• The Washington Post, Sunday, July 5, 2009 9:57 PM

In a Letter to Readers in yesterday's Washington Post, publisher Katharine Weymouth apologized for releasing a promotional flier that seemed to offer informal access to Post reporters for cash.

"The flier was not the only problem," Weymouth wrote. "Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an off-the-record dinner with journalists and power brokers paid for by a sponsor. As publisher, it is my job to [protect] our integrity as a news organization. Last week, I let you, and the organization, down."

The original plan was to hold small gatherings of journalists, government officials and other leaders for discussions of important topics. "If the events were to be sponsored by other companies, everything would be at arm's length -- sponsors would have no control over the content of the discussions, and no special access to our journalists," she maintained. In any case, she stated that the paper decided not hold such events.

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