A Publisher Stumbles Publicly at the (Washington) Post (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | July 4, 2009 | David Carr

[abb]

Katharine Weymouth, the relatively new publisher of The Washington Post, is a lawyer who worked for the company for 12 years and was educated at the Harvard School of Business, so she is hardly a naïf in running a business.

But she has never worked in a newsroom, a gap in her résumé that may have contributed to her current problems.

As first reported in Politico, The Washington Post had sent out a brochure offering sponsorships — a fee of $25,000 for one, or $250,000 for an entire series — for an exclusive “Washington Post salon” at Ms. Weymouth’s home in which officials from Congress and the administration, lobbyists and, yes, the paper’s own reporters could have a quiet, off-the-record dinner, discussions to be led by Marcus Brauchli, the newspaper’s editor. Theoretically, you can’t buy Washington Post reporters, but you can rent them.

I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time. Access, and its very close cousin, influence, define the Beltway. Millions of dollars are spent on having the right lobbyists, flacks and lawyers so that you can end up in a room with people who control your destiny.

And in some respects, the now-canceled salon on health care seems like an attempt to replicate a golden era for the newspaper in which a seat at a dinner hosted by Katharine Graham, the legendary publisher of The Washington Post and Ms. Weymouth’s grandmother, was the hottest commodity in the Beltway.

The difference? Mrs. Graham bestowed legitimacy (Richard M. Nixon never made the cut, even as president). Ms. Weymouth decided to sell it, with her paper’s editorial integrity apparently thrown in as a parting gift.

snip

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ping

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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-jacksonmedia4-2009jul04,0,7030960.story
Jackson media frenzy faulted
Separating truth from rumor and figuring out who represents the singer aren’t easy in an era of nonstop news.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3if52b9a5b28d70b335d6c0b6bcee952a9
Opinion: Online Video’s Impact Remains Unclear

[GeronL]

it was a pretty close to epic fail

[rod1]

Wow how cute. The newspaper of the fake stories is now calling out the WA Post on Ethics.

[abb]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/la-presse-to-stop-publishing-sunday-edition/article1183448/
La Presse to stop publishing Sunday edition

http://www.edpadgett.com/blog/2009/06/circulation-milestone-at-los-angeles.html
Circulation Milestone at the Los Angeles Times

[abb]

Weymouth may not survive this. She only got the job because she was MeeMaw’s (Katherine Graham) favorite.

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http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/07/03/politics-makes/
Politics makes….

[Dr. Ursus]

A whore setting the price-nothing unusual!

[abb]

A whore setting the price-nothing unusual!

Yes, but it's all so unseemly to do the bargaining in public, doncha see?

ROFLMA!!!

[Raycpa]

Katharine Weymouth, the relatively new publisher of The Washington Post, is a lawyer who worked for the company for 12 years and was educated at the Harvard School of Business, so she is hardly a naïf in running a business.

The writer thinks the above qualifies someone to run a business?

[cranked]

NY Times is just jealous that it did not come up with the idea.

The real question here is who at the White House knew and went along with such....

[Joe Boucher]

Neither paper is worthy of wiping ones rear end with.

Both are in the hip pocket of liberals making impossible to be fair or honest.

[rod1]

Absolutely, you are on the mark.

[Carley]

Does anyone believe this hasn’t been going on since Martha Graham?

Nothing new, just got out to the public this time.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Weymouth had to know and approve of the outreach. The soirees were planned for her dining table.

[stevem]

Mrs. Graham bestowed legitimacy (Richard M. Nixon never made the cut, even as president).

I can undersatand this. Yet it begs the question. What politicians, who register just as high on the hack meter, made the cut?

I suppose when you are editorializing you need to get in the dig, knowing that following the thought gets you little except a really deep hole.

[BilLies]

The WA Post needs to come up to Albany, NY to learn how to make money. In May 2007 the Albany Times Union ran a front page article written by a group of journalism interns regarding an audit report by New York state employees which claimed that Verizon was trying to be reimbursed for $230 million IN Federal monies that they were not entitled to. The reimbursement was related to the 9/11/01 terrorist attack on NYC. The report by the auditors was obtained through a FOI request.
Sometime later, an editor, Rex something or other, wrote an editorial where he stated that he had met with the Verizon representatives (code for lobbyists) and everything looked OK. Nary a word in the paper since. Incidentally though Rex met with the Verizon people there is no mention anywhere that he met with the State Auditors. LESSON: DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE PEOPLE WHO CONTROL THE MONEY AND DON'T SELL YOURSELF CHEAP. The Hearst organization (who at the time owned one of the two newspapers in town) is really good at this type of operation. A Hearst representative made a deal with Willie Brown, then Mayor of San Fransico, to endorse him (but only on the editorial pages /S) if he would not contest the Hearst organization taking over the other paper in town.

