Washington Post finds the formula

It's so junior league.

We need to raise money? Dahling, we'll throw a pah-ty! I know all the right people...

 

Sounds like you're thinking inside the box to me.

 

Weymouth offers an apology and an explanation to Post readers in today's paper:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070402253.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

I've never worked at a paper that hosted anything besides the occasional ed board. Who are these "other media companies" she mentions and what kind of events are they hosting?

 

Mags do a lot of "event business" -- it's a significant source of revenue for them.

I'm not suggesting newspapers should do it, or that the WP should do it the way it was suggested.

http://www.foliochannels.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=4286&prmID=1

I do buy the explanation that the newsroom was out of the loop on this, thus I am not especially horrified. If the Post's editor had signed off on it, then I'd be appalled, but he didn't. I don't expect non-newsroom people, including Weymouth, to get it. Some do, of course, but that doesn't appear to be situation there.

 

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/not_just_wapo_atlantics_corporate-sponsored_salons.php

The link goes on with other media-sponsored events.
I'm not quite as navel-gazing as others on this and not especially bothered by what the Post did.
The execution was sloppy, but having reporters and editors speak at events isn't unheard.
*shrug*
Are the Post's reporters and editors, experts in their fields? Have they written for other publications or books on the subject material? Are the journalists being paid for their appearances? Does that change anything?
I personally don't think that this is a simple problem with a simple solution.

 

WaPo ombud offers more insight, tees off:

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071100290.html

 

Another example of how desperate folks in our business are now.
The fact this got as far as it did means many higher-ups in the Post building thought it was a legitimate way to make money.
Shame on the Post.

 

No doubt "Woodstein" would be on board with this.

 

The denial that editorial had any fingerprints on this would appear to be inoperative.

 

The guy hired to organize and promote these unethical travesties didn't mention the controversy he started when he wrote his resignation letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091102275.html?hpid=moreheadlines

 

"Blithering shitwit" comes to mind again.

 

Dredging up once again, as the "Salons" creator spews forth to help "turn journalists into profit centers":

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-how-to-turn-journalists-into-profit-centers/