The Washington Post in turmoil

While this blog and the vast majority of my published work puts me squarely in the middle of Madison, Wisconsin, one of the things that I rarely mention in my writing is that I am actually from the Washington, DC area originally. I was born in northern Virginia, raised in southern Maryland and attended school in the nation's capital.

As such, growing up, I read the Washington Post. It was my hometown paper and that is something for which I will always have a certain affection. My parents had multiple newspapers delivered to the house – the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times and Variety, at various points in time, to name a few – but the publication on the top of the pile was almost always the Post.

As such, long before I ever had my own by-line in any publication, I was reading the likes of Al Kamen, Tony Kornheiser, George Will, Howard Kurtz and Michael Getler.

And now the Washington Post – that paper I hold so personally dear and have long considered a benchmark of journalist standards – is in turmoil. Deep turmoil, to be exact.

Deborah Howell, the paper's ombudsman, is holding little back in her column today, once again making very public the internal struggles of the newspaper. Bob Woodward appears to have violated more ethical standards than were initially raised with the recent revelation of his knowledge about Valeria Plame's “secret” CIA identity. And the fallout has been nearly as bad as Mr. Woodward's initial error.

While Woodward is listed as an assistant managing editor, he has no management duties. He comes and goes as he pleases, mostly writing his best-selling books on what happens behind the doors of power, and he reports only to Executive Editor Len Downie. He is allowed to keep juicy stories to himself until his latest book is unveiled on the front page of The Post. He is the master of the anonymous source.

Last week we found out that he kept the kind of information from Downie that is a deeply serious sin not to disclose to a boss -- the kind that can get even a very good reporter in the doghouse for a long time. He also committed another journalistic sin -- commenting on National Public Radio and "Larry King Live" about the Plame investigation without disclosing his early knowledge of Plame's identity.

The Post's story Wednesday put the paper in a terrible light. Woodward refused to answer Post reporters' questions beyond a prepared statement about his deposition to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald -- even questions unrelated to his pledge of confidentiality to his source in the Plame case.

I, largely because of my great admiration for the Post, have a very fond respect for ombudsmen. And I applaud Ms. Howell for so plainly spelling out the newspaper's issues in her column today. But the mere publication of an ombudsman column doesn't right the wrongs of what has happened. It is time for the Post to take some responsibility for this fiasco, and that starts with Mr. Woodward owning up to anything he may have done wrong.

CNN's website reports Bob Woodward will be appearing on Larry King Live tomorrow night. For the sake of his paper, I hope the beginnings of an apology emerge from the legendary reporter's lips.