Photo by dharmabumx.

Calling it “a planned new venture that went off track,” Washington Post Publisher and CEO Katharine Weymouth apologized to readers today after it was revealed that the newspaper had been planning to trade access to journalists and government officials for cash in the form of “Post Salon” dinner events. The salons, widely lambasted as yet another hit to the Washingtonian paper of record’s integrity, were canceled mere hours after the plan was exposed by Politico reporter Mike Allen.

Although Weymouth still can’t let go of the fact that “the flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors,” — what difference does that make now? — the Publisher seemed apologetic enough:

As publisher it is my job to ensure that we adhere to standards that are consistent with our integrity as a news organization. Last week, I let you, and the organization, down.

[…]

We all make mistakes and hope to be forgiven for them. I apologize to our readers for the mistakes I made in this case.

Weymouth did not, however, completely close the door on similar — but assumedly non-pay-for-play — events:

While I do believe there is a legitimate way to hold such events, to the extent that we hold events in the future, large or small, we will review the guidelines for them with The Post’s top editors and make sure those guidelines are strictly followed. Further, any conferences or similar events The Post sponsors will be on the record.

The last few months have certainly been turbulent ones for the Post. In addition to this journalistic indiscretion and the depressing economic state of the newspaper industry, the paper has been on the defensive about misinformation in its opinion pages and their messy handling of unwanted blog commenters, among other issues.

So what say you, Washington? Are you satisfied with Weymouth’s mea culpa — or have the Post’s recent transgressions led you to irreparably doubt your hometown paper?