Washington Post Suspends Reporter Who Advised Democrats at Secret Event
“attended by Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists, including the billionaire benefactor George Soros”
Back in November, it was revealed that Washington Post reporter Janell Ross had attended a meeting of the progressive Democracy Alliance where she offered Democrats advice on economic messaging.
We cited this report from the Washington Free Beacon:
WaPo Reporter Goes Rogue, Gives Strategy Briefing to Secret Dem Donor Conference
Washington Post reporter Janell Ross gave a presentation at a secretive California gathering where Democratic politicians, liberal activists, and their biggest donors plotted the future of the progressive movement without notifying her superiors that she would be attending, according to a Post spokesman.
The Democracy Alliance went to great lengths to keep the identities of its members and guests confidential at its fall investment conference last week at the La Costa Resort, but the Washington Free Beacon obtained a detailed conference agenda that lists both events and featured guests.
Among them was Ross, a national reporter who closely covered the 2016 presidential campaign for the Washington Post and has since continued to cover the Trump administration.
The Washington Post was not aware Ross attended the event. More importantly though, is the fact that she attended the event in the capacity of a participant, not a reporter.
Tom Kludt of CNN is now reporting that Ross has been suspended by the paper:
Washington Post reporter who spoke at liberal event put on leave
A Washington Post reporter who came under fire late last year for participating in a liberal conference has been put on leave by the newspaper, CNN has learned.
Janell Ross, a reporter on the Post’s national desk, was sidelined after she participated in a private gathering in November attended by Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists, including the billionaire benefactor George Soros.
Two people familiar with the matter have told CNN that Ross was put on leave, and that her return to the Post is viewed as unlikely. It’s not clear when exactly Ross’ leave took effect.
A spokeswoman for the Post declined to comment, saying that she can’t address personnel matters.
Ross did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment. An email sent to her Washington Post address returned a blank automatic reply.
This is yet another example to remind us that the media is in fact rooting for one side and working actively against the other. They are not sitting on the sidelines objectively reporting what’s going on. They are, as Professor Glenn Reynolds likes to call them, Democrat activists with bylines.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The workings of a Marxist 5th column complete with financial backers.
Is she Jeff Belzo’s girlfriend?
I mean she only got suspended so that’s special easy peasey treatment!
Is it paid leave? IOW, is she on paid leave until the Dem house organ, WaPo, can find another Dem position for her somewhere?
I wish Trump would authorize a SEAL team to take Soros out.
His son is already working up to take his place. IIRC he spent quite a bit of his money (his own??) on Democrat politicians/issues in the past year or so (at least publicly known in that time).
It isn’t only the (alleged) reporters and talking heads, from the top down the MSM is Leftist with a few token moderates and a rare conservative syndicated columnist. FNC is somewhat different in the mix, at least the public face, though Murdoch isn’t any Conservative. Many people claim the MSM is the propaganda arm of the DNC. I look at it the other way around, the DNC is the political arm of the MSM.
Oh yeah, the lady in the photo appears very smug and happy with herself – easy to see she comes from the privileged class, or considers herself part of the privileged class. Mommy and/or Daddy were/are successful professionals and they raised little Janell on only 2-3 life principles. Good schools and nurtured on a genteel flavor of hate, she’ll go far.
1] Always stick it to whitey, cry racism at first opposition
2] Take control, this is YOUR world
“…advised democrats in secret; …without notifying her superiors that she would be attending; and “…she attended the event in the capacity of a participant, not a reporter.”
I figured that part of her obvious job description.
All kidding aside, why is any of that a problem, especially if she did it all on her own time & dime? Do we know?
Or is there a ‘politics clause’ in her contract that specifically forbids it? I don’t know.
I’m serious sbout this. Does she truly forfeit her constitutional rights merely because of her chosen profession?
Are the writers at LI forbidden this type of political activism?
People have their opinions and bias. This is an openly conservative site. The WaPo is openly leftist.
I’m unclear as to why this is a problem since we all know how the game is played….
There likely is a clause in her contract that forbids her from participating in activities that she covers as part of her job. Most likely, she can easily compete in a baking competition or give a speech on wine pairings at a conference.
But when the political reporter goes and gives a speech on how to shape the political message so that it resonates with political reporters, that’s a bridge too far.
The offense is probably that she got caught. In which case, this little purge is just for show. Propagandists are very big on shows.
“I’m unclear as to why this is a problem since we all know how the game is played…”
There are certain professions where you give up some personal freedom in order to maintain – even just the appearance –
of professional credibility. The purported ‘job’ of this hack janett ross is one of them.
Well, now she’s just another ignorant, malignant leftist clown to anyone who now knows of her soros stain. Worse, we know her type infests the Amazon Post – making the Amazon Post just another tool of the left, and hence, fake news.
The problem is that the Washington Post represents itself as an objective news site. It probably has, in its employment contracts, restrictions on active political activities for “reporters,” to try to maintain the public image of non-partisanship. Once out in the public, this was too blatant for the Post to ignore.
The other option would be for the Post to admit it’s openly partisan. It’s not ready to do that yet, apparently.
No worries for Ms. Ross. She will probably soon have a job at one of the many openly partisan leftist opinion sites.
Being “partisan” is one thing. That’s for the editorial page.
Their often printing fake news is another.
There’s no excuse, or explaining that. Their credibility ‘credit rating’ is in the toilet. Nothing shy of mass firings could change that.
Communism has been in our country since the turn of the last century. Super-strengthened after 2008. Complained about this on Twitter, and lo and behold they kicked me off.
Yet editors routinely assign reporters who are advocates of one political cause or another to cover events dear to their advocacy. And then they’re surprised when the coverage is biased (often from omission, which is difficult to detect as it’s not what’s in the story but what’s been omitted).
Yes, it’s true that (for example) no one cares quite as much about illegal immigration as an advocate for illegal immigrants. And that such an advocate who works for media is sure to volunteer to cover events relevant to illegal immigrants. But, even if the advocate may know more about the issue (or the event to be covered) than anyone else, how can an editor not realize how bad an idea it is to assign such an advocate to cover these stories?
Nonetheless, all too many media outlets seem to do just that. “I’m a professional journalist, I can and do control my biases!” says the journalist. And the public says, “Yeah, sure you do. Now tell us another whopper.”
The problem isn’t with the attendance, or even that she’s biased.
The problem is they pretend to be unbiased and are quite judgmental against those that disagree with them, thus we get insulting articles which omit as another poster noted, facts against their position.
A big reason – in addition to the net – that newspapers are dying, is because readers are tired of reading that which implicitly insults them and their way of life. The reporters just don’t get it or don’t care.
They write their own obituaries every day.
Culture Captain Oprah Winfrey insists that when you know better, you do better. Ms. Ross, at https://janellross.com/thebio/, tells us she is trained by both Vassar and Columbia — and she has been a reporter for 20 years. So the only “do better” conceivable from this reporter’s extensive formation in the journalism community is: “next time, don’t get caught.” Ross reinforces a sense that determined deceit is motivating this profession.