By: Michael Calderone

Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp writes that outgoing Washington Post executive editor Len Downie was sort of a like a "mob boss" during his seventeen years helming the paper: "firm, smart, and, most of all, low-key." And — every media reporter’s dream — he returns calls!

Since I came to E&P in 1999, I have written at least 160 stories about the Post that quoted Downie, including some of the most controversial and difficult issues facing the paper — from its decision to run the first Abu Ghraib torture photos online (and hold back others) to the most recent 100-plus buyouts. Downie has never declined to take or return the call. "Hello Joe, Leonard is calling you back," his longtime assistant, Pat O’Shea, would say in her deep Irish lilt. "Hold one moment."

Although he would sometimes opt not to comment on a specific issue, usually with regard to his opinion of another paper, Downie more often than not would give his views or an extended explanation of the event or issue at hand. In addition, the veteran editor rarely ever rushed me off the phone or claimed a question was inappropriate.

I bet Harry Jaffe might feel differently.

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