Meryl Streep plays newspaper publisher Katharine Graham in Steven Spielberg’s 2017 film The Post.
The Post dramatizes The Washington Post’s 1971 decision to publish portions of the Pentagon Papers, a classified study of United States involvement in Vietnam. Graham was the paper’s publisher, while Tom Hanks plays executive editor Ben Bradlee. Their newsroom faces legal and financial pressure as it decides whether publication is worth the risk.
Streep’s performance focuses on Graham’s transition from a hesitant business leader into a decisive publisher. The real Katharine Graham had inherited leadership of The Washington Post after her husband’s death and became one of the most influential figures in American journalism. The film emphasizes the personal and institutional stakes of her decision.
The Post was released in December 2017 and received Academy Award nominations for Streep’s performance and the film itself. It is sometimes confused with All the President’s Men, which covers the Watergate investigation at The Washington Post several years later.