Posted on 07/05/2009 3:11:51 AM PDT by abb
I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem. Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an off-the-record dinner with journalists and power brokers paid for by a sponsor. We will not organize such events. As publisher it is my job to ensure that we adhere to standards that are consistent with our integrity as a news organization. Last week, I let you, and the organization, down. The Washington Post remains committed, now and always, to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Nothing is more important to us than that, and nothing will shake that commitment.
So what happened? Like other media companies, The Post hosts conferences and live events that bring together journalists, government officials and other leaders for discussions of important topics. These events make news and inform their audiences. We had planned to extend this business to include smaller gatherings, a practice that has become common at other media companies.
From the outset, we laid down firm parameters to ensure that these events would be consistent with The Post's values. If the events were to be sponsored by other companies, everything would be at arm's length -- sponsors would have no control over the content of the discussions, and no special access to our journalists.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Selling? Nah...
It was a rent-to-own deal!
I’m only sorry I got caught!
Katherine....you’re a damned liar.
theres no doubt, we’re knows you guys lack any independence and integrity
Textbook behavior of a cornered rat.
http://bloggerinterrupted.com/2009/07/connies-sunday-column-deploys-army-of-strawmen
Connie’s Sunday column deploys army of strawmen
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/49971882.html
THOMAS MITCHELL: Saving the media pros from the Web parasites
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002943/the-bleeding-edge-of-media-business-models/
The Bleeding Edge of Media Business Models
http://www.mobilefun.ws/geeks-vs-journalists-a-tale-of-two-worldviews/
Geeks vs. journalists: A tale of two worldviews
http://karendecoster.com/?p=4344
Posner : Put the Kibosh on the Internet
http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2009/07/idea_that_would_help_save_news.html
Idea that would help save newspapers makes bloggers howl
This was a criminal conspiracy to peddle influence, undertaken by people too stupid to plan a liquor store hold-up.
Remember this brain-dead plan the next time someone on the left calls a conservative stupid.
Democratic game plan-personal destruction,voter fraud and
ballot re-counting and power grabbing!
Republican game plan-NONE!
Her MeeMaw (Katherine Graham) patented this stuff years ago when she was publisher of the WaPo.
Not to mention that the publisher of the Washington Compost is - in this pathetic mea culpa - officially calling the paper’s sources “power brokers.”
Which means Katherine Weymouth considers that term a legitimate job description.
There’s something strange about the publisher of an alleged top-tier newspaper officially characterizing people in that manner.
Which means that this is how publisher Katherine Weymouth actually does perceive these people. Who were to hold court (a “salon”) in her own home. For a fee.
Which clearly means that it was her idea.
Well, if that's true, it's a big stinkin' apology.
And that's a bit stinkin' "if."
The whole thing stinks of backroom deals, newspaper-guided news, and politicians basking in Romanesque hosting -- and this is presented as the way things are usually done.
It's still going to happen, obviously. It'll just be back "on track" -- under the radar.
Flier or flyer ?
“I’m shocked, shocked to find out that there is a dinner for rich lobbyists and government hacks scheduled for my home in two weeks.”
Sure, Katherine, we know a D.C. media lapdog for the Democrat party wouldn’t lie to us. (Do they know how ridiculous they are?)
Here are your winnings, sir.
March 2006: Grammar Trap: flier vs. flyer
http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/agcomm/ontarget/0603/Grammar_trap.htm
I’m sure this happens all the time. The difference is ADM or DuPont or Raytheon used to go through the pretense of buying a full page ad in the business section on Sunday.
The only thing that’s changed is they just stop using the euphemism “escort service” and put a red light in the window.
Thanks. No wonder I am never certain which word to use.
"we laid down firm parameters to ensure that these events would be consistent with The Post's values."
Ha ha hah. Grossly hypocritical elitist "values" perhaps.
ComPost "Parameters":
(1) Call these "events", "salons", which Merriam-Webster defines as "a fashionable assemblage of notables (as literary figures, artists, or statesmen) held by custom at the home of a prominent person."
(2) Hold the "salons" in the publisher's home living room.
