In recent weeks, The Washington Post has come under much-deserved criticism for using both its news and editorial pages to lobby against regulations the Obama administration has proposed that would strengthen the government’s oversight over for-profit colleges.
In defending themselves, Post executives and editors say that the newspaper has been fully upfront about its ties to Kaplan Inc., one of the largest publicly-traded chains of for-profit colleges in the country. Kaplan, in fact, accounts for about 60 percent of the newspaper company’s total revenue. As a result, any crackdown on the proprietary school sector could be a significant blow to the newspaper’s bottom line (which would explain why Donald Graham, the Post’s chairman and CEO, has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill — a fact first reported by Inside Higher Ed.)
This line of defense recently received the backing from, of all people, the newspaper’s ethical cop — the ombudsman Andrew Alexander. In a column last month entitled “From Kaplan to Buffet, Post gets it right on transparency,” Alexander defended the Post, saying that the newspaper “has consistently disclosed the Kaplan connection.”
“I’ve often criticized The Post for insufficient transparency on everything from news sources to refusing to share its ethics policies with readers,” he wrote. “But on its commitment to disclose self-interest, praise is deserved.”
With all due respect, we at Higher Ed Watch have to disagree. The truth is that The Washington Post has not been completely transparent about its ties to the for-profit higher education industry. The newspaper has time and again failed to disclose the substantial stake it has in Corinthian Colleges, a giant for-profit higher education company that doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation, even among those in the industry. By all indications, Corinthian, which serves nearly 70,000 students at more than 100 colleges in the United States and Canada, appears to be one of the companies most in jeopardy if the administration moves forward with its proposed “Gainful Employment” regulations because of the substantial amount of debt its students take on.
Enough about that! Did you hear what Dave Weigel said in a private email?
Villago Delenda Est
Street walking is an infinitely more respectable avocation nowadays than being a “journalist” of the Village.
Violet
John, what are you on? How many posts is this?
As for the Kaplan Test Prep Daily, it’s hardly surprising they’re less than transparent about their ties. They need the money. Always follow the money.
Hugin & Munin
Johm Cole@top: Have you ever considered trying decaf?
The Republic of Stupidity
Srsly…
I hate to date myself…
But I can remember a time when neither education or healthcare were thought of as ‘for-profit’ industries…
Mebbe not everything s/b done for ‘as much money as possible’…
cleek
@Violet, Hugin & Munin:
shh!
the more posts the better!
Violet
@cleek:
I’m not complaining! I just want whatever he’s having. Heh.
Comrade Javamanphil
Get out! Next you’ll be telling me David Broder hasn’t actually written a new column in 20 years. He just search and replaces the name of the current president.
BGinCHI
Welcome to the US between roughly 1800 and 1940, when almost all newspapers were partisan and driven by the motives of their owners and the class who published/read them.
The attempt at objectivity had a good run, but it’s days are numbered.
Bulworth
Higheredwatch is shrill.
Corner Stone
@The Republic of Stupidity: Sheesh, how dang old are you?
Ash Can
LOL
AB
Stupid journalists. And they’re not even printing the *real* stories.
hillbuzz.org/2010/09/09/question-has-anyone-noticed-that-ever-since-obama-and-kal-penn-broke-up-ther…
P.S.: I challenge someone to figure out whether the above is spoof.
Mumphrey
I don’t even read the Post for news anymore. We get it in our driveway every morning, and when I bring it in, I look at the op-ed page (I like Eugene Robinson and Harold Meyerson, and I like E.J. Dionne pretty well, and I read Krathammer to annoy myself), the weather, the baseball scores, Carolyn Hax and the funnies. It’s worthless for anything else. And even a lot of the comics are pretty sad, with shit like the Family Circus, Peanuts and Hagar the Horrible, though to be fair, most other newspapers also run this shit, too. But they have Pearls Before Swine, Big Nate, Get Fuzzy and quite a few other good ones there, too, so on the whole, it’s worth getting the newspaper for the comics. It’s pretty sad, though when we get a once-great newspaper mainly for the comics…
El Cid
But… but… we have always been told that the news and editorial department is completely isolated behind an impenetrable wall from the business and advertising departments. So surely none of this complaining could possibly matter.
smedley
How much defense-related stock does Kaplan own, and might that tell us something about their war cheerleading?
Comrade Javamanphil
OT: But please tell me someone on the front page is going to have a go at
this steaming pile of idiocy.
Comrade Kevin
Silly reporter. That’s what the “ombudsman” is there for.
catclub
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Is Bloomberg arguing for German style job sharing to cut unemployment? Color me surprised.
Bobby Thomson
@AB: Doesn’t look like it. And those are some obsessed (repressed?) commenters.
ricky
Free market schools should have to depend on students who get free market loans.
