While I was looking around for editorials by paid-for-player David Keene of the American Conservative Union, I stumbled upon this remarkable piece by Ronald Kessler about how great the Washington Post has become:
The Washington Post gave equal display to stories on the dueling national security speeches of President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney. The New York Times relegated the story about Cheney’s speech to a brief article on page A15. The Washington Post reported that CIA records show the agency briefed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on enhanced interrogation techniques in September 2002; the New York Times initially ignored the story.
[….](New publisher) Weymouth has a self-deprecating manner and a handshake like a Marine. Understandably, she has not said anything publicly about a change in approach. But privately, editors say the tone has changed since she and her pick as editor took over.
[….]The Washington Post and Fox News show that if journalists put out an honest product that engenders trust, the public will buy it.
It’s my sense that the editorial page of the Post has certainly moved farther and farther right, but I don’t know if that can be attributed at all to the new management.
Demo Woman
Is this related to the pay to play post below. We know that the Washington Post was willing to sell journalists to the highest bidder.
General Winfield Stuck
I despise the weasel Kessler. Lying stack of of rotting garbage. If he says something is good, it tells me the devil has it by the balls.
DougJ
I agree.
spot check billy
Lally Weymouth was trying to push the Post farther to the right all the way back in the ’80’s when her mother was still running the company. DC gossip had it that at one point she even threatened to embarrass the family by going to work for the Washington Times if she didn’t get her way.
Batocchio
Damn – so apparently he wasn’t satisfied with all the neocon warmongering it was already doing.
JGabriel
Ew, ew, ew, a link to Newsmax and I clicked on it. I feel like I’m infested with GOPer cooties now.
.
burnspbesq
At some point, the shareholders of the Washington Post Co. are going to demand that the newspaper be shut down, as it is a huge drag on the profitability of the company (substantially all of its profit comes from Kaplan).
Do you suppose that we could have “at some point” on, say, Monday?
conumbdrum
The Washington Post and Fox News show that if journalists put out an honest product that engenders trust, the public will buy it.
Emphasis mine. I never heard of this Kessler bloke, but those three words are all I need to know to convince me: he’s clearly an asshat of rare vintage.
cleek
maybe that’s responsible for the new malware warnings.
snarkout
Does anyone not think that the paper would be immensely improved by firing Katherine Weymouth and hiring Tina?
cleek
@snarkout:
mmm… what’s her stand on govt-sanctioned torture ?
if’s she’s gonna be all like “Don’t Worry About the Government” , “Life During Wartime”, “Seen And Not Seen” then no way. but if she’s all like “Psycho Killer”, “Houses In Motion”, “The Democratic Circus”, then maybe.
SGEW
This is the strongest criticism I have heard leveled at the Washington Post yet.
Seriously, you couldn’t come up with a more damning statement.
tc125231
@General Winfield Stuck: If he says something is good, it tells me the devil has it by the balls.
I don’t know this guy, having little time for the delusional crowd.
However, there is no doubt that the devil has destroyed an institution of great value at WaPo.
Political Pragmatist
The entire MSM has either come out in the open as right-leaning or simply trying to influence the drift to keep it from going left. Most of the MSM seems in sympathy with the right, or creatures of habit. If not, then it is standard cynicism since right-wingers are more involved than left and center, so tapping into the Fix Noise and Limbaugh crowd are good for business, as is stirring controversy.
When they start doing more criticizing from the left, then you will know that the country has moved left-center in the pendulum swing. This may not happen until after 2012.
The question is whether 2008 was a paradigm shift or a blip on the road to destruction. The MSM and WaPo seem betting on the latter. They are not out in front of any new movement.
dj spellchecka
i’ll give him that fauxnews is good “product”… but “honest?”…..yeeks…btw, i hadn’t noticed WaPo’s circulation going up as they become FauxMcPaper..did i miss somethin?
someguy
Cheney’s side lost. Why his side’s arguments ever even get mentioned is beyond me.
Okay, it’s not. The Post is trying to curry favor on the off chance any Republicans are ever entrusted with a position of trust ever again.
The very, very, off chance…
Andrew J. Lazarus
Weymouth used to hike the Appalachian Trail with George Will.