Washington Post, the

The Washington Post is the largest daily newspaper published in the Washington, D.C., area and one of the largest in the United States. Its coverage focuses on political affairs, especially on the workings of the White House and the government. Together with The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, the Post is part of the elite media in the United States, reporting trends and topics that tend to influence other media's publishing agendas. It is also well known for its role in the Watergate affair, which led to President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974.

The newspaper was founded in 1877 by Democratic politician Stilson Hutchins and was the first newspaper to have a Sunday edition. It is currently owned by the Washington Post Company, which also owns the news magazine Newsweek and several other media outlets. By 2006, The Washington Post had won 22 Pulitzer prizes and numerous other awards.

In June 1971, the newspaper joined The New York Times in publishing excerpts from a leaked government report known as The Pentagon Papers. It was ordered by the U.S. Justice Department to stop publishing the secret documents, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the government's injunction a week later.

In June 1972, reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward started an investigation into the arrest by police of five men accused of burglary and break-in into the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. The reporters soon discovered that the presumed burglars were former CIA agents attempting to plant listening devices in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Bernstein and Woodward's investigation became known as the Watergate scandal and continued for about 2 years, during which the two reporters were able to trace a connection between the break-in and Richard Nixon's campaign fundraising committee. The continuous reporting of The Washington Post into the Watergate affair culminated in Nixon's resignation in 1974 and was rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in the following year.

The main criticism against The Washington Post is its liberal bias. Although the newspaper's current policy is not to endorse political candidates, it has a history of endorsing Democratic candidates rather than Republicans.