Washington Post Fire Sale
posted by Frank Pasquale
As newspapers falter, we often hear about how terrible it would be if public funding supported them. Imagine the conflicts of interest! Well, we’re now getting an inside look at the “stealth marketing” media may need to engage in in order to survive:
Mike Allen at Politico.com [has] reported that Post publisher Katharine Weymouth has decided to solicit payoffs of between $25,000 and $250,000 from Washington lobbyists, in return for one or more private dinners in her home, where lucky diners will receive a chance for “your organization’s CEO” to interact with “Health-care reporting and editorial staff members of The Washington Post” and “key Obama administration and congressional leaders. . . .”
Though the Post’s leadership quickly backed away from the plan, we can only imagine what kinds of fire sales a few more years of economic hardship will bring:
Looks like Dan Froomkin got out just in time!
July 2, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Posted in: First Amendment, Media Law
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