Washington Post Cancels Off The Record Salons Following Uproar Over Pay To Play Access

Update: The Washington Post has canceled its planned salon at Katharine Weymouth's home based on the uproar over the sale of access to government officials and members of the Washington Post staff. The publisher spoke to her own paper's Howard Kurtz:

"Absolutely, I'm disappointed," Weymouth, the chief executive of Washington Post Media, said in an interview. "This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom."

Original Post: The Washington Post is responding swiftly to a Politico report that the paper is selling off the record access to administration officials and newspaper editors and reporters for $25,000 and up.

Politico reported Thursday morning on a flier being circulated offering an "underwriting opportunity" for "Washington Post salon," where, for $25,000 per sponsor, organizations and lobbyists can cozy up to administration officials:

"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," says the one-page flier. "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 ...

Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli sent the following email to staffers at 10:33 AM Thursday distancing the newsroom from the event:

Colleagues,

A flyer was distributed this week offering an "underwriting opportunity" for a dinner on health-care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate.

The language in the flyer and the description of the event preclude our participation.

We will not participate in events where promises are made that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable.

There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can do these things in ways that are consistent with our values.

The Washington Post made a similar statement to Politico, saying that the flier circulated was merely a draft and that, as presented, it would preclude participation from the Washington Post newsroom:

The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication. It went out before it was properly vetted, and this draft does not represent what the company's vision for these dinners are, which is meant to be an independent, policy-oriented event for newsmakers.

As written, the newsroom could not participate in an event like this.

We do believe there is an opportunity to have a conferences and events business, and that The Post should be leading these conversations in Washington, big or small, while maintaining journalistic integrity. The newsroom will participate where appropriate.

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Comments

[btrim]

HuffPo take the hint. $$$$$$$$$$$

[JerryLevy]

I am sure the Wash Post is still reporting aggressively and objectively on the Obama administration. This is just a little fundraiser on the side. Keep up the good work American Press.

[LeeCalif]

This is the SAME thing Katherine Graham did. SO WHAT ?!

...oh... Graham didn't charge for it.

[lily]

So I guess payola is illegal only when record companies do it.

[marthainmaine]

Washington Pimp ...that is so funny!

[StuManChu]

News flash, Bush is no longer the President. The post is just trying to make money off of what was once free, biased support of obama.

[BadHaBritt]

It's no use bashing the left wing news media or the right wing news media,
the democrats or repubicans. Politics is just a plaything to distract the masses while the ruling elite screw everyone else.

Both parties are bought and payed for, there is no representation for ordinary citizens. So many simple minded fools play along, dissipating their power and energy, to play what is just a manufactured distraction, primarily created my the media.

[Chernynkaya]

Thank you.

[dynwitch]

I think Arianna just a few months ago was advocating for a corporate-sponsored reporting system in order to save the news media. At the time, I protested heavily. The LAST thing we need is for corporations to have even MORE influence over the information we get.

[twoopeneyes]

Sounds like they're setting up a symposium for debate, information and the sharing of ideas.

[MadHeart]

Didn't reporters learn from Judith Miller? Obviously not. Lack of ethics has consequences--but only sometimes. Money and fame (even infamy) mean more.

[MasterfullyInept]

I love this bit.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it's a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its "health care reporting and editorial staff.

A lobbyist feels its unethical to pay for access to a reporter.

Oh the irony.

[ZoeyMO]

That got me, too.

[bmz]

This is nothing new for the Post. Any lobbying organization which bought sufficient ad space could guarantee that the Post would not print any letters contradicting those ads -- and this has been going on for years.

[Tperl]

I am not sure the Administration will allow access to be purchased so overtly.

[Ihaveadream]

have they socialized newspapers too? I wasn't aware of this

[wendy82551]

This is almost breath-takingly evil. I caught a couple of minutes of "Morning Joe" today--just enough to see one of the great journalists of our time, Carl Bernstein, school the White House press corps for being whiney and petty. As he said, "Their (the politicians') job is to try to control us. OUR job is to get around them to the truth." But of course, that requires work, difficult, tedious legwork which today's "journalists" seem not to want to do. It also requires ethics, and clearly, the Washington Post has none.

Journalism used to be a noble profession, the last defense against assaults on democracy. What's happened to us as a nation? Is everything about the bottom line? Truly, we've lost our way. If newspapers sell their influence to the highest bidder, then democracy is doomed.

[Ihaveadream]

If this is what they're going to be selling as journalism then the WAPO deserves to go under