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Washington Post Apologizes for Salon Idea

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Media, News, Washington

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Apparently, The Washington Post is completely abandoning the idea of hosting exclusive salons with power brokers â€“ an idea which erupted into scandal last week when a marketing flyer indicated lobbyists could pay for access to Post reporters.

Now, the paper has apologized blaming the flyer on a marketing snafu but taking responsibility for the bad idea of hosting exclusive dinners:

Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an off-the-record dinner with journalists and power brokers paid for by a sponsor. We will not organize such events. As publisher it is my job to ensure that we adhere to standards that are consistent with our integrity as a news organization.

Iâ€™m glad the Post has apologized for their questionably ethical idea. But I do wonder what would have happened if POLITICO and other news organizations hadnâ€™t broken the story. I guess itâ€™s a good thing that there are watchdogs watching the watchdogs.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 and is filed under Media, News, Washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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