Bob Woodward Criticizes Jeff Bezos in New Memoir

When Bob Woodward, the veteran star Washington Post reporter of Watergate fame, was about to publish a hard-hitting book about President Trump in 2018, he called the owner of his newspaper, Jeff Bezos, to warn him.

“Don’t worry, I have your back, Bob,” Mr. Bezos told him. “I’ll always have your back.”

“Always” turned out not to be as long as it used to be, Mr. Woodward now says he discovered. After more than a half-century breaking stories about Washington, one of the scoops in Mr. Woodward’s new memoir is his own breakup in all but name with Mr. Bezos, who in his view turned out to not have the backs of the journalists working for him, after all.

Instead, Mr. Woodward writes, Mr. Bezos has been “compromising public trust in The Washington Post’s aggressive and independent journalism” in deference to Mr. Trump. While he says Mr. Bezos has not interfered in news stories, Mr. Woodward writes that the billionaire owner’s sweeping staff cuts, reorientation of the editorial page and personal ingratiation to the president have betrayed the legacy of a newspaper known for courageous coverage.

The condemnation of Mr. Bezos by his most famous employee is one of the headlines from “Secrets,” the long-awaited memoir of his 55 years in journalism to be published Nov. 24 by Mr. Woodward, who still holds the title of associate editor at the paper.

A copy of the memoir was obtained by The New York Times. Here are six takeaways:

He names sources.

For decades, Mr. Woodward guarded the identity of the sources of his blockbuster stories and best selling books. But now, he finally names names. Many of his early sources have died, and he received permission from others still alive to identify them.

While W. Mark Felt, the former deputy F.B.I. director, unmasked himself in 2005 as the famous Watergate source called Deep Throat, much of Washington will pore through this new book to learn who else talked. It turns out that lots of people did, including presidents, cabinet secretaries, generals, spymasters, Supreme Court justices and F.B.I. agents.