Ben Bradlee
Ben Bradlee
Benjamin Crowninshield "Ben" Bradleewas executive editor of The Washington Post from 1968 to 1991. He became a national figure during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers and oversaw the publication of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's stories documenting the Watergate scandal. At his death he held the title of vice president at-large of the Post...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth26 August 1921
CityBoston, MA
CountryUnited States of America
Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they’re lazy, and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous.
Maybe some of today's papers have too many 'feel-good' features, but there is a lot of good news out there.
The biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists.
Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I'm gonna get mad.
The first rough draft of history.
I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on.
The Nixon administration really put a lot of pressure on CBS not to run the second broadcast.
Sometimes I am convinced there is nothing wrong with this country that couldn't be cured by the magical implantation of ethical standards on us all - leaders and followers. Until that becomes doable, the Center for Public Integrity is just about the best thing we have going for us.
There have been as many investigative reporters on this newspaper working on Clinton's many problems as I can remember there were working on Watergate.
Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they're lazy and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous.
The really tough thing would have been to decide to take Woodward and Bernstein off the story. They were carrying the coal for us - in that their stories were right.
I must be out of it, but I don't know any good journalists who have excused Clinton's problems.
We made only one real mistake. And even then we were right.
We were right about the slush fund. But Sloan did not testify about it to the Grand Jury.