The corrupt media is a big part of the problem. Politico is reporting that the Washington Post is offering "access" to its reporters to lobbyists for $25,000 to $250,000. It was even too corrupt for a health care lobbyist to put up with!
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its "health care reporting and editorial staff."
Politico: Washington Post sells access, $25,000+
More on the corrupt media, after the fold.
The offer — which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters — is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival.
And it's a turn of the times that a lobbyist is scolding The Washington Post for its ethical practices.
Politico: Washington Post sells access, $25,000+
Objective media? Yeah, as objective as one can pay for.
Remember Judith Miller and the New York Times? Lies spread to invade Iraq.
We can expect a drumbeat of negative stories from the Washington Post about health care reform soon.
Got cash? Buy a reporter. What a f..cking joke.
More details at the link. I'm no Politico fan, but I'm glad they are reporting this.
Update I: I urge everyone to read the Politico article. I just hit the highlights. As one commenter says, "it's even worse than written here."
It's even worse than what's posted here. (8+ / 0-)
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According to the Politico article, one of them is titled:
"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate,"
That's right -- the Washington Post is openly saying that if you pay them money, they can help you "alter the debate".
I've been trying to convince my wife for about 3 years to cancel our Post subscription. I'm hoping this seals it.
"Journalistic conventions make it hard for reporters to deal with a big, complicated lie." -- Michael Kinsley.
by dcg2 on Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 07:32:26 AM PDT
(emphasis added by me)
Update II: WaPo response to Ben Smith at Politico:
The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication. It went out before it was properly vetted, and this draft does not represent what the company’s vision for these dinners are, which is meant to be an independent, policy-oriented event for newsmakers. As written, the newsroom could not participate in an event like this.
We do believe there is an opportunity to have a conferences and events business, and that The Post should be leading these conversations in Washington, big or small, while maintaining journalistic integrity.
The newsroom will participate where appropriate.
Ben Smith
Translation: we've been caught and we're in full denial mode. But keep those checks coming. :-)
Update III: And now that they are in the spotlight, cancellation:
Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth today canceled plans for a series of policy dinners at her home after learning that marketing fliers offered lobbyists access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress and Post journalists in exchange for payments as high as $250,000.
"Absolutely, I'm disappointed," Weymouth, the chief executive of Washington Post Media, said in an interview. "This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom."
Just think if WaPo were real journalists and had investigated Bush back in 2002 and forced a cancellation of the invasion of Iraq. Looks to me that they have much to learn about journalism. The first thing is you don't sell "access" to government or your own reporters and editorial writers.