‘Becoming Katharine Graham’ Documentary on Powerful Publisher of The Washington Post Debuts on PBS | Trailer

Becoming Katharine Graham is a documentary portrait of the newspaper publisher who led the Washington Post from 1963 to 1991, as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Directed by four-time Emmy winners George and Teddy Kunhardt, the film will have its broadcast premiere on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, on PBS.

Becoming Katharine Graham tells the story of Graham’s accidental rise to power and how it changed history. Born in 1917, Katharine — known as “Kay” — was raised to believe that men would have careers and women would raise the family. But the course of her life would drastically change once her father, financier Eugene Meyer, bought The Washington Post in 1933, a struggling newspaper on the brink of collapse. The paper’s performance improved under her father’s leadership and then under her husband Phil Graham, but Phil’s suicide in 1963 left Kay with a leaderless newspaper and four young children. Forced to decide whether to take over the family business herself or sell it, she surprised everyone by making the unprecedented decision to run it herself.

At its heart, Becoming Katharine Graham is an absorbing examination of the pivotal events of the 1970s that occurred under Kay’s leadership — the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate scandal, and a violent pressmen’s strike — as well as a look at the treatment she endured as one of the first female leaders in corporate America. This sweeping account combines Kay’s own voice with archival newsreel and television footage, home movies, and photographs. Among those lending their insights are longtime friend and investor Warren Buffett, son Don Graham, daughter Lally Weymouth, Gloria Steinem, David Remnick, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Richard Cohen, Lynn Povich, Susie Buffett, Sharon Osberg, and others.

“Our film tells the story of Kay’s evolution from a shy ‘doormat wife’ to an independent-thinking businesswoman whose dedication to truth when challenged by the Nixon administration changed the course of history,” says Teddy Kunhardt. George Kunhardt adds, “Her example remains a reminder of what a free press can and should be.”

Watch the official trailer for Becoming Katharine Graham above