Morty Barrett is the longtime executive editor of the Boston Globe and the Washington Post,

and generally regarded as one of the finest journalists and executive editors of this generation.

An excerpt of his new book has appeared in the Atlantic magazine.

It details his years running the Washington

Post during the Trump era. The first paragraphs tell the story of where the Washington Post came up

with, the phrase, democracy, dies in darkness. It's incredible. I'm going to read from Marty Barron's book. I should not have been

surprised, but I still marveled at just how little it took to get under the skin of President Donald

Trump and his allies. By February 2019, I had been the executive editor of the Washington Post for six

years. That month, the newspaper

aired a one-minute Super Bowl ad with a voiceover by Tom Hanks, championing the role of a free press,

commemorating journalists killed and captured, and concluded with the post's logo and message.

Quote, democracy dies in darkness.

End quote.

The ad highlighted the strong and often courageous work done by journalists at the

Post and elsewhere, including by Fox News's Brett Baer,

because we were striving to signal that this wasn't just about us

and wasn't a political statement. Please. Stop.

Brett Baer has never done anything journalistically courageous. In fact, he is one of the great

cowards that has ever sat in an anchor chair.

Brett Baer was afraid of his audience, terrified. Just like Josh Holly was terrified as he ran for his

life from the insurrectionists, he incited. Just like Ted Cruz was afraid for his life,

hiding in a closet from the insurrectionists he incited.

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