Comrade Javamanphil
@catclub: More or less. AEI tool Kevin Hasset thinks you all make too much and should take less salary to induce businesses to hire more workers. This is true if you are a middle income earner or make minimum wage. He’s oddly silent about CEO / Executive pay. He’s also remarkably quiet about how hiring 10 people to do the same job 8 people do at the same aggregate salary will positively affect the market and demand. (It won’t. In fact, it would take money out of the system by removing unemployment payments.) It’s stupid, malicious and I eagerly await McArdle’s complete endorsement.
Origuy
OT: Can one of the bloglords get my comment in the Police State thread out of moderation? Thank you.
Elizabelle
Meanwhile, news from another star in the Villager media firmament:
Scarborough remaining with MSNBC, but Kinsley is leaving The Atlantic.
One of these new columnists is not like the other.
nytimes.com/2010/09/09/business/media/09politico.html?_r=1&hpw
MattR
@Elizabelle:
Thanks. I needed a good laugh.
Omnes Omnibus
Nothing really to say on the topic, but just making sure I can post again. Couldn’t get on the site at all from yesterday afternoon until now. So, testing.
Violet
OT: Has this video of teh crazy been shown here yet? This apparent teabagger on steroids is running to be the GOP candidate for county treasurer in Stark County, Ohio. Yikes.
Roger Moore
@Comrade Javamanphil:
He’s absolutely right. Wages need to come down so we can employ more people. I propose that we start by radically slashing the salaries of CEOs and other top corporate officials and use the savings to pay for more workers at their companies.
Wait! That wasn’t what he had in mine when he wanted to talk about wages being too high? How could that possibly be?
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: Wow. Off his meds?
catclub
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Emphasis on less.
The german system includes bonus payments from the Government to keep the workers on. (As I understand it. YMMV)
Mumphrey
@Comrade Javamanphil:
I’ll give his “thoughts” a respectful listen once he’s willing to take a pay cut. I think that if he were making only 2/3 of what he makes now, then that would really give his argument some credibility. Until that happens he can, to quote Homer Simpson, cram it with walnuts.
And I don’t know whether this is fair, but you can tell he’s an asshole from the pose he strikes in his picture. At the risk of offending people who habitually take that pose in pictures, only assholes stand that way for the camera.
Violet
@Roger Moore:
I completely agree. This could be done by offshoring CEO jobs to countries such as Bangladesh and Djibouti. Their CEOs will work for a fraction of what CEOs demand to be paid in the US. I recommend we offshore the entire Board of Directors and upper management. Think of the cost savings!
El Cid
Another reason to wonder how Democrats are losing to these people.
Roger Moore
@Mumphrey:
Shorter Mumphrey: Thanks for volunteering, Mr. Hassett!
Elizabelle
@MattR:
yes indeed.
Martin
@Roger Moore: Median US household income in 2004 was $44,389. Mean US household income in 2004 was $60,528.
If anyone seeks to trade off income for jobs, capping salaries at the mean of $60,528 would generate enough pure salary savings to boost employment by about 11% nationally, at the $60,528 level. That is, we could wipe out unemployment entirely with jobs making $60K, without a corresponding increase in the price of goods or services (without looking at secondary effects). That’d likely bring the median income reasonably above the mean.
Of course, the whole suggestion is such complete bullshit that I can’t imagine anyone would possibly make it in public. Employment has never been a function of revenue. It’s entirely a function of labor demand. Your fat salary isn’t costing anyone a job – but better spending of that salary *would* create jobs.
Something that I would be interested in seeing modeled is a tax structure whose goal was to bring mean and median AGI into alignment. Essentially, use the tax code to create a somewhat normal distribution for take-home pay. Basically, the tax system would reward top earners if wages for bottom earners improved. Total projected tax receipts would be fixed at a certain amount, adjusted annually for inflation. Would work better if corporate tax rates were tied in to reflect the relationship between each company and wages, so that the corporate tax burden would increase if workers were falling short on the income side (or v/v).
Sly
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Andrew Mellon has risen from the grave… and is writing a column for Bloomberg!
Cat
Speaking of failed media experiments…
Has Rupert Murdoch’s paywall gamble paid off?
Shockingly the answer is no.
rikyrah
@Cat
is it mean of me to be giddy that Rupert’s failing?
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
NonyNony
@rikyrah:
Perhaps. But it’s only a low-grade sort of mean.
I’m amused that Murdoch – who has always struck me as a fairly savvy businessman – is making such a big blunder and appears to be ready to doubledown on the stupid rather than admit that his paywall idea for general news is stupid.
The blog that Cat linked to pointed out something I hadn’t thought of before – publicists not bothering to call the Times for their clients because no one is reading it. If Murdoch expands his paywall to the Sun (as he’s rumored to be considering) that could be the death of the Sun. When celebrity publicists don’t want to give your tabloid a call it’s time to pack it in and try something else…
RSR
Admitting you’re ethically compromised doesn’t make being ethically compromised acceptable. Geez…
It’s right next to “I’m sorry if I offended anyone.”
maus
@RSR
I disagree with this, a base awareness and admittance is highly preferred. Do you think we’d be this annoyed with Fox if it wasn’t for the “fair and balanced” tag and claims of objectivity?