@pbsnews: Former Washington Post editor Marty Baron says news organizations are important because the public "deserves" to know what happening in the "corridors of power." "The role of a news organization is to give the public the information it needs and deserves to know so that they can govern themselves," he said. "The Washington Post has a long history of that and, particularly, of holding the government to account." Baron, who was editor of The Washington Post from 2012 until 2021, spoke to PBS News Hour's Geoff Bennett on Wednesday about the sweeping layoffs at the Post. The Post laid off a third of its workforce this week across both the newsroom and its business operations, a massive blow to a storied newspaper that has struggled recently to stay profitable. "The press is built into our democracy. It is provided for in the First Amendment to the Constitution because the founders understood that you needed an institution that would keep watch on government," Baron said. "We are not stenographers, and we should not be propagandists," he added. "That is the role that The Washington Post has historically played, and that's the role that it should continue to play." #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #washingtonpost #journalism

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Sunday 08 February 2026 00:00:00 GMT