Washington Post and Questions of Collusion Among the Elites

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Many have made the case for the existence of collusion between a biased mainstream media, business (especially banking) executives, and government leaders, outside of the visibility of the American people.  That argument received a new piece of evidence on July 3rd with Politico’s revelation of lobbyist-funded off-the-record dinner parties at the home of Washington Post’s publisher.

Wow.  Not sure what you think, but in this environment, I think this is big news.  So, for the next few weeks I am going to leave this poll and post at the top of my blog, so that people can respond to this poll and direct others to do so.  Thanks for responding.

The lead paragraph on this story by Michael Calderone:

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive “salon” at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

Before jumping the gun and passing judgment, please note the response by Executive editor Marcus Brauchli:

“The flier, and the description of these things, was not at all consistent with the preliminary conversations the newsroom had,” Brauchli said, adding that it was “absolutely impossible” the newsroom would participate in the kind of event described in the solicitation for the event.

Fair enough.  But it seems this may be exacervated by the Post’s position of financial weakness, which of course only makes it harder for the paper to stand firm against the political tide of rising Statism.  Calderone goes on to say:

[Weymouth] made it clear however, that The Post, which lost $19.5 million in the first quarter, sees bringing together Washington figures as a future revenue source. “We do believe that there is a viable way to expand our expertise into live conferences and events that simply enhances what we do – cover Washington for Washingtonians and those interested in Washington,” she said. “ And we will begin to do live events in ways that enhance our reputation and in no way call into question our integrity.”

Will this story and its serious implications stay in the news?  Will there be further inquiries into the back story here, and into any other off-the-record activities by the elites in Washington that are funded by lobbyists and other special interests?

If not, that raises serious questions in my mind about the integrity of the whole mainstream media industry.  This is big news, especially in the context of rising centralization and broader economic dependence on the government.  I could see tremendous pressure on any leader of a media outlet, financial firm, or other business “kissing the ring” of the Obama administration.  And what are the interests of those who stand behind these lobbyists and write these checks?  What are they after?  Who in the media is bringing before the American people these important interpretive keys to geopolitical events?

As any good investigator is taught, “Follow the money.”  So where is the money from these lobbyists coming from, and what are the objectives of those sources of funds?

To me, this highlights why one must see different levels of mainstream media bias.  It strikes me as logical and even understandable for leaders in the press to be more ideologically aligned with the political left (which is more anti-establishment, as the news must be to some degree).  One could measure that by the ways these outlets cover (and don’t cover) stories, what their editors deem newsworthy, where stories are placed vs. other stories in a publication or newscast, how the headlines read, etc.  Bernie Goldberg’s book Bias has brought much of this to light.

I don’t struggle with this kind of bias.  Indeed, I see it as rather inevitable.  And this kind of bias could be happening while the leaders of these news outlets genuinely believe they are not being biased in the least, only standing on the side of the truth against the powers of the establishment.  Such is the reality of human self-government.  We all have blinders in some way.  We are all biased.

But it is another thing entirely to hold private events off the record with the establishment, funded by the establishment.  And it strains credibility to have another news organization find you out (especially the Politico, launched by former Post reporters), and then assume your integrity will not be called into question.  This is the bias that I am most concerned about as a citizen–colluding with those authorities a media outlet should be checking.

I am pleased to see other news outlets that are more characteristically considered left-biased to be picking up on this story.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “For generations, the Washington Post has been a scrupulous watchdog over the capital’s cozy world of power networking. For a short time, it almost became the network’s host.”

Is the press a scrupulous watchdog today?  To what extent are these off-the-record events taking place to bring together elites from areas of influence across American society?  This is no small question for us to consider on this July 4th.

I’ve recently been trying to objectively research and analyze the possibility of elites in government, finance, and media colluding together, purposely avoiding visibility before the American people. I can say at this point is that there are many data points that could fit into that meta-narrative of political events.  I can also say that many more of my friends and readers of my blog than I would have expected have investigated historical and present-day events and have found compelling evidence for what many call “conspiracy theories.”

Admittedly, this is mind-bending stuff.  It is appropriate to be extra cautious and anti-sensational in investigating this, because the implications are so serious.   But given the human heart’s tendency to control, and the potentially corrupting influence of ever-increasing authority, it strikes me as foolish NOT to accept the possibility–even the likelihood–that elites across media, government, and business would work together for their own designs and objectives, and not make those things known to the people.

I have no final conclusion in my own mind about this.  I am not rabble-rousing.  I don’t want their to be any elitist collusion, to be honest.  I just want more data.