An Open Letter To The WashPo’s Ombudsman

—– Original Message —–
From: Jim Riley
To: …@washpost.com
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Subject: Post Coverage of McDonnell Thesis

Ms. Howell,

I applaud you for your honest critiques of the Washington Post’s coverage of the 2006 and 2008 elections.  Unfortunately, it appears that some in the news and editorial divisions have not heeded your advice and are in the process of undoing the repair work that publisher Katharine Weymouth and Exec. Editor Marcus Brauchli have engaged in over the past year to make your paper’s coverage more balanced and independent.

The coverage given to GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s master’s thesis has become overblown and there appears to be no end in site — at this point there have been at least 8 articles in 5 days despite nothing new having emerged since his 90 minute conference call with reporters on Monday.  Most disturbingly, yesterday’s paper had two such articles on the thesis, but no coverage whatsoever of an event in Alexandria the day before where Mr. McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling unveiled a new plan to increase in-classroom funding by $480 million per year, a story that the AP did cover and many Virginia newspapers ran.  This can only give the reader the impression that the news and editorial divisions are engaging in electioneering on behalf of Sen. Creigh Deeds.  There is nothing wrong with a newspaper offering its endorsement of candidates and most fully expect the Post to endorse Mr. Deeds, but the Post appears to be ready to head down a familiar path that compromises its very integrity.  Following the “salons” lobbying scandal that the Post suffered only two months ago, this is not something that the paper can readily afford now.

Following is a link to a blog post that covers much of this territory as well as providing links to other resources where the Post’s reaction to the thesis story has been tracked, analyzed and criticized. Foremost among these is none other than the editor of the Almanac of American Politics, Michael Barone, questioning the Post’s motivations (specifically, he questions whether the Post is attempting to “macaca” Bob McDonnell.)

http://virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/will-weymouth-and-br…

I hope that you will look into this and take action now rather than waiting until after the election when it will have been too late for it to make a difference with the editors, writers and staff of the Post.  I know a lot of people will be looking at this as the Post’s “moment of truth” as to whether they truly are an “independent” newspaper.

Thank you for your consideration.

James T. Riley, Esq.