Austerity Advocate, Peter G. Peterson, Buys "Media Content" Deal With The Washington Post
On Thursday, December 31, the last day of 2009, The Washington Post published an article, presented as a news story, which could be a signal of the death of the Post as an independent and objective news source. The piece, entitled "Support grows for tackling nation's debt," appeared to be one of those background news pieces common in newspapers like the Post. But article was written not by the newspaper's reporters - and not by an objective wire service, like the Associated Press - but by a new organization called the Fiscal Times, whose founder and major backer, Peter G. Peterson, has a long term ideological commitment to convincing Americans that "support is growing for tackling the nation's debt."
These are indeed hard times for journalism, but the Washington Post is sealing its own fate as a fake news source if, as the press release for the Fiscal Times claims, this new "independent" digital news publication reporting on fiscal, budgetary, health-care and international economics issues has forged its first media partnership, a content sharing agreement with The Washington Post. This deal, the first evidence of which is Thursday's article, is the equivalent of the Post reviving its old relationship with United Press International to cover religion and politics - without informing their readership that since 2000 the once-proud UPI has been owned by News World Communications, a media company owned by Sun Myung Moon's
Economist and media critic Dean Baker was the first to blow the whistle in his Beat the Press blog at The American Prospect website:
The piece [by Fiscal Times and published by the Post] conveys Peterson's view that there is a drastic budget crisis which requires circumventing normal congressional procedures. It implies that the huge surge in deficit in the last year was attributable to the irresponsibility of Congress rather than an economic collapse that resulted from incredibly incompetent policy and Wall Street greed.
The amazing thing is that, given the desire of the new Fiscal Times (and presumably the Post) to present their new partnership as an objective and journalistic endeavor, the actual article is so obviously slanted to the conservative point of view Peter G. Peterson (partner in Wall Street's Blackstone Group and former Republican Treasury Secretary) has used his millions to promote over many years. Nowhere in the "story" would the reader find reference to the fact that it is now official government policy to increase the federal deficit in order to stimulate growth and economic recovery from the worst recession since the great depression. The whole piece seems designed to give prominence to the legislation, advanced by Senators Conrad and Greg, that would create a commission to come up with a plan for slashing deficits which would be voted on - without amendments and with limited debate - by both houses of Congress. No mention is made of the fact that Pete Peterson recently testified in favor of such a commission before Senator Conrad's Budget committee. The piece contains one quote from a high level official at the AARP questioning whether such a commission would be willing to consider progressive tax increases. But nowhere in the Fiscal Times article could a reader find that over 40 national organizations - including the Alliance for Retired Americans, the National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, the AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME and the Campaign for America's Future - have circulated a statement opposing such a commission and warning that it could undermine Social Security, Medicare, health care reform, and the fragile economic recovery.
The Fiscal Times piece does quote the "the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform" (funded by Pete Peterson's foundation). And executive director of the Concord Coalition is quoted as noting rising support for action on the deficit - without noting that one Peter G. Peterson serves as president of the Concord Coalition. This is not journalism. It is big money purchasing a relationship that allows Peterson to put faux news pieces into the Washington Post news pages.
In July, the Washington Post's Ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, admitted that his publisher's "ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record "salons" was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions." When Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli realized how horrendous a pr problem they had on their hands, they apologized and rescinded their plans for "a series of 11 intimate dinners to discuss public policy issues - at which for a fee of up to $25,000, underwriters were guaranteed a seat at the table with lawmakers, administration officials, think tank experts, business leaders and the heads of associations." Obviously, the program looked too much like "pay to influence coverage."
But Peter Peterson has found a better way: not content with advocacy, he is using his vast wealth to create a "news service" and forged a deal to get the Post to treat his advocacy as news.
A group of policy experts and advocates, led by author Nancy Altman (and myself) have just sent a letter to Andrew Alexander, who still appears to be the Post's ombudsman. He has another ethical hot potato on his hands - but this one goes to the heart of the journalistic mission of the Post.
Our letter, which can be found here, awaits a response from the Washington Post. If you care about journalism - and if you care about this important
(Note: I have writen about the proposed budget commission, Peterson and his critics recently at the Huffington Post and TPMcafe and www.oufuture.org
The Washington Post, headlined by Likud madman Charles Krauthammer and various neocon nuts led by Bush/Cheney-maven Fred Hiatt, has long now been a shameful shadow of its former self. Throwing down diamonds in the sand.
No surprise if this story is correct; just more of the same, like the disgraceful "off the record salons." Could be a move by the Moonie interests to regroup and extinguish finally the threat of debate by the long-neutered, now-neocon-tool, former Washington Post.
January 1, 2010 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience!
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December 17, 2010 4:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
How sad. The Post should be doing stories about who's behind this supposed news service and what their agenda is, not getting into bed with them.
January 1, 2010 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed. Sad, sad, sad.
January 2, 2010 1:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
B.b.butttt itz the liberal press, man.
January 1, 2010 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it appears that damn "liberal" press is making it hard for neo-cons to have a foot in the door; however, as one looks around - the majority of the newspapers and magazines in the United States are owned by conservative conglomerates.
Please, give me time to figure this confusion out.
Thank you, now back to our regular scheduled programing.
The "liberal" press blah blah blah and blah....
January 2, 2010 4:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it beginning to strike anyone else that the best protection for a free and independent press is . . . print advertising?
