I kn
ow the newspaper business is hurting, and hurting bad... but when it comes to journalistic ethics, the Washington Post is supposed to be among the finest institutions in the nation, if not the world. But now, the people who brought us Woodward and Bernstein are accused of planning to host a series of "salons" for lobbyists, where, for as much as $250,000, health care execs and lobbyists could buy exclusive access to high-profile Obama administration officials, as well as the Post's own reporters and various political figures, all in an "off the record" setting.
After the scandal broke, the first event was hastily canceled, and now the Post is backpedaling furiously, attempting to explain the situation.
A health care lobbyist is apparently the hero in this story, if you can believe it, coming forward to disclose a flier he received detailing the Post's invitation, which he felt to be an ethical conflict. (Uh, yeah.) The title of the flier was Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate:
"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."
According to Politico, which broke the story, the flier goes on to say:
"Washington Post Salons are extensions of The Washington Post brand of journalistic inquiry into the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard. At the core is a critical topic of our day. Dinner and a volley of ideas unfold in an evening of intelligent, news-driven and off-the-record conversation. ... By bringing together those powerful few in business and policy-making who are forwarding, legislating and reporting on the issues, Washington Post Salons give life to the debate. Be at this nexus of business and policy with your underwriting of Washington Post Salons."
Yikes. Charging money for access to high-placed sources and promising all resulting discussions will be "off the record" smacks of an attempt to profit off what ought to be free and fair access for all, plus a dereliction of the paper's journalistic responsibility to deliver all the news, regardless of where it was derived.
The paper's publisher, Katharine Weymouth, denies any wrongdoing. She claims the Post's marketing department misrepresented the nature of the event in the flier that was distributed, and that safeguards were in place in the newsroom to ensure that journalists would not compromise their integrity by pandering to the corporate sponsors in any way. She further claimed not to have vetted the flier before it went out.
Well, maybe that's true. But I'm suspicious, to say the least. When you send out a party invitation, don't you go over the wording before you seal the envelopes? And if you don't, aren't you still responsible for what goes on during it? I mean, if you mean to say 'black tie optional' but the printer types 'clothing optional,' it's still on you if granny faints when she gets an eyeful.
Basically, what I'm saying is, it all seems ethically iffy to me. Plus, the NY Times' David Carr writes that at least two of the invites (though not the fliers) to these salons went out to high ranking politicians from the personal email address of Ms. Weymouth herself, so she seems to have been deeply involved in the planning of the event.
While I can't feel too sorry for lobbyists being squeezed, I do feel strongly that the media must uphold its long and vital tradition of being an independent and trustworthy information source. The fourth estate must not auction itself off, no matter how bankruptcy threatens.
What do you think of the Washington Post Salon Scandal?
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This is all so gross!
While I don't disagree that a newspaper should maintain its journalistic integrity, paying for access is actually quite widespread. Think of any networking event you've ever been to, and it's really just the same thing. And as for promising that all comments are off-record or are on background only -- this is a tactic frequently used with reporters and sources who are in the know but can't be quoted directly. If reporters didn't use background or off-record sources -- they'd never break a story.
I saw a lot of anger in the comments posted to the Wash Post story.
I believe that once the American public learns the facts about how Congress operates
without regard to those that elect them, that the American public will turn their anger
into action. What worries me is what kind of action they take.
Accordingly I believe,
We came to this land to govern ourselves, not to be subservient to those who would use us to enrich themselves.
We came to this land so that we could control our destiny.
We came to this land to share our best with each other.
We now have created a legal monster. We call it the Congress.
This Congress was to represent the citizens of this country, to reflect their values, their hopes and their dreams.
We no longer govern ourselves. Money and power determines who governs us.
We basically have sold our country to those that support the insatiable appetite for wealth and power,
We elect our Senators and Representatives only to find that no change takes place. Those long time well entrenched career self dealing powerful King makers we call politicians own and control the system, the monster we call Congress.
Democrat and Republican are just images of past politics.
The Congress lives better on any given day than you or I do. They are the privileged and have the benefits of royalty.
We the people need to get back to the reason why we came to this land.
We need to make those changes now. We need to devise ways to have those who want to share their gifts and talents run for public office without selling themselves for money. We need to change the election process financially.
We need those with the gifts and talents who can benefit our citizens to be on an equal financial footing with their opponents to create a level playing field in the election process.
We need to elect those who contribute to our cause as a people.
We need to make it mandatory to be sure that the Congressional system changes through term limits. Those who fight the term limits are the very politicians who run the monster we call Congress.
Forget changing the Democrats and Republicans, for those are political machines controlled by money and power.
We need to establish a new consensus that represents the majority of our people rather than a political party that represents the wealth and power of certain class of our people.
We each need to start this new consensus in our local governments. We need to ensure that he or she that runs for office is accountable to those that elected them and not to those who bought them.
When we cannot feed our people, cannot educate our children, cannot provide health care, cannot provide housing, cannot protect our elderly, then what was the reason why we came to this land?
Michael LittleBig
Cleveland Ohio.
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