Democracy Dies in Darkness Katharine Graham and the Legacy of the Washington Post

Democracy Dies in Darkness Katharine Graham and the Legacy of the Washington Post

Wednesday Classes | Available

3025 Bull Street Savannah, GA 31405 United States
Room 134
7/16/2025-8/20/2025
3:00 PM-4:00 PM on Wed
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$100.00
Member Discount Available

Democracy Dies in Darkness Katharine Graham and the Legacy of the Washington Post

Wednesday Classes | Available

$50/$100 for the series or $10/$20 per lecture - See links for individual lecture registration.


Inheriting a Legacy 
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Rebecca Rolfes | Wednesday, July 16

Shy, self-conscious, quiet, Katharine Graham became the first female publisher of the twentieth century when she took over the Washington Post in 1963.  She would transform the paper, define the media’s importance in a national political crisis, and change the role of women and minorities in journalism.

Speaking Truth to Power  
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Ann Woolner | Wednesday, July 23
The Washington Post was the must-read daily for Washington’s political class.  Publishing the Pentagon Papers and uncovering the Watergate conspiracy, the paper faced legal, professional, and personal threats—even its own potential demise—to uphold the role of a free press in a democracy.

 

Breaking the Union, the Color Barrier, and the Glass Ceiling  
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Wanda Lloyd | Wednesday, July 30
A major strike by the Post’s pressmen’s union gave Katharine Graham the opportunity to diversify the paper.  In hiring replacement workers, many of them women or people of color, she made the Post not only more inclusive but also more accurate reflection of the city it covered.

 

One Paper, Two Missions  
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Susan Catron | Wednesday, August 6

Graham wrote in her biography, Personal History, “The editorial page and editorial views are so completely separate from the news columns that they sometimes are not even in touch, and certainly don’t influence each other.” How does a newspaper balance the objectivity of the news with the opinions of its editors and publisher?

 

Media and the Law  
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Ann Woolner | Wednesday, August 13

The Supreme Court ruled in 1964 (New York Times v Sullivan) that proving defamation in the media requires evidence of “actual malice.”  That ruling, if challenged and overturned, would cripple a publication’s ability to hold leaders and powerful figures to account.

 

A Free Press in a Digital Age  
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Rebecca Rolfes | Wednesday, August 20

In 2013, Graham’s son sold the Washington Post Co. to Jeff Bezos for $250 million; 200,000 subscribers cancelled.  While Bezos asserted more control over the editorial page, the Post’s news coverage remained balanced.  Can the press remain independent in an age of misinformation and disinformation powered by digital access?

 

 


  • Individual lectures are available for purchase. Pre-registration is preferred. Pay at the door:  $15/$20.
    Recorded and subsequently distributed electronically via email.

    Susan Catron serves as managing editor of The Current, coastal Georgia’s independent, not-for-profit paper for news and investigative journalism.  From 2005 to 2020, she was managing editor of the Savannah Morning News.

     

    Wanda Lloyd has been an editor at seven daily newspapers, including 11 years at The Washington Post. In retirement, she has been a Savannah Morning News/savannahnow.com columnist and she is an author.

     

    Rebecca Rolfes is a magazine journalist and editor, and co-founder of Imagination Publishing in Chicago.  She frequently researches and presents lectures at The Learning Center.

     

    Ann Woolner, author, former reporter and Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote a Bloomberg News column for twelve years.  In retirement, she’s written an upcoming book about Savannah’s first Jews.