Troubling questions face the venerable Washington Post.
A front page New York Times story exposes a plan (first reported by Politico) concocted to raise money at the Post—by charging up to $250,000 to lobbyists and the like to have “off the record” dinners with lawmakers and administration officials. The dinners were to be hosted by Post executives.
Talk about pay to play–I could hardly believe my eyes as I read the story. Everybody knows the newspaper business is bleeding money but how could the Post ever think it could pull off such a plan without seriously compromising its credibility.
Not surprisingly, the paper’s newsroom apparently threw a fit. The idea has been scrapped.
But it still leaves a terrible taste in the mouth of any of us who remember the Post’s glory days during Watergate.
