Marty Baron: Trump’s Stated Intentions Match ‘Definition of Authoritarianism’

Former Washington Post Editor, ‘Collision of Power’ Author Shares Advice for Journalists in 2024. Marty Baron, former executive editor at the Washington Post, talks about the possibility of a Donald Trump second term and the “mischaracterization” of objectivity.
by Kevin Johnson, National Press Foundation

Marty Baron, One of America’s most decorated newspaper editors called for more reporting on what a second Trump administration would mean, noting that Donald Trump has been “incredibly open” about what he intends to do.

“He’s the only politician I’ve heard talk about suspending the Constitution of the United States, even though he took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. He talks openly about weaponizing the government against his political enemies. … He’s talked about bringing treason charges against the then outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff … [and] treason charges against Comcast for its ownership of NBC and MSNBC. He’s talked about using the military under the Insurrection Act to suppress what would be entirely legitimate protests in this country. He continues to talk about crushing an independent press,” Baron said. “Those are the definition of authoritarianism.”

Baron, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, has authored a book, Collision of Power, Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post, chronicling his eight years at the helm in which the editor and the newspaper were routinely attacked by then-President Donald Trump for The Post’s coverage of the administration.

Baron, who has guided newsrooms at The Post, the Boston Globe and Miami Herald to 17 Pulitzer Prizes, also told the National Press Foundation’s Paul Miller Reporting Fellowship class that in the midst of a hyper-partisan political climate, the idea of objectivity has been “widely mischaracterized.”

“People think that objectivity means a false equivalence, false balance, neutrality … and that’s not what it means,” Baron said. “That’s not what it meant when the idea was first popularized, which is more than a hundred years ago. And it doesn’t mean that today.”

Good reporting has always been measured by “rigorous, open-minded” examinations of the facts in which journalists have set aside any personal biases to follow the evidence wherever it might lead, Baron said, calling for a renewed commitment to objectivity as crucial to the search for truth and revitalizing public trust in journalism.

Speaker: Marty Baron, former executive editor of the Washington Post and author of "Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post"

Transcript, summary and resources: https://nationalpress.org/topic/marty...

More about the Paul Miller fellowship: https://nationalpress.org/fellowships...

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