A former top editor at The Washington Post, Martin Baron, talked about how former President Donald Trump and his supporters got really upset about the newspaper’s slogan “democracy dies in darkness” during Trump’s time as president.
In an article he wrote for The Atlantic, which is based on his upcoming book “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post,” Baron explained how the newspaper came up with this slogan and why it bothered conservatives.
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Baron, who worked at The Washington Post for eight years until 2021, shared stories of the tension between Trump’s supporters and the newspaper during Trump’s presidency. He was surprised by how easily Trump and his allies were bothered by it.
In February 2019, I had been the top editor at The Washington Post for six years. During that month, the newspaper ran a one-minute ad during the Super Bowl. The ad had Tom Hanks providing a voice-over, praising the importance of a free press, honoring journalists who had been killed or captured, and ending with the Post’s logo and the message “Democracy dies in darkness.”
In the ad, Hanks said lines like, “There’s someone to gather the facts. To bring you the story. No matter the cost. Because knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.” Trump didn’t like even this basic idea of democracy, and it bothered him and his family.
I also explained how the slogan came to be. It was suggested by Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post and is a billionaire. It wasn’t meant to criticize Trump but to emphasize the newspaper’s commitment to holding the government accountable.
Two years earlier, a month into Trump’s presidency, The Post added “Democracy dies in darkness” under its name on the printed newspaper, on top of its website, and on everything it published.
Jeff Bezos saw this as more than just a slogan; he saw it as a statement of the newspaper’s mission. It wasn’t about Trump, although his supporters thought it was.
The idea for the “mission statement” had been in development for two years before Donald Trump became president. After many meetings and brainstorming sessions to choose the right tagline from a long list, Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, made the decision on his own and picked “Democracy dies in darkness.”
This phrase was first used without any announcement in mid-February 2017. It got a lot of attention, and Bezos was very pleased. He liked that people were noticing the mission statement. However, readers saw it as a perfect fit for the Trump era, even though that wasn’t the original intention.
Baron’s article also described a dinner with Bezos, Washington Post staff, and himself, where they met with President Trump shortly after his inauguration. According to Baron, Trump did not hide his dislike for the newspaper. As they enjoyed their meal of cheese soufflé, pan-roasted Dover sole, and chocolate-cream tart, Trump called The Washington Post the worst media outlet, with The New York Times coming in just behind it in his ranking at that moment.
Trump, his family, and his team had put The Washington Post on their list of enemies, and nothing was going to change their minds. The newspaper hadn’t been overly supportive or flattering to Trump, and they weren’t planning to be. Their job was to report on the president’s actions rigorously and hold his administration accountable, just like they do with any other administration.
The rest of Baron’s article talked about Jeff Bezos as a boss, describing him as a more complex and thoughtful person than people often portrayed him. The article also criticized Trump’s administration, calling it one of the leakiest in recent memory.
Baron mentioned that Trump had put together his government in a hasty way, bringing in many individuals who did not have the relevant experience and had never worked together before. He referred to it as a “crowd of misfit toys,” quoting Josh Dawsey, a White House reporter for The Post.