Politico reporter Mike Allen reported Thursday that a flier distributed this week said that
The Washington Post was soliciting lobbyists to pay $25,000 to $250,000 for off-the-record access to members of Congress, White House officials and the
Post's editors and reporters. Access would be given during "salons," which were to be held at the home of
Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth, according to the flier.
The controversy has a lot of people, including those at the
Post, asking what went wrong.
Weymouth has since canceled plans for policy dinners at her home. Both she and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli denied knowing about the flier and said it misrepresented what the paper was trying to do.
Bottom line, Brauchli told
Politico, is that "you cannot buy access to a
Washington Post journalist." In a newsroom memo he confirmed that
the Post "will not participate in events where promises are made ... in exchange for money."
Kris Coratti, a Post spokesperson, responded to Politico's story on Thursday, explaining:
"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."
Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander said that for a paper that values journalism ethics,
the salon plan was pretty much a "public relations disaster." Peter Kafka of "All Things Digital" has played devil's advocate, posing the question:
Why not have editorial staffers participate?
White House Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs also weighed in on the situation, saying that to his knowledge, no one had accepted the salon invitation.