[Cboldt]

The Post has been selling it all along, and will continue to sell it. This is simply the first time they used a medium (the flyer) that amounts to being caught red-handed. Lesson learned.

[Ann Archy]

Is this LALLY WEYMOUTH??

[Cboldt]

-- NY Times is just jealous that it did not come up with the idea. --

NYT has been selling its influence too. They are just more discrete -- except what they publish more or less gives up the game.

[Ann Archy]

this PROVES that the DEMOCRATS in CONGRESS are ABLE TO BE BOUGHT OFF!!! Ms Weymouth was CERTAIN of this!!! The POST KNOWS that the DEMOCRATS are CROOKED or else they wouldn’t have offered this gig!

[Right Wing Assault]

Where's her Hell's Angels leather? Look at those man hands, too.

[cookcounty]

The Press has lost all semblence of journalistic ethics. I have no respect for the mainstream press. At all.

[Grampa Dave]

Nothing done by liberal elites should surprise any of us.

They will do anything to stay in power, make money and to preserve their positions.

Onlywhen they are exposed like this B$tch will they stop the current scam they are pushing.

[RayChuang88]

The "epic fail" part was it was just a bit TOO blatant.

[Liz]

THIS JUST IN Wash/Po revises deal:

For $25,000 the Wash/Po will let you watch several construction workers manhandle Rahm Emanuel.

"O-o-o-o-o, I can't wait.

[abb]

Lally’s daughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Weymouth

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http://www.postchronicle.com/commentary/article_212241767.shtml
Tip To Bloggers: Keep It Real

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/nyregion/02rooms.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=news%20meeting%20room&st=cse
A Snapshot of the World at 4 P.M.

http://www.scripting.com/stories/2009/07/04/isItNewsIfItsNotReported.html
Is it news if it’s not reported?

http://www.buzzmachine.com/
Journalistic narcissism

[abb]

http://www.innovationsinnewspapers.com/index.php/2009/07/04/the-new-york-times-and-an-embarrassing-piece-about-themselves/
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND AN EMBARRASSING PIECE ABOUT THEMSELVES

[Ann Archy]

Thanks....Lally is CONSERVATIVE....at least for THAT family.

[angkor]

“I’m ‘a Madame’, not a Madam. And this is ‘a salon’, not a brothel.”

[KeyLargo]

Tribune Co. profitability continues to deteriorate

By Ann Saphir
July 04, 2009
(Crain’s) — Tribune Co.’s financial picture deteriorated even more this year as declining advertising sales continued to hammer the newspaper industry, the Chicago media conglomerate’s bankruptcy filings show.

The company is much less profitable than before its filing in December and is burning through cash, financial statements for the first five months of the year show. Tribune’s revenue declined about 23% in the first half of 2009, according to an estimate by Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. analyst Tom Corbett, who reviewed the company’s financials.

“They are just like every other newspaper company I am looking at,” Mr. Corbett said. “They are seeing vertiginous losses in ad sales and their profitability is suffering from having fixed costs.”

Nationally, newspaper ad sales declined almost 30% in the first quarter, Mr. Corbett said. Tribune doesn’t report profit, but a Crain’s analysis of cash flow shows the company had an 8% profit margin for the first few months of the year, which is less than half the 19% margin it boasted in the first half of 2008.

Tribune is “still profitable, but significantly less so than last year,” Mr. Corbett said.

The profit decline may add to the pressure on CEO Sam Zell to seal a deal on the Cubs, which went on the block more than two years ago. A bid led by Chicago bond salesman Tom Ricketts for around $850 million has been held up by disagreements over broadcast rights.

Selling the team would bring in cash that could help pay off Tribune’s $12-billion debt, an important hurdle before the company can restructure its liabilities and emerge from bankruptcy.

As a private company in bankruptcy, Tribune publishes far less financial information than it did last year as a publicly traded one, making comparisons difficult.

Instead of revenue, the company reports operating receipts, which were down 14% from the beginning of the year to $1.36 billion as of May 31. Despite the drop in operating receipts, the company took in $112 million more in cash than it spent between January and the end of May, bankruptcy filings show.

The company is cash-flow positive and has more cash on hand today than it did when it filed for bankruptcy protection, a Tribune spokesman said. He declined to provide any details on ad sales or circulation trends this year but acknowledged that there is more pressure on the business.

“Since going private, we have re-engineered many of our existing products and introduced new ones, expanded our local news programming, dramatically reduced our expenses and positioned the company to succeed in the face of an extremely difficult ad environment and a worsening economy,” the spokesman said.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34635

[abb]

Thanks for posting that. I didn’t see it yesterday and it is very important to know.

To wit, there is no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ regarding newspaper advertising - except for the oncoming train...