The Washington Post, upheld as a bastion of journalistic excellence since its historic Watergate scoop, has found itself embroiled in a huge ethical row after revelations that it planned to sell access to its reporters, members of Congress and Administration officials.

Politico, the Washington insider website that is challenging the supremacy of the Post among the political establishment, revealed yesterday that the newspaper was touting for customers prepared to pay up to $25,000 (£15,200) to attend an exclusive “salon” where they could mingle with “those powerful few” including editorial staff and high-ranking officials.

Lobbyists and corporations were offered the chance to attend a series of 11 such “salons” for the price of $250,000.

News of the “salons” to be held at the private home of the publisher, Katherine Weymouth, caused uproar in the Post’s newsroom, where journalists are ruled by a code of ethics so strict that they must hand over even a gift mug to charity. Reporters were particularly outraged by the marketing boast that the event would be “stimulating” but not “confrontational”, implying that journalists would edit even their private exchanges.

Mrs Weymouth promptly cancelled the event, blaming its marketing on an “overzealous” executive. But splits remain between executives and editorial staff over whether the event should have been planned at all. “You cannot buy access to a Washington Post journalist,” Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor insisted.

The high-priced salons were just one of the Post’s strategies to counter the effects of the financial crisis crippling the American newspaper business. The Washington Post Company reported a loss of $19.5 million in the first three months of this year, a period described by industry analysts as “the worst quarter in the modern history of American newspapers”.

It emerged yesterday that the paper had also failed to inform political invitees that they were taking part in what amounted to a money-making scheme. Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama Administration’s Health Secretary, was invited by e-mail to the July 21 salon on healthcare but had not yet decided whether to attend. Jim Cooper, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, accepted an e-mail invitation in the belief that it was a low-key opportunity to exchange ideas on healthcare. Meanwhile, flyers distributed to handpicked lobbyists and corporations offered the chance to “underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post salon” and “interact with key Obama Administration and congressional leaders” as well as journalists”.

"It was clear that the invitation was not being presented the same way to everyone,” a spokesman for Mr Cooper said.

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