Leonard Downie Jr., a major figure in American journalism and witness to some of the most important moments in politics over the past 40 years, joined a small group of Flinn Scholars for almost two hours on Oct. 18 as part of his brief residency as the Flinn Foundation Centennial Lecturer at Arizona State University.

The outgoing executive editor of the Washington Post, Downie spoke with Scholars about his relationships with presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, the principles that guided him as a reporter and editor, and the economic pressures on the newspaper business. He told stories about supervising Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during the Watergate scandal, reporting from London during the era of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and guiding the Post's coverage in the first hours after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

During Downie's tenure as executive editor, which ran from 1991 until his retirement in September, the Post won 25 Pulitzer prizes, including three citations in the prestigious Public Service category, most recently for a series of articles exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans recovering at the Walter Reed National Army Medical Center.

Downie first achieved prominence as the Post's deputy metro editor in the early 1970s, when he oversaw the early coverage of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. In his conversation with Scholars, Downie discussed the lessons of that period at length; according to Woodward's 2005 book, "The Secret Man," Downie was one of only a few people who knew the identity of the anonymous source, "Deep Throat." Downie also described the making of the feature film based on the Post's Watergate investigation, "All the President's Men."

Scholars questioned Downie on a variety of questions related to journalism and politics. One asked Downie about the Iraq-war practice of embedding journalists among American troops. Downie said that he believed the thoroughness and objectivity of reporting was much stronger because reporters were working alongside the soldiers they were covering. He noted that one of the Post's correspondents, Tom Ricks, drew heavily on the relationships with soldiers that he established on the ground in Iraq for his bestselling book, "Fiasco."

Answering queries from Scholars contemplating careers in journalism, Downie described a difficult environment--but a dynamic one that still holds potential. The Washington Post Co., he said, is trying a range of new models for sustaining advertising revenue as daily-newspaper circulation falls nationwide; at the same time, the Post is working to sustain quality coverage with a leaner newsroom that demands stronger editing skills from reporters. Journalists of the future will need to be not just excellent writers, but experts in video production, online publication, and more.

Several Scholars were particularly interested in press coverage of the 2008 presidential election and how the future president will interact with the Washington media establishment. All administrations, Downie said, work diligently to control the narrative about them, and to build relationships with members of the press corps that will yield favorable coverage. He said that during the 2008 campaign, the Post has initiated several recurring features, such as its "Fact Checker" column, that are devoted to ferreting out bias from coverage and holding campaigns accountable for the truthfulness of their advertising.

That response built on the themes that Downie outlined in his main Centennial Lecture address on Oct. 16. That lecture, delivered at ASU's Galvin Playhouse, was titled "Focusing on the Future: Politics, Conflict and the Media." In it, Downie advocated for a vigorous, persistent press corps that took seriously its responsibility within a democratic society.

Downie's visit to Arizona was hosted by Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. In 1985, the Flinn Foundation made a grant of $800,000 to commemorate ASU's 100th year, endowing the ASU Centennial Lecture. The series began in 1989 with Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. Since then, Centennial lecturers have included luminaries from several disciplines, most recently Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer (2006) and Pulitzer-winning columnist and novelist Anna Quindlen (2007).

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For more information:

ASU news release, 10/15/2008

"Our Town," Washington Post, 10/05/2008

"Len Downie's First Day of the Rest of His Life," Editor and Publisher, 09/08/2008