Tom Grubisich: July 2009 archive
Memo to Katharine Weymouth: Put your salon on the Web
July 8, 2009
Former Washington Post staffer and frequent OJR contributor Tom Grubisich checks in with his take on the recent near-scandal at the Post - the paper's attempt to sell access to its reporters and editors through high-priced, off-the-record "salons" at the publisher's home.After Tom makes his points, OJR editor Robert Niles jumps in and adds additional thoughts on how this episode ought to provide inspiration to news publishers trying to preserve and extend healthy relationships with their readers.
The most surprising thing about the Washington Post's pay-to-play fiasco was not the Jack Abramoff-worthy pitch (“Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate. Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth....”), but that the Post was wasting its time on a brand-building project that ignored the potential firepower of its nine-million-user-strong website.
Could any brand building be more ridiculously behind the curve than salons at the home of the publisher? Weymouth's grandmother, Katharine Graham, was known for her Georgetown salons, but in-between those evenings she did things like hire Ben Bradlee to create a first-class newspaper, took the Post public but without the Graham family yielding corporate control to Wall Street, and, while the new public company's financial future hung in the balance, pledged the Post's fortune and sacred honor by standing solidly behind the initially risky Watergate coverage of young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Talk about brand building! More...
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