Saturday, July 11, 2009
We’ve already established what you are, ma ‘am.
Now we’re just haggling over the price.
I was shocked when Politico broke the WaPo story, although, perhaps, I shouldn’t have been. While the ethical lapse seemed obvious and the chance that the story would break out into the wild and start killing reputations seemed high, you don’t often go wrong putting money on the most cynical bet.
The Washington Post’s ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record “salons” was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions.
It just seemed dumb. Their ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, explains the story well and the story is certainly interesting. But even after reading the whole thing, I just couldn’t get that old George Bernard Shaw quote out of my head.
And I couldn’t shake the idea that the Washington Post was setting the price for their integrity and reputation--the virtue of any newspaper--awfully low. I don’t think that “cheap whore” gets you far in a tough business and a tough economy these days. Then again, virtue doesn’t seem as valuable as it once was (which says more about contemporary American culture than it does anything specific about the Washington Post).
As of late this week, only two Post readers cited the controversy as a reason for canceling their subscription. Only about 50 readers had written critical letters to the editor, about half the number The Post typically receives on a controversial topic.
That’s depressing as hell to me. Where, indeed, is the outrage?
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For the record, I believe the “cheap whores” in this instance were to be the “lawmakers, administration officials, think tank experts, business leaders and the heads of associations,” whereas the WaPo was going to be the cheap pimp.
In fairness, everyone in DC capable of outrage at this sort of thing has long since already discontinued the Post. They’re running on libraries, businesses, and old people who can’t find the phone to cancel at this point.
One has to know, in order to be indignant. Believe it or not, very few people read blogs and if you were a Washington Post reader you would have been the last to know. I found out about it from Bill Moyers’ Journal.
She was probably saying ‘El guapo’, which sounds like ‘el wapo’. Guapo means ‘handsome’. She was paying him a compliment.
There is no outrage because newspapers are no longer considered trusted sources. We will have long conversations about this over tattoos and drinks. My insider view on the evolution (death?) of traditional media may surprise you in some ways.
I’m looking forward to that conversation (and a number of others that I think we owe each other right about now). I’m also looking forward to the tattoo. In fact, I’m a little giddy about the tattoo.
By the way, I have a little surprise for you on the tattoo front. I’m going to be having dinner with my parents tonight, but I’m going to try to give you a call so that we can talk through a few details about tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that counts as fair warning.