Davis, Deborah. Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and the Washington Post. 2nd edition. Bethesda MD: National Press, 1987. 320 pages. (A 3rd updated edition was published in 1991 by Sheridan Square Press, 145 West 4th Street, New York NY 10012.)

There are plenty of books written about the Washington Post and its publisher Katharine Graham, one of the world's richest women. But only this one can brag that it was first published in 1979 by William Jovanovich, who then promptly shredded 20,000 copies because Ben Bradlee didn't like it.

The Washington Post is usually thought of as a newspaper that's keen on investigative journalism, but this is a con. For one thing, the Post has too many old-boy intelligence connections, starting with Philip Graham himself and continuing through Bob Woodward. For example, when Bradlee was working in the U.S. embassy in Paris from 1951-1953, documents printed by Davis show him following the orders of the CIA station chief to place propaganda in the European press. Another item from our files: In a 1988 speech to senior CIA employees at Agency headquarters, CFR/Trilateralist Katharine Graham had this to say: "There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows." Small wonder that when reading the Post, many folks cannot shake the suspicion that an agenda lurks behind the headlines.
ISBN 0-915765-43-8

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