Online Encyclopedia
The Washington Post
- Alternative meaning: The Washington Post (march)
The Washington Post is the largest and oldest newspaper in Washington, DC. It gained worldwide fame in the early 1970s for its Watergate investigation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein which played a major role in the undoing of the Nixon presidency. It is generally considered second only to the New York Times in stature among American daily newspapers. The Post has a reputation for being especially good at coverage of American national politics, befitting its location in the nation's capital; in contrast, the Times focuses more on foreign affairs coverage. Conversely, the Post (like Washington itself) is sometimes seen as devoted to politics at the expense of the rest of life.
It is now part of the Washington Post Company, which owns a number of other media and non-media companies, including Newsweek magazine and the Kaplan test preparation service.
History
The paper was founded in 1877 by Stilson Hutchins and in 1880 became the first newspaper in Washington, DC to publish daily.
In 1899, during the Spanish-American War, the Post printed Clifford K. Berryman's illustration Remember the Maine.
In 1905 Washington McLean and his son John Roll McLean , owners of the Cincinnati Enquirer, purchased a controlling interest. When John died in 1916 he put the paper in trust, not trusting his playboy son Edward "Ned" McLean with his inheritance. Ned went to court and broke the trust, quickly driving the paper to ruin. It was purchased in a bankruptcy auction in 1933 by a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors, Eugene Meyer, who restored the paper's health and reputation. Philip L. Graham , Meyer's son-in-law, would work his way up to become publisher upon Graham's death in 1959.
In 1954 the Post acquired its chief rival, the Times-Herald, to become the only morning daily in Washington. Thenceforth its main competition was the Washington Star (Evening Star) until that paper's demise in 1981.
After Graham committed suicide in 1963, control of the Washington Post Company passed to Meyer's daughter, Katharine Graham. She was publisher of the newspaper from 1969 to 1979, chairman of the board from 1973 to 1991 and chairman of the executive committee from 1993 until her death in 2001. Her son, Donald Graham , was publisher from 1979 to 2000 when Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr. took over as publisher and CEO of The Washington Post.
As of 2004 the Post had been honored with 18 Pulitzer Prizes, 18 Nieman Fellowship s, and 368 White House News Photographers Association Awards, among others.
Notable contributors
- Carl Bernstein (writer)
- Herb Block (cartoonist)
- Ben Bradlee (editor)
- David Broder (writer)
- Tina Brown (writer)
- Janet Cooke (writer)
- Leonard Downie, Jr. (editor)
- Meg Greenfield (editor)
- Jim Hoagland (writer)
- Colbert King (writer)
- Tony Kornheiser (writer)
- Mary McGrory (writer)
- Dana Milbank (writer)
- Shirley Povich (writer)
- William Raspberry (writer)
- Tom Shales (writer)
- Tom Toles (cartoonist)
- Michael Wilbon (writer)
- Bob Woodward (writer)
- Robin Wright (writer)