WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LOSE A LEGEND

 

                           …Fred Hiatt, the “Legend” for over 20 years at The Post

 

The loss of Fred Hiatt at The Post will not go without serious notice

 

Fred Hiatt, who I have followed for years, as he edited the Washington Post pages for nearly 22 years.  This was before his recent death of a sudden heart attack at the age of 66.  Fred was a consummate journalist.  He came from being a dogged reporter, to a brilliant editor, and a capable writer.  He will be remembered by all, for his human qualities. 

Mr. Hiatt, to everyone at The Post, was simply “Fred”.  His people say he was gifted with seemingly effortless charm, good humor.  He had an motional attitude that enabled him to lead a highly diverse staff through daunting challenges.  Challenges, such as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars that followed, to the difficult presidency of Donald Trump.

Fred Hiatt would not want this week’s Post to be about him. He would want The Post to tell you about Julio Varela’s “not so pretty” feeling about the new “West Side Story.”  Or of the intriguing proposal for expanding the House of Representatives.

But of course, the writers this week in The Post’s Opinions section will write about Fred.  

So, I am also going to focus on the man who led the Opinions section for over 20 years. He appeared as kind as he was smart.  They say he was gentle in his demeanor and unyielding in his convictions.  The Post is obviously, shattered by his loss.

But they will work hard to produce an edition this week that Fred would be proud of, and that would honor his vision of what an opinions section should be.  It was probably a way of looking at things you hadn’t considered, proposals you might disagree with, or simply to write things that charm everyone.

Much of The Post’s work this week will most likely show that Fred focused his life and his contributions for American journalism.  

Those of you who came to know Fred may have a sense of what we, all The Post readers, have lost.  We cannot replace him, but The Post says that they are committed to continuing to pursue his vision of what an opinions section can be, week after week, idea after idea.

Mr. Hiatt made it possible for The Post’s opinion writers and the content they produced to offer a wide range of views on virtually every subject of public debate.  They did it without the bad faith that has become so prevalent elsewhere in Washington DC, (such as at the Fox Network), and also, throughout the nation.  The Post's editorial writer’s respect for and loyalty to Mr. Hiatt, has held his staff together.

From his beginning, he was as a reporter and foreign correspondent for The Post.   

He had joined the paper back in 1981.  While then, he covered Virginia politics and the Pentagon before having foreign tours in Tokyo and Moscow.  This made him a passionate supporter of real democracy, of human rights and of the U.S. leadership of those causes. 

According to his colleagues, for years he waged a lonely editorial and literary crusade on behalf of Wang Bingzhang, a Chinese dissident who was abducted in Vietnam in 2002.  A much-praised novel for young adults that Mr. Hiatt published was based on that family’s story.

When Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who had become a regular contributor to The Post’s Global Opinions section, was murdered in 2018 by a hit team dispatched by the kingdom’s ruler, Mr. Hiatt reacted forcefully.  

In addition to orchestrating a months-long series of editorials and op-eds demanding justice, he established an Opinion staff fellowship named after Khashoggi and he encouraged other writers from the Arab world and elsewhere to use The Post as a platform. 

Journalists from Egypt, India, Turkey, Venezuela and elsewhere who had been banned from domestic media are now published in those Post Global Opinions.

Mr. Hiatt offered editorials representing The Post’s position, which was notable for their independence. Mr. Hiatt’s outrage over the mass murders and other depravities of Saddam Hussein led him and the editorial board to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a stance that earned him enemies from many readers and his colleagues.

Mr. Hiatt authored a searing editorial that declared Donald Trump being unfit for the presidency.  It was one of a series of articles for which he became a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The Post ‘s editorials during Mr. Trump’s term, while were mostly critical, did give the president credit for his successes such as the freeing of U.S. citizens unjustly imprisoned abroad.  To be fair, those defenders of President Trump, Hiatt also made sure they were regularly published on the op-ed pages.

In his final years as editor, Mr. Hiatt led an expansion of The Post’s opinion staff, which came to employ dozens of columnists, bloggers and cartoonists, as well as editors, videographers and designers. The challenges of managing this large team were compounded by the moral issues prompted by President Trump’s violation of democratic norms. 

New social movements such as Black Lives Matter raised their own questions. According to his staff, Mr. Hiatt was a careful listener and, most of all, an editor of intelligence, compassion and integrity.  They say he leaves us a powerful personal and journalistic legacy.

Here are the members of The Post’s Editorial Board and their areas of focus (Most will be staying in their current positions) : Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt ; Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Karen Tumulty; Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Ruth Marcus; Associate Editorial Page Editor:   Jo-Ann Armao, (education, D.C. affairs), Jonathan Capehart: (national politics), Lee Hockstader: (immigration; issues affecting Virginia and Maryland)  David Hoffman: (global public health)  Chales Lane:(foreign affairs, national security, international economics)  Heather Long: (economics); Molly Roberts: (technology and society), and Stephen Strongberg (elections, the White House, Congress, legal affairs, energy, the environment, health care).

I’m sure, if you follow The Post as I do, you recognize many of these writer’s names.  If not, you should spend the time to do so.  These editorial writers will give you the truth, as opposed to those other right wing newspapers.

Fred Hiatt was the reason for the focus of The Post Editorial Board.  They will not disappoint you.

But for those of us in the know, we will miss Fred Hiatt’s leadership.

Copyright G. Ater 2021