January 2, 2010 7:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Has anyone noticed that Pete Peterson only emerges from his coffin when a Democrat is elected President? For someone who pretends to be concerned about the deficit,he stayed remarkably calm during the years when Reagan and the Bushs were exploding the deficit, but he becomes hysterical when it looks as if an ordinary American might get health insurance or a social security check.
January 2, 2010 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed the same phenomena with the FEMA death-campers. Apparently, if Bush's government plans to round them up and kill them off with pig-AIDS it's aaaaalll good. (in the deathcampers' defense, retrospectively, it doesn't seem like Bush's FEMA could have rounded up a herd of dead sheep).
January 2, 2010 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yet another reason to rename the paper:
"The Washington Compost"
January 2, 2010 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now let me see... because you think the writers are great guys, that makes it okay? This non-journalistic business transaction that does not pass the sniff test? Do you really not see how compromised your position is? natural ways to burn belly fat | ways to lose belly fat in 2 weeks
August 14, 2010 5:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Roger great piece.
But Peterson was Commerce Secretary and not Treasury Secretary under Nixon.
January 2, 2010 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's starting to feel like the former Soviet Union. Pseudo-academia published in pseudo- newspapers.
January 3, 2010 1:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Same thing is happening right now at the Philly Inquirer - they sold content to the Kaiser Health group to lobby against healthcare reform.
Here is the Kaiser-written content, in, of all places, the Inky's Health section:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/20100104_Health-care_have-nots.html
Below is my exchange with the editor:
Subject: Infomercials in the Inquirer?
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 4:02 PM
> To: letters - inq
> Cc: Marimow, Bill; Leary, Mike; Jackson, Harold
> Subject: Infomercials in the Inquirer?
>
> Sirs:
>
> I strenuously object to the placement of the opinion piece titled "Health-care have-nots" within any section of the paper that is supposedly devoted to objective journalism. That is an opinion piece with a paper-thin veneer of reporting, provided to you by an adjunct of a major health care provider with a financial interest in the outcome of the healthcare reform debate. (Although they may assert their independence, sayin' doesn't make it so. LOOK at the founders, the board members, the audit committee members, and the funding, which is primarily from the K-P shareholders. If you had done any of what used to be called investigative journalism, you'd know the truth.)
>
> Are you trying to outdo the Washington Post's rental of its pages to Pete Peterson? Shame on you for reprinting this trash without qualification. There's a place for content like that: it's called the Op-Ed page.
>
> This is right down there with paying subscriber money to Constitution-destroyer John Yoo. Thanks a lot for reinforcing my decision never to subscribe to the Inquirer while that Ad Man is in charge.
On 1/4/2010 4:34 PM, Marimow, Bill wrote:
>
> Dear Mr. ******: Thank you very much for your e-mail. As the editor of The Inquirer, I’m ultimately responsible for what we publish, and I take full responsibility for publishing today’s piece from Kaiser. We’re well aware of how the Kaiser Health Service is funded. More importantly, we know first-hand the journalists who staff the news service, and they are some of the most dedicated, experienced and knowledgeable journalists in the profession. Last but not least, we retain the final approval and editing rights for all of their work.
>
> I hope you’ll reconsider your decision and subscribe to The Inquirer. I would be happy to talk with you, and you’re welcome to give me a call at 215-***-****.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bill Marimow
>
Disclaimer: The following is this former reader's opinion:
Now let me see... because you think the writers are great guys, that makes it okay? This non-journalistic business transaction that does not pass the sniff test? Do you really not see how compromised your position is? It raises the question, just how much did Kaiser pay Tierney to place that piece in your paper? (Is it more than Scaife pays him to print the ravings of Santorum and Yoo? I know that everything is for sale at the Inky these days...) Would you be willing to make that Kaiser agreement public? I will bet a thousand dollars right now that you did not pay a penny for that opinion piece - care to show your cards? And the cancelled check? And all the related records and correspondence? Or do the principles of Sunshine not apply to newspapers?
At bottom, that "story" is a one-sided screed against the current healthcare reform efforts, no matter how much the lobbyists at Kaiser have dressed it up as a human interest heartstring-puller. It in no ways belongs in the pages of a real newspaper. Any way you want to paint it, that is NOT unbiased journalism, and you know it. When you bring into question the reputation of a newspaper's editorial impartiality, you have destroyed that paper's value as a reliable source of fact and truth. And if you think this episode is going to remain quiet, please reflect back on your sale of a business "column" to Citizen's Bank in 2007. How did that work out for ya? Was it worth the hit to your dignity? Did you even see what is happening to the Washington Post? What you are doing is not ensuring survival, it is something more akin to assisted suicide.
Inches for Rent, Indeed.
SJD
January 4, 2010 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Update: Editor Marinow did not deny that the Inquirer was paid to pace that article, he merely reiterated that the writers were good journalists... as if that makes a difference!
January 5, 2010 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Thanks without informing their readership that since 2000 the once-proud UPI has been owned by News World Communications, a media company owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church! The only difference is that Peter G. Peterson is starting his own news service instead of buying masters in occupational safety
February 12, 2011 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
News World Communications, a media company owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church! The only difference is that Peter G. Peterson is starting his own news service instead of buying
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February 16, 2011 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it appears that damn "liberal" press is making it hard for neo-cons to have a foot in the door; however, as one looks around - the majority of the newspapers and magazines in the United States are owned by conservative conglomerates.
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February 19, 2011 7:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
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February 20, 2011 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
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"liberal" press is making it hard for neo-cons to have a foot in the door; however, as one looks around - the majority of the newspapers and magazines in the United States are owned by conservative conglomerates.masters in criminal justice
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