All About the Story: News, Power, Politics, and the Washington Post by Leonard Downie Jr

Author Len Downie Jnr is of the Watergate era, working alongside Woodward and Bernstein, under Bradley, and for Washington Post owner Katharine Graham. This narrative tracking his start as a journalist, through Watergate, and to the apex of his career running the Post into the 21st century contains a myriad of examples of the challenges he faced exposing truths and defending democratic rights. He is a master storyteller and writer, teasing out new details, and offering rare or forgotten insights into his dealings with the world’s newsmakers. It is a must read for all journalists who have a semblance of interest in the evolution of their craft over the past 50 years, but more so for giving reassurance that it is a worthy job.

All About the Story: News, Power, Politics, and the Washington Post is Leonard Downie, Jr’s memoir of his 44 year career at the Washington Post. Downie starts his story with the anecdote of how he was accidentally hired as an intern with the Post in 1964. His first assignments led to articles on abuse, influence and bribery in the Washington, D.C. court system. This experience with investigative reporting inspired much of his later work as both a reporter and editor.

Downie describes his experiences as a reporter, both national and international, and his progression up the editorial ranks until, in 1991, he succeeded Ben Bradley as Executive Editor of the Post. He fills the book with details of the Post’s coverage of the well-known stories that occurred during his career. These include Watergate, the Jonestown Massacre, the capture of the Unibomber, the multiple recounts and court battles after the Bush/Gore election, the 9/11 tragedy, the Afghan and Iraq wars, the leaking of the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame and the revelation of the United State’s extreme interrogation practices at sites in several Eastern European countries.

He spends several chapters describing the evolution of the media’s coverage of the private lives of public figures during the 1980s and 1990s. He explains that the media was historically reluctant to report on the private lives of public figures. But, he says, everything changed with the coverage of Gary Hart prior to the 1988 election. This change played to his strength as an investigative reporter. He describes how, as Executive Editor, he managed investigations of public figures including Marion Barry, Robert Packwood, John Towers, Wilbur Mills, Wayne Hayes and, of course, Bill Clinton. And he explains what standards he used to determine when these stories needed to be published.

The strength of this book is in Downie’s detailed description of behind the scenes activities in the Post newsroom related to how stories are assigned, how management deals with pressure from powerful outsiders, how editors decide which stories to print and how stories are finally edited. Since I was generally familiar with the stories themselves, hearing how they were covered was very enlightening.

Unfortunately the book also had its weaknesses. Throughout the book Downie maintains the voice of a dispassionate newspaper reporter. As a result, the reader never really gets to know Leonard Downie, Jr. We learn about his stories, his career and his awards. But we know very little about his personal thoughts regarding the events and people about whom he wrote.

There were times when he tried to display his inner feelings, such as when he witnessed the return of the American hostages from their captivity in Iran. He said that it was very emotional and that “there was a tear in my eye.” I saw his words, but I did not get the feeling from his writing.

He does not seem to be some type of resolute newsman who is unable to write in a voice other than that of a newsman. In fact, I really felt his sadness in the last two chapters of the book where he describes his departure from the Post and the subsequent sale of the Post to Jeff Bezos. I just wish that he had revealed more of himself elsewhere in the book. Instead, as the title of the book says, Downie made his memoir “All About the Story” and not about his feelings.

Notwithstanding the fact that I would have liked to have seen more of the inner Leonard Downie, Jr., this was a very good book for anyone interested in late 20th century American history or the newspaper business in general. I give it 4 stars.

I grew up with The Washington Post and many, many years later continue to read it. Mr. Downie chronicles the heartbeat of the Post and reminds us how important factual news is to our nation as journalists hold our leaders accountable for everything they do. I am proud to be a lifelong subscriber.