Kris Coratti, a spokeswoman for the newspaper, said Weymouth and Brauchli knew there would be revenue drawn from the dinners. But they thought there would be a minimum of two sponsors -- thus limiting the financial influence of any one group, she said. The flier, in contrast, said there would be a maximum of two.
The flier, Coratti said, "is a misrepresentation of what they had originally been thinking about as a concept."
In an interview with the Post's ombudsman, Brauchli said he hadn't seen the flier and would not have released it. In discussions about the project, he said he had believed he had set limits on participation by editorial staff.
He also said he might not have conveyed "effectively enough what the limitations were for newsroom participation."
The dinners were a response to a financial crisis that has jeopardized the newspaper business.
With readers fleeing to the Internet, publishers have tried many different tactics to stem losses, including front-page ads and higher subscription rates. None of it has helped much.
The Washington Post Co. reported a first-quarter net loss of $19.5 million, compared with a net income of $39.3 million in the same period last year. That mirrors an industry-wide swoon that analyst Alan D. Mutter labeled "the worst quarter in the modern history of American newspapers." Ad revenue plummeted more than 28% in the first three months of this year.
As newspapers struggle to stay alive, ethics experts say it is a mistake to compromise standards that underpin their credibility.
In April, The Times was criticized for running a front-page ad that resembled a news article.
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peter.nicholas@latimes.com
Times staff writer James Rainey and Kristina Sherry of the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
