Martin Baron

, the man who has led the digital transformation of the

Washington Post

and the transformation of that newspaper into a global news landmark, is retiring.

It was a possibility that many counted on in the newspaper, and that Baron himself, who turned 66 in October, had never denied.

In fact, his farewell email to the newsroom starts like this: "Two years ago I explained to the section chiefs that I was committed to staying at the

Post

during the presidential elections. I left open what I would do after that. Today I let you know that I will leave the position on

February 28

The announcement comes exactly one year after Baron received in Madrid the EL MUNDO International Journalism Prize that this newspaper awards annually to prominent professionals in the world of information, and which on that occasion he received jointly with the director of the British

The Times

,

John Witherow

.

Nash Holdings

, the company that owns the newspaper, which is wholly controlled by

Jeff Bezos

, the world's second-richest businessman and founder, CEO, and main shareholder of Amazon, has not announced who will take over from the director.

Whoever the successor is, he will inherit a very different header than the one Baron encountered on January 1, 2013, when he took over the leadership of the

Post

.

The newspaper was at the time part of

The Washington Post Company

, controlled by the

Meyer-Graham

family

, and was in the midst of an identity crisis as the Internet had eaten away at it.

Baron's arrival at the headquarters was interpreted as a reinforcement of the Grahams' commitment to

local information

, which was the only one in which, according to that analysis, the head could survive.

Baron, who had become the head of

the night

- that is, of the changes in recent editions - in the

New York Times

-

the night

is a task that either kills journalists or makes them the best professionals - had enormous experience as head of regional media.

The director of the

Post

denies, however, that idea.

"It is not true that I came to the

Post

to give the newspaper a more local touch," he declared to EL MUNDO a year ago, despite the fact that that was the idea of ​​the company.

In any case, in August 2013, Jeff Bezos bought the company - which presented a more than alarming 'hole' in its pension plan - at a bargain price, and the future of the venerable newspaper changed.

Bezos decided to take advantage of the internet to expand the newspaper's reach, not to shrink it.

The result was an exponential growth in the

Post's

online sales

, and its influence, although this helped, as Baron explained to EL MUNDO last January, "the fact that we don't have to pay dividends."

In any case, since 2015, the

Washington Post

has supported itself financially, and its writing has grown

from 250 to 800 reporters

.

With Baron, the newspaper has won

ten Pulitzers,

and has established itself as one of the toughest media with former President

Donald Trump

, who in turn has attacked him mercilessly on Twitter.

The war between the

Washington Post

and the previous tenant of the White House would give for a film -another more- of those that have been made about the life of the newspaper and of which at the end of next month its director will leave.

Today, the

Washington Post

is, more than the newspaper of the US capital, one of the few truly global newspapers in the world.

It has been a tremendous change not only for the newspaper, but for its director.

Because, until five years ago, Baron was, as much as he says otherwise, someone associated with the US regional press.

During his period at the helm of the

Miami Herald

, he directed the coverage of the

Elian case

, that is, the controversy over the return to Cuba of the child

Elián González

, whose mother had died while fleeing from that country to the United States but whose father continued to live on the island. , which earned him his first death threats.

Soon after, in 2000, he was called upon to direct the follow-up to another global issue: the dispute between

George W. Bush

and

Al Gore

over the winner of the 2000 Florida elections.

But it was as editor of the

Boston Globe

, starting in 2001, when Baron managed to achieve more projection, due to the investigation that the newspaper carried out of the

sexual abuse of minors

by some members of the Catholic clergy of the city and the concealment of those incidents by the local church hierarchy.

The work of the

Globe

journalists

under Baron's leadership not only earned him a Pulitzer, but Hollywood brought the whole story to the screen in the film

Spotlight

, which won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay in 2016. The The role of Baron was played by

Lev Schriber

, although his fame did not save him, again, from all kinds of insults, especially one that still infuriates him: the comparison of the Pulitzer to the newspaper with "giving the Nobel Peace Prize to

Osama bin Laden

", conducted by the then Harvard University professor and later US ambassador to the Vatican,

Mary Ann Glendon

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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