Yep. Another Washington Post Crashed-and-Burned-and-Smoking Watch...
Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
The New York Times:
Corrections - Correction - NYTimes.com: An article on July 3 reported on aborted plans for the publisher of The Washington Post to hold corporate-sponsored dinner parties including Post journalists. One issue in the controversy was that the dinners were being promoted as “off the record.” The article quoted The Post’s executive editor, Marcus W. Brauchli, as saying that the newsroom would “reserve the right to allow any ideas that emerge in an event to shape or inform our coverage.” By The Post’s definition of the term, that means the events would not be “off the record.”
On Sept. 12, an article in The Times reported that Charles Pelton, the marketing executive at the center of the plans, had resigned from The Post. That article, referring again to Mr. Brauchli’s comments at the time, reported that he said he had not understood that the dinners would be off the record. However, in a subsequent letter to Mr. Pelton — which was sent to The Times by Mr. Pelton’s lawyer — Mr. Brauchli now says that he did indeed know that the dinners were being promoted as “off the record,” and that he and Mr. Pelton had discussed that issue.
Howard Kurtz:
Post's Canceled Series of 'Salon' Dinners Again Called Into Question - washingtonpost.com: Charles Pelton, who had been The Post's general manager for special events and approved the flier that had not been seen by Brauchli, prompted the Times's postscript. Pelton resigned last month after several weeks of negotiations with the company.
Pelton's lawyer gave the Times a Sept. 25 letter in which Brauchli told Pelton: "I knew that the salon dinners were being promoted as off the record. That fact was never hidden from me by you or anybody else. . . . The New York Times reporter apparently misunderstood me."...
Brauchli said Saturday: "I have consistently said that my intention was that Post journalists only participate in events if the content could be used to inform our journalism. . . . I was aware, as I have said since July 2, that some materials described the proposed salon dinner as an off-the-record event. As I have also said before, I should have insisted that the language be changed before it surfaced in any marketing material."
New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty:
the paper's correction "is clear and speaks for itself."
Actually, the correction is not clear and does not speak for itself.
Is the New York Times saying that (a) Brauchli knew that the dinners were being promoted to lobbyists as off-the-record, (b) but in fact had no intention of letting them be so--fully intended to use what the lobbyists said to shape and inform coverage?
Or is the New York Times saying that (a) Brauchli knew that the dinners were being promoted to lobbyists as off-the-record, (b) but was happy to have the New York Times reporter believe that he did not know, and (c) took no steps to correct the false impression the New York Times reporter conveyed to the readers?
Inquiring minds want to know...
