The Washington Post repsonded to a story in the Politico earlier today that made it look like the paper was influence peddling.

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth adddressed staff today over POLITICO’s report on a non-canceled series of dinners in a memo obtained by POLITICO.

Weymouth, who’s currently on vacation, wrote that “a flyer went out that was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flyer would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.”

She continued:

    I do not normally respond to stories but this one has created enough of a stir that I wanted to take the time to reaffirm our commitment, first and foremost, to our journalism and our integrity.  There is nothing more important and no amount of money that would cause us to jeopardize that. We are always looking for new revenue streams but we will pursue only avenues that uphold our high standards of journalism.
    
    We were planning to do a series of dinners and had requested newsroom participation but with parameters such that we did not in any way compromise our integrity. Sponsorship of events, like advertising in the newspaper, must be at arm’s length and cannot imply control over the content or access to our journalists.  At this juncture, we will not be holding the planned July dinner and we will not hold salon dinners involving the newsroom.
    
    We do believe that there is a viable way to expand our expertise into live conferences and events that simply enhances what we do – cover Washington for Washingtonians and those interested in Washington.  And we will begin to do live events in ways that enhance our reputation and in no way call into question our integrity.

The Post Ombudsman also chimed in.

Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander weighed in on POLITICO’s report this morning, describing the fallout from a controversial flier as a “public relations disaster.”

Alexander spoke not only to executive editor Marcus Brauchli — who’s said the newsroom hadn’t seen the event flier, and if they had, wouldn’t have agreed to such an event — but also to Charles Pelton, who’s listed as the event contact.

    “There’s no intention to influence or pedal,” Pelton said this morning. “There’s no intention to have a Lincoln Bedroom situation,” referring to charges that President Clinton used invitations to stay at the White House as a way of luring political backing.

    Pelton said newsroom leaders, including Brauchli, had been involved in discussions about the salons and other events.

    “This was well developed with the newsroom,” he said. “What was not developed was the marketing message to potential sponsors.”

    Brauchli acknowledged discussions, but said they had centered on “identifying events that we think are worthy of newsroom participation, whether it’s a conference or a smaller event.”

All I can say is it is a CYA situation.

Post #2156

 

 

 

 

 

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