Wilber plans to chat with Len Downie, Jr. about new memoir on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m.
Del Wilber, a member of the National Press Club board, continues his virtual author chats with Len Downie, Jr., a former executive editor of the Washington Post who has just published a memoir detailing his time leading one of the nation's most-respected newspapers.
The talk will be held over Zoom on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. To join, please email Del at [email protected]. He will add you to a list of participants and send you instructions closer to the talk.
Downie, 78, has been getting non-stop praise for All about the Story: News, Power, Politics, and the Washington Post. Kirkus described the work as "an absorbing career memoir and an illuminating history of the Post's news coverage during the last 50 years."
In a review, Booklist hailed the book saying it "is both tight and revelatory.... At a time when the press is under relentless attack from the Trump administration, Downie's engrossing memoir reminds readers of the personal sacrifices journalists make in pursuit of a story and the rigorous criteria they apply in delivering the news."
Downie worked at the Post for 44 years and served as its top editor from 1991 through 2008, a period of immense change in the news industry. During his tenure as executive editor, the Post won 25 Pulitzer Prizes.
Wilber worked the Post from 2004 through 2013, but didn't have much contact with Downie -- except when the editor frequently demanded a rewrite to the lede of a story heading for A1.
Since stepping down as editor, Downie has taught journalism at Arizona State University.