Washington Post former editor Ben Bradlee dies at 93

[webfact]

Washington Post former editor Ben Bradlee dies at 93

(BBC) Ben Bradlee, the editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon, has died aged 93.

The newspaper reports he died at his Washington home of natural causes.

As executive editor from 1968-1991, Bradlee was credited for transforming the Post into one the most respected newspapers in America.

In 2013, he was given the country's highest civilian honour - the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"For Benjamin Bradlee, journalism was more than a profession - it was a public good vital to our democracy," President Barack Obama said in a statement released by the White House on Tuesday evening.

"A true newspaperman, he transformed the Washington Post into one of the country's finest newspapers, and with him at the helm, a growing army of reporters published the Pentagon Papers, exposed Watergate, and told stories that needed to be told - stories that helped us understand our world and one another a little bit better."

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29718544


-- BBC 2014-10-22

[noitom]

Ben Bradlee - the gold standard in journalism. Truth, facts, investigation, follow up, professional. Thais would do well to emulate him.