Post’s Ethics Still in Question

The Washington Post’s infamous journalist-lobbyist dinners are back in the news. After the media caught wind of an epic ethics violation in the making—the dinners were promoted as an “off-the-record” schmooze session between Post journalists and DC insiders—the events were abruptly canceled, and general manager Charles Pelton was forced to step down for devising the promotion. Initially, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, whose reporters would have attended the dinners, avoided the controversy by claiming not to have known that the events were being sold as “off-the-record.” Today’s New York Times features a correction to this part of the story, having received a letter Brauchli sent to Pelton stating that he knew the nature of the events, and that the Times had “misunderstood” him. “I was aware, as I have said since July 2, that some materials described the proposed salon dinner as an off-the-record event,” said Brauchli on Saturday. “As I have also said before, I should have insisted that the language be changed before it surfaced in any marketing material."