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07.02.09 - 1:05 PM
Still In the Losing-Our-Shirts-and-Credibility Business, But Out of the Salon Business
It seems lobbyists will have to influence-peddle the old-fashioned way – sneakily – now that the red-faced, cash-strapped Washington Post has cancelled its planned series of "salons" offering access to policy-makers in exchange for a modest $25,000. (See below.) The leaked fliers for the events caused an uproar among people who seem to think news, and the opinions that inform it, should not be for sale.
"We do not offer access to the newsroom for money," said editor Marcus Brauchli, who attributed the snafu to "a lack of effective communication internally." "We just are not in that business."
6 Comments so far
Show AllFiredoglake has brilliant points of view on this hand-in-the-cookie-jar at WaPo:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/04/weymouth-still-doesnt-renounce-pay2play/
Bring America Back !!!!.....!.. On the other feature on this subject in this left hand column==let us not attribute the slogan of the NY Times to WAPO !
...All the news that is fit to Print is strictly the NY Times, never claimed by the Post !
**The Post has not done any investigative journalism since Watergate, but has rested on its laurels for about 30-something years. Goes to show the spunk, guts, and courage of Woodward&Bernstein were the backbone of that effort ! Plus, the inside info
from my American Idol, Mark Felt--high rank FBI official who was 'Deep Throat' !!
**Lets consider==what town houses the WAPO==oh yes,
same place as the Pentagon (5-sided puzzle palace), same place as King Bush' palace; same as Dept of State; same locales as CIA & Natl Security Agency.
Call it the Beltway culture of corruption. Dare we progressives think that,
of the slices of those 25,000$ Salon Pies, would a taste or two slide under the
table(s) into the pockets of those highly prized administration sources and
un-named officials, those well placed storyliners ???? Now who must look into
that...oh yeah The Fingerprinting Bureau of Ineptness--FBI. Mueller's Muppetts.
Wartime is so much more newsworthy than Peacetime !
Does it matter to WAPO that 4400 US Troops are dead from an illegal, immoral, criminal war in Iraq ? Countless others maimed, injured--headed to Afghan?
Also, that small 9/11 hole in the under-repair side of the Pentagon==how does a 757 Jumbo Jet fit into that small place==leaving no engines, no bodies. ?
WAPO website says it has a picture of the Jet hitting the Pentagon that day===but all that is there is a faint nosecone of something? If one examines photos of the man-less Drone now being used against Pakistan targets==a case is obvious for it being the nosecone of a drone--not a Jumbo Jet. WoW, I just bet some young Tiger at WAPO knows a programmed Drone could fit into that tiny hole===and surely not a 757.
The WAPO Ombudsman or Ombudslady==whatever==will not even answer my E-Mails on that one.
****WAPO recently did a 7-day Re:hash of the Chandra Levy disappearance. Most editorial letters to WAPO were highly critical citing varied factual inaccuracies and in-house bias, and of the incompetent investigative approaches applied. It ended up blaming a same-ol suspect who had passed a polygraph proving he had nothing to do with Chandra.
He completely denied Chandra involvement, but did admit to following one or two other women in the same Park, and is serving time for them.
**But, the Post whitewash forgave the incompetent DC Police for their lack of solvement, and inspired the new Chief to recently filing charges vs. Guandique--
to give the Levy family "closure" if nothing else!
Do not even get me started on this: IT WAS THE SCREAM, YOU DUMMIES !! IT WAS THE SCREAM !!
AND THEY KNOW IT.
It is a shame that a newspaper cannot have effective communications! What does that say about the WAPO?
Apparently there IS a point at which these corporate Goliaths exhibit a sense of shame---like maybe when they get caught?
It's not shame - it's survival.
It's the degree of shame that cockroaches feel when they scatter when you turn on the light.
yes they are!