well, there's one person at the post who tells me that she stays in touch with janet cooke. and i asked her to ask janet cook eif she would please talk to me because i remain absolutely hypnotized by that case. it was a very, very serious blow to our credibility and the word came back that she didn't want to see me. c-span: where is she? >> guest: i don't know. she was then in toledo. this was months ago. i think she was in toledo. that's where she came from. that's where her mom and dad live. c-span: a lot of names are in your book in journalism and you have some opinions of them. a fellow who you say is the son of a minor count or he's a minor count, arnold debordre. >> guest: well, he was the son of a count and he was the editor of the washington times. c-span: arnold debordre. >> guest: yes. but he's a professional journalist and is a friend. i succeeded him as the newsweek correspondent in paris and i didn't approve of the reverend moon or his paper and arnold and i just disagreed about that. c-span: what do you think of him today? >> guest: he's my friend. c-span: what

i was the supervising editor of janet cook. let's put the blame where it belongs, on me.asn't skeptical enough. and when it turned out it was a fraud and she won the pulitzer prize and we gave the pulitzer prize back, then solution was a typical bradley solution. he said we've got an om ombudsman, bill green, saying you are going to investigate this, you are going to talk to everyone, you are going to go as deep as you can and he published this volumus article in the post. it went on page after page and it was tough on bradley, tough on me, tough on the culture of the post. and what ben said afterwards, there's nothing about janet cook affair that wasn't in that article. no one found out anything more about it because he turned the ombuds pan looks like he turned his reporters loose. and he had to take the punishment. i remember the new republic wrote a very mean article about ben and the post and the whole culture and so forth. and ben ran into the editor of the new republic. and this is the bradley we knew. he looked at him and he covered his privates and smiled. >> now

janet cook's pulitzer prize winning story about an 8-year-old heroin addict was a phony. bradlee offered to resign but later he wrote "the caravan does move on" and he did. shortly after he retired, bradlee wrote to a north carolina high school ed doir do. -- editor. i believe in hard work, fighting all kind of domination. i believe in steering clear of the big shots. i believe in total honesty. i believe in compassion. sincerely, ben bradlee. >> and bradlee's funeral will be this wednesday at national cathedral. the service starts at 11:00 in the morning and is open to the public. still ahead here on "washington weekly," metro wants to replace hundreds of rail cars but it's not going to come cheap. details on the price tag, plus a virginia girl's response to bullying. >> and after an absolutely spectacular last weekend of october with above-average temperatures, they're going to stick around but just for a bit. active >> taking a look at the week ahead, on tuesday, firefighters in fairfax county will hand out winter coats to children. it's an annual thank but for the fir

janet cooks pultser prize-winning story was a phony. it was the lowest point of ben bradlee's career. but later bradley wrote the caravan does move on and he did. shortly after he retired as jeff himmleman reports he wrote, i believe in hard work, he wrote, i believe in fighting all kinds of domination. i believe in steering clear of the big shots. i believe in total honesty. i believe in compassion. sincerely ben bradlee. gordon peterson, abc7 news. >> and that leaves colleagues at "the post" featured this memorial to him outside the building tonight. >> we will have complete coverage of his legacy tomorrow here on abc news. >> and now happening in the district tonight. police are taking a close look at these surveillance pictures. the men you see here are accused of exposing themselves on metro trains. in fact, it has happened four times so far. and police want to find them before they strike again. we are live in washington with the latest. jay. >> allison, we'd like to show your viewers where thesiness dens took place, which stops.

papers, watergate, and he weathered ups and downs when it came to issues such as accuracy with the janet cookery that turned out to be a fake. >> unbelievable. you are an editor. take from that story? >> i draw the inspiration of fearlessness. it is when you have people coming down on us. one we know our sources to be true, we go with it. we don't stop. >> inc. you. -- thank you. you can get the headlines online. we will see you tomorrow.

papers, watergate, and he weathered ups and downs when it came to issues such as accuracy with the janet cookehat turned out to be a fake. >> unbelievable. you are an editor. what do you take from that story? >> i draw the inspiration of fearlessness. it is when you have people coming down on us. one we know our sources to be true, we go with it. we don't stop. >> thank you. you can get the headlines online. we will see you tomorrow. ♪ the following is a paid program. >> the following is a paid .rogram about humana >> there are many different medicare choices available. are you sure you have the right plan? are you right -- with the right company? no

janet cook's story was a phony. it was the lowest point of ben offereds career and he to resign. but later he wrote, the caravan and he did., shortly after he retired, to a northte carolina high school editor. i believe in hard work, he wrote. i believe in fighting all kinds of domination. i believe in steering clear of the big shots. i believe in total honesty. i believe in compassion. sincerely, ben bradlee. gordon peterson, abc 7 news. >> how fitting of gordon to i think -- give that, i think. as you might expect, reaction started to pour in. founder ted turner tweeted journalism was never invigorating than when ben bradlee was at the helm. he will truly be missed. tweeted, missing ben bradlee, america's editor in post.at the washington legend, remarkable person, and sally.all thinking of >> and currently columnist mike rainy wednesday. the heavens weep for ben bradlee. thatmeone tried putting line in the paper, bradlee would have fired them. we'll get reaction from the former post editor, coming up at 5:00. >> but in the meantime, let's go ourd and get a check on traffic situ

lowest moment was at "washington post" when the paper had too give back a pulitzer's over janet cook's fictional heroin addict, eight-year-old boy supposedly addicted to heroin. newspapers were in the heyday during the bradlee era. he would write to nasty letters to readers that wrote in, this was age of before focus groups where people had to be sensitive. a navy vet, hard-charging, charismatic editor. they don't make them like that anymore. newspapers don't quite occupy the central role in the age of social media and 24 hour cable they did in the '70s and '80s. he was 93 i'm going to miss him. martha: his wife was by his side all these years, sally quinn, they were wonderful institution themselves in washington. thank you so much, howard. good to have you here today. >> thank you, martha. bill: day one on the job for the new ebola czar at the white house for a meeting. he will be there but refusing to face congress. you got a problem with that? martha: we'll find out. plus remember this video that comes to epitomize government waste. the study of shrimp on the treadmill. you paid for

likewe got something wrong janet cooke, which was a made-up story -- did not know that would happen - but he trusted of people and it sometimes backfired. there was never a single thing ever discovered about that story that did not come either from his own editors who ferreted out the truth from her or from those who wrote about it later. another matter that took a lot of our time, which had to do with a libel suit bought -- brought by the president of mobile, he never pass the buck on anything. used to be on his reporters until after years of litigation on the fact or on the question of whether -- stores the president a mobile headset up his shipping business that did not disclose it to the fcc. a lot of litigation over that, but it did change the rules. just typical the way ben would support his people. he said what made him successful as an editor was having a great owner, publisher, and those katharine graham and then don graham, who did. ben and left him in every way. in every way.im such magnetism you could not help but feel inspired by it. he really loved the people who worked