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Washington and Lee University will welcome Martin Baron, former executive editor of the Washington Post, to campus to discuss his recent book, “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post” (2023). The talk will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons, followed by a book signing.
The lecture is free and open to the public and is part of the university’s Reynolds Distinguished Journalist series, made possible by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The event will also be streamed online at go.wlu. edu/livestream.
Baron retired from The Washington Post in 2021 after serving as executive editor since 2013. During his tenure, the newsroom won 10 Pulitzer Prizes.
“Collision of Power” chronicles Baron’s time at the Post after Jeff Bezos bought the paper in 2013 and how the newsroom navigated reporting on Donald Trump’s presidency. The book has been widely praised for its candor about life inside the Post newsroom under Bezos and Trump’s constant attacks on the media. The New York Times called it a “gripping chronicle of politics and journalism during a decade of turmoil.”
“Marty’s distinguished work as a journalist serves as a master class on holding the powerful to account,” said Alecia Swasy, Donald W. Reynolds Professor of Business Journalism at W&L. “It’s a great privilege to have him return to campus to talk to our students and share his insights about the intersection of power and politics.”
Before joining the Washington Post, Baron was editor of the Boston Globe, where he led the newsroom to six Pulitzer Prizes. The Globe’s investigation of concealing clergy sex abuse inside the Catholic Church earned the Pulitzer Prize for public service and was portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight.” A native of Tampa, Fla., Baron began his journalism career at the Miami Herald in 1976 and later worked at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
