Journalism, Power, and the Public Imagination

Guerrilla Reads, June 2025

Returning friends: Hello again and thank you for joining us for the fifth in our series of definitely-not-escapist books. You are courageous readers!

New friends: In this read-along group, we are meeting writers who challenge what we think we know about the world we live in. This is not easy reading. It’s often uncomfortable, painful, nothing like those cozy mysteries we all love, where the bad guys get what’s coming to them and justice is served. But we need to know what this world is like (really like) before we can recalibrate and move forward. Understanding how things work can leave us both grateful and hopeful, even as we grope through the noisy dark.

Everybody: I am currently reading Martin Baron’s Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post. As the month goes along, I’ll drop a few thoughts on the book into your inbox—you’re always welcome to comment. On the fourth Monday (June 23), I’ll open a general discussion on the book and the many important issues it raises about journalism’s role in our American democracy.

If you’ve started to read Martin Baron’s Collision, you probably already know the story it’s trying to tell. Or at least part of it.

You know The Washington Post.

You’ve seen it in films. You’ve watched its journalists spar with presidents. You’ve read its headlines during scandals and crises. You may even have tried to imagine yourself working in that tension-charged newsroom. I did. And ever since my first introduction to the Post during the Watergate years, I’ve watched for books and movies about this flagship newspaper, located in our nation’s capitol.

That’s why I snatched up Baron’s book when it first came out a couple of years ago. It gives us a rare look behind the scenes, during a hugely stressful period for every American newspaper faced with threats and opportunities from the internet and AI, declining readerships, shrinking budgets, and hedge-fund buyouts.

Baron shows us what it was like to cope with those issues and more, as he steered the Post through Donald Trump’s first term, under Bezos’s “complicated” ownership. But before we start looking at Baron’s book, let’s step back and locate The Washington Post in our cultural memory—on screen, in books, and in the public imagination.

Here’s a quick rundown of how the Post has shown up in film and literature over the past fifty years—and what those portrayals can tell us about the institution that’s the focus of this month’s read.

(Spoiler: It's a bigger story than just Baron vs. Trump.)

Films Featuring The Washington Post

All the President’s Men (1976), based on the book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The Post is the hero—a place of demanding rigor, risk, and moral clarity. It’s here that journalism brings down a president, and editorial support for investigative reporting is unwavering. Starring Robert Redford (be still, my heart) as Bob Woodward, Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein, and Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee. While some criticize the film for over-dramatizing the daily slog of investigative reporting, it helped to shape public opinion about the role of the press in holding power to account.

The Post (2017), directed by Steven Spielberg, this is the story of the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers. The Post is cast as a defender of press freedom, with publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) and editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) risking reputation, family fortune, and even potential jail. Released in the first year of Trump’s first term, the movie had what some called an “uncanny topicality.” Spielberg himself felt “urgent” about making the movie “because of the current climate of this [Trump] administration, bombarding the press and labeling the truth as fake if it suited them.”

Becoming Katharine Graham (2025 documentary, Amazon Prime). A vivid nonfiction portrait of Graham’s evolution from reluctant heiress to one of the most powerful figures in American journalism. Unlike earlier portrayals, this film centers Graham’s voice and legacy, highlighting her leadership through the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. It also addresses her internal growth, gendered challenges, and visionary role at the Post. (I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s drawn praise from critics, including the L.A. Times)

Books Featuring The Washington Post

All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (1974). The newsroom is portrayed as principled, persistent, and fearless. This is the story that first mythologized the Post’s role in exposing presidential misdeed.

The Final Days by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (1976). The sequel to All the President’s Men, this book chronicles the unraveling of Richard Nixon’s presidency from an investigative vantage point. While the primary focus is on the White House, the Post remains a looming presence—its investigative legacy pressing in from offstage. The book reinforces the idea that sustained, institutionally supported journalism can exert long-term pressure on political power, even after the headlines fade.

Personal History by Katharine Graham (1997). A Pulitzer-winning memoir by the Post’s publisher. Traces her journey into leadership and the decisions that defined the paper’s role in defending press freedom. Graham’s introspective, personal, often vulnerable account adds a deeply human dimension to the Post’s institutional image.

Becoming Katharine Graham: The Woman Who Led The Washington Post and Transformed Journalism by Robin Gerber (2023). A thoroughly researched biography that complements the 2025 documentary. It focuses not only on Graham’s personal and professional life, but also on the cultural and historical significance of her leadership. Vital for understanding the Post’s transformation and its broader influence on women in media.

Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom by Carl Bernstein (2022). This coming-of-age memoir traces Bernstein’s early years in Washington journalism, before Watergate. While The Washington Post appears only at the end of the narrative—as the next step in his career—the book captures the culture of mid-century newsrooms and the formative experiences that shaped a future Post legend. It adds depth to the mythos of the investigative reporter by showing where the skills, instincts, and values first took root.

Newsroom Confidential by Margaret Sullivan (2022). From her desk as media columnist at the Post, Sullivan critiques the institution’s cautious stance during the Trump years. She raises tough questions about objectivity, transparency, and newsroom culture. Adds a reformist voice to the Post’s self-portrait. The opening is slow, but it gains momentum—stay with it.

Collision of Power by Martin Baron (2023) Our featured book. Baron’s inside view of the Post under Bezos, facing off against Trump, and trying to hold together a fractured information ecosystem under the pressures of technological innovation. Baron portrays the newsroom as a place where ideals collide with practical reality, especially around issues of generational change, journalistic identity, and political pressure.

Legacy: The Post as Icon

Taken together, the books and films about The Washington Post portray it as more than a newspaper. It is a national symbol of investigative rigor, institutional backbone, and First Amendment heroism. Its story has shaped public expectations of what journalism can do when it serves the public interest. For many readers and viewers, this legacy remains the default image of the Post—a legacy that Collision of Power both supports and undercuts, as Martin Baron grapples with the digital, political, and cultural forces reshaping journalism in the long shadow of Watergate.

What Version of the Post Lives in You?
This isn’t just a story about Trump, or Bezos, or a single editor’s decisions. Collision of Power is also part of a much longer conversation about journalism, democracy, and how we come to trust, question, or even doubt the institutions that shape our public life.

As we read, I invite you to keep a question in mind: Which version of The Washington Post feels most familiar to you—and which one surprises you?

Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments as you read the book, or just sit with the question as you turn the pages. We’ll come back to it soon.

Oh, and a quick reminder: please don’t miss George Clooney’s play, Good Night, and Good Luck, Sat June 7, 7 pm ET, “based on veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow’s work and tension with Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s.” The play explores the vital role of strong journalism in the preservation of democracy. I’m looking forward to it!

Note. I co-wrote this post with my AI assistant, Silas. He gathered source material, helped organize it, and assisted with tone and clarity. Think of Silas as a co-editor who never needs a coffee break but always remembers what year All the President’s Men came out. You can read more about how this partnership works in the AI Working Notes section.