By  Don Graham
The chairman of the board for ‘The Washington Post’

Times change in the newspaper business; technologies and perceptions come and go. There is so little one can rely on.

Don Graham

But there is this: Every few years, a writer for The New Republic or some similar magazine comes forward to announce the collapse of standards and journalism at The Washington Post.

Having read these stories for 40 years, I found Gabriel Sherman’s piece (”Post Apocalypse,” February 4) particularly lazy. Not much new here. His endless lead rehashes an episode now seven months old in which a screamingly obvious decision to enter the conference business was betrayed by poor execution. Respected news organizations sponsor dozens of conferences.

Your reporter tries to build this into a mountain. Having lived through the Janet Cooke episode in my second year as publisher, I do not see in this months-old issue even a respectable-sized molehill.

Mr. Sherman goes on: We have lost a respected reporter–a year ago! (but still have a newsroom full of great ones). Someone has told an insulting story about the editor (consult your files and those of your competitors for similar stories about Ben Bradlee and Len Downie–and for that matter, about Katharine Graham).

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Filed under: Guild News