so i raise that it was met with silence in the service meet after the meeting and we decided we would consult with the help side iturbi to find out what the prospects were and then ultimately the lawyers came back a couple weeks later with the assessment of the case and the judge and i asked what he thought the odds what were we would prevail and he said 50 50 isis those are good odds in journalism lets go ahead so ultimately we did. Cspan you are an outsider and jewish in a catholic town all the reporters were raised catholic what impact did that have on you at the time going up against the cardinal who was alive the lives in rome . He is retired and lives in rome he has a very cushy job after the scandal broke. I do boston was heavily influenced in the single most powerful institution people ask me why did you decide to go up against the Catholic Church . I didnt decide i decided there was the story that was needed to pursue the question was how can we get at the truth . When somebody says the truth may never be known we should go after that ride away. Now there is the movie called spotlight. These are not actors. Including the fellow with the deep voice. Working seven days a week it was an incredible amount of labor. It could be for months it hoping to publish something that earned it. Newspapers are the only medium that have the resources not just deep investigative projects but to hold those accountable in with those diminishing resources and very few papers that the local level are doing this. Did we have six reporters so there are some longterm investigative reporting. Guest i have lost some degree of anonymity bin people are recognizing the globe was owned by the New York Times company at the time the Washington Post was sold so it had an enormous impact to the entire team is every had gone essentially 14 years to win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service but the prize was awarded 2,003. And that attention coming with the movie is will be on the Pulitzer Prize. A harvard law professor ambassador there is states this is november when she made a speech. They created a climate of hysteria describing the crisis. When in fact, only a tiny minority of pedophile abusers of prepubescent was written off as homosexual relations. Guest it was an abuse of young people. In some instances in which young women but it was young boys some of them were of an older age. Cspan i take you can see why i thought it was irrelevant if of the disclosures the worst offender by far 250 stories in with todays creating a climate of hysteria that has not been seen in boston since 1834. Qaddafi we created an environment of hysteria. That is ridiculous end equally ridiculous there was abuse by priests, hundred in hundreds and what did the church to . Not just once but repeatedly and lasted for many decades. What did we do . Ticket to prison before are after . After in he was murdered she was strangled by his fellow inmates. How many boys . About 100 if i recall correctly. An attorney that teaches at the Louisiana School says i hear it said they received the Pulitzer Prize all i can say in fairness and accuracy have anything to do with it awarding that is like the Nobel Peace Prize to osama bin baden. Guest i take people ask me if i wish there were scenes of the movie i wish that would have been in the movie because it is so voracious to compare us to a terrorist is abominable. To become the u. S. Ambassador even the vatican would not say that today. You are not in the but you are played. That is the bigger story stick debate clearly indicate. He immediately had 50 pedophiles you have this data catfight that makes a lot of new ways the doesnt change things. We need to focus on the institution not the individual priest. Practice and policy show with a church manipulated the system so they dont have to face charges the same priest back into parishes time and time again that this assistance coming from the top down. Host is that you . Guest it is me. Or someone that looks like me i was 4 inches taller than. [laughter] cspan when you watch the movie how much of that represented what you thought guest i think it is quite painful to the broad outlines it is important to keep in mind isnt a documentary so you had to compress into the 82 hours over seven months in and introduce a lot of characters in the importance beams, ashley the the investigation. Cspan there is an article written in esquire magazine in a love december in the middle of december , is marty baron in the best editor of all time . What would you say . Guest it does make my a job harder. Probably justifiably so. Is they dont serve any useful purpose than to including about Washington Post. Im not really efficient but i am happy to have people judge my work but i dont know how you read comparisons. Cspan back to the Washington Post with the bill oreilly in see what you say. The attacks on my book called later this is the last ever have to address it. The Washington Post editorial page. Thats it. And three vicious columns here is why this is happening. In those who dont want the truth in italy once praised in the chairman of though late Library Foundation did that has not been disclosed by the Washington Post. So there is a huge conflict of interest that the post writers are not aware. They are doing here is bidding began. Cspan please break this down. Guest . [laughter] i have nothing to do with the editorial page i am not in charge of the oped page. And to it to be