Washington Post finds the formula

We can blame our industry's seeming demise on Craigslist, the Internet, loss of advertising, what have you. But no one deserves more blame than the blithering shitwits who pass for "leaders" in this biz.

 

I might just add "blithering shitwits" to my day-to-day lexicon. Well done.

And this entire thing stinks to high heaven.

RB

 

That stuff the NFL claims, about "protecting the shield"? Well, the people running newspapers are whizzing and dumping all over the shield of daily journalism, at a dizzying rate, in their panic to ... yikes! ... do something! Anything!

Yeah, that's brilliant. Shed more credibility, gain more value. What an obvious strategy. And every time someone in the employ of the WaPo and the NYT stonewalls a reporter with a "no comment," those places soil themselves just a little more.

 

The Post is considered the second-most influential newspaper in the country. And it was SELLING that influence.
Why should people give a damn if newspapers live or die when they hear that? Really, how can anyone in DC pick up a Post, look at an article, and not wonder who paid for it and how much?

 

Isn't this really just the typical "Course of Empire?"

 

You'd think the newspaper of Janet Cooke would have been more thoughtful about whoring itself out in such a fashion.

 

I would've put it a notch above the NY Times, even. This is very damaging. I still don't know what else to say, really. Even if the newsroom wasn't involved (and, from the article, the newsroom seems pretty pissed) the publisher was still selling HER influence, and she (in ways direct and indirect) influences the newsroom.

Very few things in the industry right now shock me, but this honestly shocked me.

 

At least the Post was only figuratively pimping reporters.

I understand that literally pimping us out could be a very lucrative side business for some other struggling papers. It's all about thinking outside the box with the newspaper's assets...

 

Especially if you use the unpaid college interns. That's a big margin right there.

 

Ethics aside, wasn't it a bit of a reach for the memo to promise access to Obama staffers? Were they in on this little secret? That's like me offering $250,000 to readers for access to Tiger Woods. How could I even think about guaranteeing that?

 

Excellent point Hondo. This deal may have gone past unethical journalism into up-front fraud. Were they going to invite the officials to dinner with Weymouth under false pretenses?

 

Well, you'd have to be ignorant of federal law, for one thing.<blockquote>The White House reminded its staff Thursday that they need official clearance from the White House counsel's office before accepting free tickets to "banquets, conferences and cocktail receptions."

"Federal ethics rules restricting the acceptance of gifts govern your ability to accept free admission to events put on by a non-governmental sponsor," White House Counsel Greg Craig said in the e-mail, obtained by POLITICO. He directed staffers to a new intranet site where they can gain approval for attendance at what are known in ethics lawyer parlance as "widely attended gatherings" or "WAGs." ...

The Post was promising the attendance of its news executives and Obama Administration officials at the salons, though White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he knew of no officials who had agreed to attend the sessions. The first planned session was canceled today after the controversy erupted..

"The Counsel would have to review an invitation like this and I think...the salon that the Washington Post is offering would likely exceed what the Counsel would feel in this case would be appropriate," Gibbs said.</blockquote>http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0709/White_House_reminds_staff_of_policy_on_free_tickets_.html