The papers of Michael Getler (1935-2018) span the years circa 1935-2018, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960 to 2018. The papers contain columns, reader responses, memoranda, speeches, notebooks, interviews, printed matter, and subject files spanning Getler’s career as a journalist, editor, and ombudsman. The papers are arranged into four series: Ombudsman File, Editor File, Journalist File, and Personal File.

The Ombudsman File is divided into two subseries: Washington Post and Public Broadcasting Service. In his position as ombudsman at the Washington Post , Getler served as a reader's advocate and internal critic of the paper, responding to criticisms from subscribers and addressing ethical concerns of the paper's reporting. The paper's coverage of events such as the invasion of Iraq and the September 11th terrorist attacks were criticized in the ombudsman's weekly printed column, in which reader complaints and research from other news outlets' reporting helped inform Getler of his critique. Other stories that drew Getler's attention include the newspaper’s coverage on the Valerie Plame affair, Jessica Lynch's military rescue operation, and Judith Miller's reporting on Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, Michael Getler became the ombudsman for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), where he continued his columns addressing news coverage and ethics in journalism. In addition, Getler created the ombudsman’s mailbag, which reprinted letters addressed to him concerning PBS’s news and programming. Both subseries contain internal memoranda to staff, speeches and interviews, calendars, notebooks, and various subject files.

The Editor File is divided into two subseries: Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune . The Washington Post subseries contains the papers from Getler’s work as foreign editor, assistant managing editor, and deputy managing editor for the Washington Post from 1985 to 1996. The papers in this subseries contain primarily notebooks and various assignments from Getler’s role as the foreign editor. In this capacity, he covered apartheid in South Africa, United States and Soviet relations, the Yugoslav War, economic summits, and various other events in foreign countries from 1985 through 1993. Included also are papers from a working committee of news editors formed in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, which addressed how the media should cover military operations going forward. In 1996, Getler accepted the role of Executive Editor of the International Herald Tribune . The papers in this subseries are primarily administrative and include memoranda, board meetings, budgets, reports, and other material concerning the management of the paper, which at the time was jointly owned by the Washington Post and the New York Times.

The Journalist File contains primarily notebooks covering the breadth of Getler's career as a journalist. Beginning in 1960, Getler served as a military affairs and technology writer for various publications such as Missiles and Rockets, Armed Forces Management, and Space/Aeronautics before being hired by the Washington Post in 1970. The topics in his notebooks from this time cover the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force and bombing missions, the aeronautics industry, U.S.-Soviet relations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He also frequently took notes from press briefings with Secretaries of Defense Melvin Laird and James R. Schlesinger. In 1975, Getler took the role of foreign affairs correspondent in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), where he covered the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), NATO and Alexander Meigs Haig, US-Soviet relations, and other Eastern European countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Yugoslavia. While stationed in Bonn, Getler reported on West German politics, having interviewed leading politicians such as Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, and relations with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). He also interviewed the Nazi war criminal Albert Speer following the publication of his autobiography. In 1980, Getler became the National Security correspondent and in 1984 became the London correspondent for the Washington Post covering the British government under Margaret Thatcher. Topics covered during this time include the British economy and military, relations with the United States, and the coal miners’ strike. Many stories during this time were based on press briefings with Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher’s Chief Press Secretary.

The Personal File contains primarily papers from Michael Getler’s part-time position as a lecturer on news media and international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. The course covered a variety of topics and ethics in news journalism. Other material in this series includes press passes, passports, souvenirs, pins, and photographs spanning the length of Getler’s career.