I saw this late last night and was debating whether to post it as part of my ongoing "No blood in ants" series -- a brutally honest account of one of the recent flurry of journalism summits where the sound and fury signifies nothing. The headline was "Save journalism: Beats us, panel says."
The cosmic quote was from the publisher of the Washington Post, Katharine Weymouth:
“We will look at anything and are taking a wait-and-see approach,” said Weymouth. “We think about a ton of things. Everything is open.” When asked whether print papers will always be around, Weymouth said, “I don’t know. I don’t predict. Nobody knows.”
Anyone detect a whiff of desperation there? Today, we learned that one of her "ton of things" in the works was this:
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — 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 for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."
With the newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said this morning that he was "appalled" by the plan and said the newsroom will not participate.
It takes a lot to shock people in the journalism world in 2009, but people are taken quite aback by this. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, though. For months, deep thinkers have been telling newsroom leaders they can't survive without "non-traditional revenue sources," since no one is actually buying ads or purchasing the print edition.
But in regular business, a lot of revenue comes from cashing in on your brand name. But a newspaper's good name is supposed (I know, I know, supposed) to be all about an added layer of integrity, which means you can't cash in on your brand, not in a cheesy way like this. As bad as this looks for the Washington Post, the bigger picture is that the noose around American newspapers' necks suddenly feels a little tighter.
(Associated Press photo)
You would think that for the Post to even consider this, it would have to be pretty cozy with the Administration and the Democrat controlled Congress. State controlled media at it's finest. Heck, even Helen Thomas confronted Gibbs about media manipulation by the Administration.— jmc
Comment removed.
Hey Genius, STFU!!!! I still use my Walkman.— bird11
bird11 - are you are telling some to "STFU" b/c you use an extremely outdated piece of technology? What a *ss you are.— Delco Conservative- Delco shouldn't that be AN *ss??— bird11
- ---}}} Delco shouldn't that be AN *ss?? {{{--- Are all "conservatives" such schoolmarms/grammar mavens?— Talking point sleuth
- Simmer down people. This is a family newspaper.— VanAllen17
- bird11 - you are telling some to "STFU" b/c you use an extremely outdated piece of technology? What a *ss you are.— Delco Conservative
"You would think that for the Post to even consider this, it would have to be pretty cozy with the Administration and the Democrat controlled Congress." . . . . . LOL, wasn't it NewsMax which recently praised WaPo for being "fair and balanced" under Weymouth's leadership, even lumping it with FoxNews? Don't forget how it dumped Froomkin recently, too. Nothing has been more embarassing to WaPo than being dead wrong in cheerleading Bush's war policies, and Froomkin's calling them on it has been unbearable. Froomkin was supposed to be the token lib, but he wasn't supposed to be the only columnist who got it right. C'est la vie.- Comment removed.
- Thanks for getting it, tpsyogaqueen.— bird11
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Oh. Right. An*l-retentive "conservative" posters aren't really schoolmarms/grammar mavens, they're just "joking." Just like wacko, far-right Republicans like Rush aren't really lunatics, they're just "joking." I forgot. I won't let it happen again. LOL!— Talking point sleuth
- Sorry, bp - that party that apparently you attended (with your fellow ARTs?) wasn't my party, (although I'm sure you had a wonderful time, nontheless, regaling each other with your homoerotic fantasies about me).— Talking point sleuth
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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