By John W. Lillpop
Selling newspapers is a respectable, American way to earn a profit, even for those leftist media who claim to loathe the very idea of profit and the corporate greed it inevitably spawns.
On the other hand, auctioning off access to "those powerful few" contacts one develops while collecting and delivering the news is an example of corporate greed gone amuck.
It is also apparently the way they do business over at the very liberal Washington Post.
As reported at the link below, in part:
http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2009/7/2/104321/3922/Diary/The-Washington-Post-Sells-Out
"Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."
"With the Post news room in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Weymouth said in an email to the staff that "a flier went out that was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the news room. Had it been, the flier would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do."
"She made it clear however, that The Post, which lost $19.5 million in the first quarter, sees bringing together Washington figures as a future revenue source. “We do believe that there is a viable way to expand our expertise into live conferences and events that simply enhances what we do - cover Washington for Washingtonians and those interested in Washington,” she said. “ And we will begin to do live events in ways that enhance our reputation and in no way call into question our integrity.”
"Executive editor Marcus Brauchli was as adamant as Weymouth in denouncing the plan promoted in the flier. “You cannot buy access to a Washington Post journalist,” Brauchli told POLITICO. Brauchli was named on the flier as one of the salon’s "Hosts and Discussion Leaders."
An unsolicited word of wisdom for both Katharine Weymouth and Marcus Brauchli:
Rather than peddling influence, how about giving journalist integrity a chance by reporting the news objectively, honestly and without that dreadful liberal bias that the WAPO is notorious for?
Who knows, if the WAPO were a reliable source for news rather than a wing of the DNC, people might even read the damn thing!
