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An Ethical Lapse by the Washington Post

Posted by clioandme • 7/02/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: lobbying, media, politico, Washington Post

Politico reported this morning that the Washington Post was planning to host lobbying events, that is, sell access to government officials for cash. Talk about an ethical lapse! I have a brief post on the issue with related links here: markstoneman.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/washington-post-selling-access/

What do you think of a major paper trying to improve its financial situation by getting into the lobbying business? Personally, I'm horrified. I'm glad they cancelled.

User Comments

7/02/09

satijournal

Who's bright idea was that? That person should be fired.

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7/02/09

Anok

Oi, no good! They cancelled that bright idea though?

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1. 7/02/09
  
  satijournal
  
  Oy vey! What a putz!
2. 7/02/09
  
  Agit8r
  
  maybe Jack Abramoff works for the Post now...
  
  ...not having anything to do with the yiddish...
  
  *runs away*
7/02/09

cooper

I wrote a blog post on it from work today..i rarely post from work but I was quite annoyed.

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1. 7/02/09
  
  Agit8r
  
  your post is now property of your employer
  
  jk...
  
  ...I hope
2. 7/02/09
  
  cooper
  
  eh I use my laptop, though technically I was sucking off their bandwidth. I rarely use work computers at all. I work for the women's commission, it's a state agency, I know better.
7/02/09

polybore

Given the dire state of the US print media this idea from the WP is not surprising.

With the downturn in advertising and the advent of digital media the US traditional newspapers are, if not facing closure, are facing running with much reduced resources.

This seriously damages the ability of the press to perform investigative journalism.

So the WP marches head held high towards closure, or evisceration to a shadow of its former self, but to whose benefit? Nixon would be very happy.

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7/02/09

clioandme

An article dated for tomorrow, Friday, in the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070201563.ht...

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7/03/09

legbamel

I like the, "The marketing guys never asked the newsroom" tone. We're to believe that it was all a simple misunderstanding, I take it, and that the reporters would never have considered such a thing. I suspect the backlash was more immediate and widespread than they'd hoped. One would think they'd have thought of bloggers, Twitter, and Digg when considering public reaction.

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7/03/09

clioandme

Hmmm, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist too?

www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24496.html

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