completed the independent. Cspan he did not work . It even from his own private office. If he writes whenever called he wants to write. So it is preposterous in the publisher doesnt offer instructions stick if you look at 3480 years ago when you have that from the old building and fred wright is still chairman of the foundation and. And now there is a lot of nostalgia. But yet it has held onto a lot of traditions. And they engage because the industry has changed. In that is symbolic of that change we are moving very fast to become a Digital News Organization but those of the values of the principles that we have. That is something that we have to hold on to do blood dash hold on to. Cspan the due order paid 250 million kerry he is in in 2014. The post had a national ankle will reputation but it was part of a local product part of desire and that the time was a very good strategy and a super successful over decades but we will continue to do good local coverage but the post as the good fortune of the newspaper of the United States of america that is a great starting point Steve Bechtel has the post changed when you were there in the middle of it . We changed our strategy in the previous era was articulate all about washington with Important National things as it is the capital of the country but we did not see ourselves as a national News Organization truly but now our strategy is to become a True National News Organization beebe international over time so that is the biggest change. How . Because now we live in the digital era with an opportunity to reinvest ourselves and to reach many more people that we couldnt reach before we do have to deliver a newspaper to their doorstep or print piggyback on the press of other distempers rule the country they can read this on their website of the facebook or twitter or however they decide so we reinvented ourselves for a National Origin audit audience in the technological age. Cspan will your membership go up in then all the digital . In your lifetime . I dont know my Business Life is another question. I am 61 so i guess the print readers are tremendous readers revalue them we want to give them the best product possible the best journalism possible they are extremely loyal and we are loyal to them as well so those readers will be there for a long time because they like to read in print. We will have a printer product for quite some time but the trend is clear that leadership is down that is true of every newspaper in the United States it is true pretty much of the developed world, but on the internet the audience is growing dramatically far more than we ever had in the Washington Post. Even before you were selected the publisher would ask q. What about a gnat on the front page . You said never as long as i am there now there is. And i at the time was adamantly opposed to ads on the front page i said let me know now if you want to do that because if i decide before i comei think he liked my a combativeness in this instance and that i could insist he is a lawyer by a background in real good friends today that we have not had ads on the front page why was there even though up 1. There was a desire it was one year after i had been there i said i made a promise when a cave in a promised we would not but that has changed and that decision by the post dash the globe was made by the publisher a ultimately did make those decisions with iran by kidder not so we have had on the front page of the paper. Host. Guest it is short time to leave what do you have to do as to what got to say this was a success . Guest that we are truly digital and not just Second Nature but first nature how to be a Digital Organization and one that does important work to take on the difficult stories going against powerful institutions and individuals i want this to be journalistically a vicious and digitally innovative to make progress in the digital world. Cspan if your movie is nominated for an oscar and womens do expect to go to the oscars . I havent been invited yet because the nominations are not announced i would be hopeful honestly but i have no idea how that works or who gets tickets or how many are available and i will wait to hear five not invited i will watch with great interest. Cspan there is one downside . I dont see one i lost my anonymity by carol around without anybody recognizing me but it is good for journalism of hope it causes the public to reflect on society the importance of Investigative Journalism Holding Institutions accountable and what it takes to do that kind of work correctly i hope the focus is their attention on the importance of local journalism as a national and International Story just as watergate started as a local story in that causes us in the press to give our so strong Investigative Journalism but at the margins of society of people who dont have a strong voice in society but they should have a voice and they often have something important to save something very prayerful tuesday. Cspan marty baron takes for joining us. Tonight on cspan2, it is booktv in prime time with books on terrorism. First a look at the rise of isis with fawaz gerges. After that, we talk about efforts to defeat isis and other jihadist groups. That is followed by karen greenbergs book rogue justice which examines how the war on terror has led to the erosion of Civil Liberties and justice for the sake of national security. And retired general Michael Flynn shares thoughts on what the u. S. Needs to do to defeat