For Newspapers, Conflicts of Interest Have Always Been a Sporting Proposition

The big media story of the day is that the Washington Post wants to sponsor "Salons" that bring political superstars and health care lobbyists together. The idea stems from an initiative piloted by Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth, who wants to build a conference-hosting biz under the Post's roof.

Here's how it'd work: Lobbyists would pay big money to the Post for the chance to hobnob with Washington players in a given area---you know, government officials and Washington Post reporters.

In other words, pay to play, or exactly the sort of business that the Post itself has slammed in one investigative feature after another. Media types and subscribers are busy right now voicing their outrage over the proposed scheme, the first installment of which has been canceled. The Post newsroom, too, is up in arms about the get-togethers, and there's some disagreement as to whether editors were adequately briefed on this biz-side program.

Sure, it looks bad. But whenever these conflict-of-interest brouhahas pop up, I wonder why media watchdog types ignore it when a newspaper's sports department is involved. Pretty much every sports department at every newspaper plays the game.

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