By Katharine Mieszkowski As the recession hammers on, and the newspaper industry collapses, add the Washington Post to the crowd of newspapers with truly harebrained schemes about how to boost their bottom lines.
Mike Allen of Politico reported today that the Washington Post invited lobbyists to pay up to $250,000 to buy access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress and the paper's own reporters and editors.
"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," reads a one-page flier advertising an off-the-record event to be held at publisher Katharine Weymouth's home. "Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth….Bring your organization's CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders."
The kicker: the event came to the attention of Politico, when a healthcare lobbyist who received the flier raised questions about the ethics of such influence peddling. "The offer -- which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters -- was a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival," wrote Allen. "And it's a turn of the times that a lobbyist is scolding The Washington Post for its ethical practices."
The Politico piece about the flier inspired "astonishment" in the Washington Post newsroom, including from the executive editor, who sent an email to the staff saying that the newsroom would not participate. The event has now been canceled by publisher Weymouth.
mandalp1
Richard Davis
Chris Rywalt
Blue Roses
whitenoise
Anupum Mehrotra
Salon.com
Comments
I think the important part of the story you are glossing over is who would have been these Obama Admin people willing to show up for what looks and smells like an influence peddling operation with a supposedly objective media outlet.
The Vinyl record industry disappeared with the appearance of high quality CD’S.
The record store is a quaint relic of days gone by.
The future of journalism and of the distribution of news and information is digital and net based; the whole industry has been cast to the heavens and has not yet landed, but it is plain to see that the printed media is a relic, barely hanging by a thread.
This inane attempt by the WP shows its desperation. Times have changed, those who do not adapt quickly will be left in the garbage heap of useless ineffective technologies like 8 track tapes, Phonographs, and B/W TV sets.
As the day of doom draws ever near, I imagine that we will witness all sorts of strange behaviors, after all WP along with the rest of the newspaper industry is fighting for its very existence; this and more is to be expected.
TV News will eventually feel some of this extreme pain. Time will tell.
Sites like Salon, OS, The Huffington Post and similar others are rapidly taking over as this new horizon draws ever closer to us. As the older generation fade, the field will change ever more dramatically.
It is difficult to say for certain to what degree; but certainly the days of citizen journalists and opinionators are here to stay.
http://open.salon.com/blog/rickyb/2008/08/19/ehud_baraks_influence_peddling_the_answer_is_autism
This is a bogus post, right?
"White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked Thursday in the briefing room if anyone from the White House was invited to attend the salons, and what the policy is for attending such events.
"I don't know if anybody here was," Gibbs said. "I think some people in the administration, writ large, may have been invited. I do not believe, based on what I've been able to check, anyone has accepted the invitations."
Gibbs said that the counsel would review such invitations and "it would likely exceed" what would be considered appropriate."
and sincerely, no one believes wapo is objective.
There can be NO (meaning none, zero, not any) possible justification for what they planned to do.
Having said that, Publisher Katharine Weymouth today spoke to the staff and said the publicized event had been cancelled. However, she went on, we are planning other similar events in the future--same idea, same players, same big money influence, same PAY TO PLAY, but by then the hubub will have died down.
This is criminal activity--it should be investigated, indictments handed down, and the guilty given new clothing, a small cell, and a few meals a day.
As one of the flagship entities in the business, the WaPo has just done something that will clobber integrity in the public eye. Smooth.
the interest here is, this informal influence peddling hoped to be a secret, when it was in the interest of k street to publicize it. "we are the official gate-keepers" is their mind-set.
government is america is as corrupt as anywhere, for humans with power and money, operating in secret are always corrupt, why should they not be?
But hey, wait, wasn't there another news organization that tried something similar a few years ago? Some feisty online news magazine, known for its independence and disdain for the ass-kissing of the established press, whose name now eludes me...
If memory serves, this news site had established its chops with some truly world-class journalism, but then fallen on hard times after the dot-com bust, and as a harebrained scheme to raise money invited potential backers on a cruise with its staff.
Now if only I could remember who that was... Something starting with a big red S...
In short, I see nothing that suggests the WP demise will do anything to improve online journalism. And although your effort in this column are appreciated, I see little sign that the emerging online journalistic order is one bit more reliable or honest than the one that is falling apart.
WASHINGTON POST NOW HAS OWN WATERGATE
http://www.unboundedition.com/pdp_thinking/2009/jul/7/post-agency-i-defense-katharine-weymouths-wapo-str/
Thanks for reading.