(WaPo's) Katharine Weymouth Steps in It Again (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Slate ^ | September 15, 2009 | Jack Shafer

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I thank the Fates every day that my greatest professional mistakes came when nobody was watching. This morning, as her newspaper reported the spiking of a piece of the sort she had bad-mouthed, Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth must be wishing that the Fates had been as kind to her.

Earlier this summer, Weymouth got in Dutch when a Post plan to sell off-the-record access to reporters and government officials at "salons" at Weymouth's home was made public by Politico. Weymouth and Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli quickly canceled the events after much confusion over whether the paper had put its soul up for sale or whether miscommunication on the part of the management team was to blame.

In the latest Weymouth miscue, she appears to have told freelancer Matt Mendelsohn, a friend of hers, that advertisers desired "happier stories, not 'depressing' ones" like the one he had been working on about a young woman whose arms and legs were amputated. His piece was ultimately killed by the Post's Sunday magazine. The editor who killed it, Sydney Trent, told the Post's Howard Kurtz that the spike had been delivered "because it was clear the newspaper wanted to move in a different direction. That handwriting was very clearly on the wall."

Mendelsohn doesn't blame Weymouth directly, telling the Post that "unfortunately, an offhand comment by Katharine might have set the stage for the piece to get killed. ... Something she said perhaps created a climate for somebody down the chain to think that's what Katharine wanted to happen." [Ellipsis in the original.]

The controversy has both Weymouth and Brauchli standing on their chairs insisting that the church-state boundary at the paper was never, ever breached.

snip

[abb]

Another hit piece on MeeMaw Graham's favorite.

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ping

[DManA]

Weymouth got in Dutch

Oh my, my policorr sense is tingling.

[La Lydia]

This is appalling. What is wrong with this woman? She is the publisher of a newspaper who says she would never “interfere in an editorial decision.” Yet, if the newspaper publishes something libelous, as the publisher she is responsible. SHE IS RESPONSIBLE. Part of her job as publisher is to ride herd on the news and editorial departments of the paper. What does she do all day? I think we have the Peter Principle at work here. Publisher of the Washington Post should not be an on-the-job-training position. And this story explains much about their editorial and news content. No one is in charge.

[abb]

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[abb]

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[abb]

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[abb]

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[Nick Danger]

Part of her job as publisher is to ride herd on the news and editorial departments of the paper.

That may not be true. I can't speak for the WaPo, but at most publications the "Publisher" is the person other companies would call the "Sales Manager," i.e. the one who rides herd on the advertising sales force. Publishers and Executive Editors generally stay out of each other's hair. It sounds like the problem at the WaPo is that the two seem entirely too friendly.

[abb]

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
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[La Lydia]

If you (or your family) owns the newspaper, you are the publisher. And even if you don’t own the paper, if you are named publisher by the owner, you are the big boss to whom everyone else answers. You are legally responsible. It is a legal position. You oversee advertising sales, circulation, news and editorial, the whole shebang. If someone sues the newspaper, they sue the publisher. Your name appears in the “publisher’s box” as the responsible party. Executive editors work for the publisher. Some newspaper chains have editor-publishers at their smaller papers. I know of no newspaper that has a sales manager-publisher, although a small weekly might have just one person who does it all.

[GOPJ]

In the latest Weymouth miscue, she appears to have told freelancer Matt Mendelsohn, a friend of hers, that advertisers desired "happier stories, not 'depressing' ones" like the one he had been working on about a young woman whose arms and legs were amputated. His piece was ultimately killed by the Post's Sunday magazine.

As far as I can tell Weymouth has absolutely no newspaper sense - none, nada, zip, zero. She's an embarrassment to a paper that would be great if it wasn't so liberal...That's her excuse - born on third - thinks she hit a triple. The editor? Very sad ... bad call. He should have known better...

Aren't there some nice charity balls she could organize? A yacht club she could lord it over...

[Nervous Tick]

I have a moral question.

Is it wrong to feel so good about headlines like those?

:-)

[abb]

I have a moral question. Is it wrong to feel so good about headlines like those?

Absolutely not!! It has been said that the ODM (Old, Dying Media) is the public relations wing of the Democrat Party. Actually, that is backwards. The Democrat Party is the political wing of the ODM.

[abb]

Aren't there some nice charity balls she could organize? A yacht club she could lord it over...

Well, they tried her at organizing "Salons," but that blow'd up real good!

[abb]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/stopthepresses_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004013472
Your News Content Is Worth Zero to Digital Consumers

[iowamark]

Captain Weymouth of the Titanic: