Downie of the WaPo: no private thoughts, no votes, no conspiracies to uncover!

Have you ever wondered why the Washington Post sucks? I think I found the answer with the outgoing interview of one of the senior guys. This is so weird it's almost occult!

Post Newsroom Leader to Retire - washingtonpost.com

Chicago: Hey Len, What is your opinion of Katherine Graham's quote: "The press these days should be rather careful about its role. We may have acquired some tendencies about over-involvement that we had better overcome. We had better not yield to the temptation to go on refighting the next war and see conspiracy and cover-up where they do not exist."

Leonard Downie Jr.: It's timeless wisdom. She said that many years ago, and it was true then and it's true now. We keep that responsibility in mind every day

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Arlington, Va.: McLean's question referred to a rightward drift in news coverage, not editorials. Please respond to the original question. Thank you.

Leonard Downie Jr.: We have not changed or established any "drift" to our news coverage, right or left. Sometimes it's the readers who perceive something like that because the coverage does not reflect their point of view. Critics on both the left and right accuse The Post of bias in the other direction. We have no ideology in this newsroom -- our only bias is for a good story and accountability journalism. The only political activity our journalists are allowed to engage in is voting (and even that I don't do). No personal or financial support for candidates or issues. No demonstrating. No petition-signing.

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Arlington, Va.: You are known for being so objective that you don't vote. Now that you are retiring, will register and vote?

Leonard Downie Jr.: I'll have to think about that, because I didn't just stop voting -- I stopped having even private opinions about politicians or issues, so that I would have a completely open mind in supervising our coverage. It may be hard to change.