Sunday, July 5, 2009

WaPost Selling Access to Their Friends in the Government

The Washington Post's publisher Katharine Weymouth, she of the family who has run the post for decades, has gotten herself into a good bit of (justified) hot water over a series of "salons" that she offered to host in order to bring influential members of the health care community together with Obama Administration officials, members of Congress, and yes, Post reporters. Politico.com broke this story last week, and it has been pure ecstasy to watch as the Post--in the guise of Weymouth and editor Marcus Brauchli--has backpedaled and spun in order to find some way to -- pardon my French -- polish this turd.

Conservatives waste a lot of hot air claiming media bias toward the Democrats and more specifically, Liberals. A good bit of it is bloviation, but some of it is downright spot-on. Can you in a million years imagine Ms. Weymouth considering this "salon" series during the GWB administration? Of course not. There simply wasn't the cozy nexus of cooperation between the paper, its staff and government that there is now, a natural and predictable outgrowth of the abiding affinity shared by the dying mainstream newspaper industry and the administration it helped put in place.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This story will continue to grow. This is not a packaged and self contained instance. As the list of sponsors is divulged and the post continues to spin this as 'innocent' things will get interesting.

The sad part is that probably could have been pulled off if done above board and in a more balanced fashion.

This sounds like something that the Post should pursue, shouldn't it. As Town Halls no longer seem to be representative of our communities, why not assemble panels of politicos from all walks and let them interact with the press and public in a 'salon?'

It was the money and the exclusivity that make this smell above the other obvious issues.

Stephen Monteith said...

You know, I was actually starting to like Weymouth. I can't remember if I read it in Newsmax or National Review, but someone pointed out that, under her rule, the paper was striving more "fair and balanced" reporting. I was looking forward to a Post that represented all sides of the issues; now we'll likely see in her replacement a return to flat-out liberalism.

Sharon Arthur said...

Now do conservatives "waste" the hot air because you feel the bias is non-existent? Or is it that when it comes to balanced coverage, the state run media is just going to give conservatives a big "eff u, of course we're in bed with the Dems, what're you going to do about it"?

Sally said...

Why do you suggest it's a 'waste' of hot air when example after example, including this particularly egregious one, bears it out to be true?

The Conservative Wahoo said...

I think there's a lot of hot air because many on my side of these issues are in a judo stance ready to claim media bias when there are other reasons that reporters report as they do.

But there are enough instances where the bias seems real, consistent and continuing. Which feeds of course, the perception I speak of above.

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