(3) Adopt the money-making techniques of the most egregious and questionable practices of trade journalism (e.g. from "Waste Management Weekly" and "Restaurant News").
It's actually that last item that exposes the ComPost as having "ethics" and "principles" no more advanced than the lowliest practices of trade journalism.
Because it's one thing to couch your meet-and-greet under the pretensions of a refined and elite "salon."
And it's another thing to hold your "salon" in the publisher's living room.
But it's all quite another universe to tout your "salon" as providing access to journalists. For money.
I only wish they'd included the names of the whores journalists to be in attendance at the "salon" in the letter, so that we'd know just whom Katerine Weymouth considers suitable ladies-of-the-evening for her high class and elite clientele.
And by the way, that's exactly how the alleged "objective journalists" from the MSM consider at this practice of from trade journalism handbook: as straight-up prostitution.
The document.
http://media.washingtonexaminer.com/images/washington-post-white-house-health-care-lobbyists.png
It reads like the handbills for sex in Las Vegas.
Er...not now that the public has found out.
The only reason the Washington Post dropped this campaign is that the publicity was too blatant and too public. Now, the question will be, how will the cockroaches at the Washington Post find a way to make that kind of money without having somebody turn on the lights?
I just read about a half dozen of the comments on the WaPo site and they are amusing. Posters are accusing the paper of rightwing bias and doing what republicans want!!! I wonder if these posters are living in the Code Pink house on Capitol Hill?
Example:
I’ll have more respect for WaPo’s integrity . . . when it dumps rightwing fascists like Krappthammer and Will . . . who contribute absolutely zero to the discussion of what’s best for the country — they only regurgitate the Neocon(victs) jibberish of the past 50 years . . .
And, the fact that WaPo (and most notably, Blob Woodward) were totally asleep at the switch during Dumbya & Diick’s reign of terror . . . especially The War for Corporate Welfare in Iraq.
7/5/2009 7:35:11 AM
Oh, good point...........as a matter of fact, as I recall, the Post never did call for Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld to resign.
7/5/2009 7:43:14 AM
I think the ideology of the post could be summed up by “we will support those in power if they are republicans” — otherwise we will pretend to be journalists.
A prime example of this attitude is Dana Millbank, who is more concerned over his personal ego than getting his facts straight, or reporting on things he may not like. So goes Dana, so goes the Post. c’est la vie.
7/5/2009 7:56:34 AM
Ahh.... the venerable "5-year-old kid, caught with a stolen cookie defense": "But... but... but... don't spank me, 'cause Tommy took a cookie too"!!!!
Well, since everybody's doing it, it must be OK. I guess just go ahead. Really, what's the harm? Go ahead, get some for yourselves....
Brought to you by the same mentality that looted New Orleans, and is looting the US Treasury.
Tip of the iceberg, seems to me.
guilty or not?Guilty.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070402722.html
Post Publisher Acknowledges Mistakes
Weymouth Says Rushed Planning Led to Inaccurate Flier on Policy Dinners
do I really have to say it???
Gee, Post People, do you know how many people I see reading your paper on the Metro every morning?
Not many.
How many read the free Express?
More.
Hoe many read the conservative and free Examiner?
Not as many as the Express, but many more than the Post.
When you are reduced to a Web site, then the Washington Times will have caught up with you.
What a shame. You ruined a great paper. My grandad printed it. My dad and I delivered it in our days. Shame.
The disgraced newspaper now has its own “gate.”
WaPogate
>>>> My grandad printed it. My dad and I delivered it in our days. Shame. <<<<<
I had both a Post and an Evening Star paper route in my teens.
Funny, one of my relatives almost took a job in the Post pressroom, but ultimately went to work for another daily newspaper. I believe it was during the strikes of the late 70’s.
You’re on to something here.
SalonGate
WeymouthGate
KatherineGate
I like WaPoGate.
It puts the black eye on the entire newspaper.
We need to give the disgrace a brand. Make it stick.
Somewhere in Heaven, you just know Richard Nixon is having a good weekend...
Ironic, isn’t it?
:)
Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” in on CNN now. It will be interesting to hear what he says about this - or if he even talks about it.
Howie talking to TMZ about ethics ... and “money changing hands.” Unreal.
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