Back around Thanksgiving time, we looked at some groundbreaking reporting from the Washington Free Beacon where they exposed some less than media-neutral activities by one member of the press. Janell Ross, a political reporter for the Washington Post, was found to have participated in a highly secretive, big dollar fundraising and strategy conference for the Democrats. To be clear, Ross was not there reporting on the conference as part of her job. She wrote no articles about it and the WaPo said they didn’t even know that she had gone. She was a participant in the event, even sitting in on one of their panels.

At the time, the newspaper simply said they had “reminded” Ross about their policy regarding reporters participating in events “which could be perceived as” smacking of partisan bias. That’s like needing to remind someone that the Atlantic Ocean may be slightly damp. But either way, they must have conducted some sort of an investigation and reached a conclusion, because Ms. Ross is no longer in the employ of the Post. (Free Beacon)

The Washington Post quietly put a reporter on leave after the Washington Free Beacon discovered her attendance at a secretive meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a liberal donor club where members are directed to spend at least $200,000 a piece to advance progressive causes, CNN reported on Thursday. Janell Ross, a national political reporter who covered the 2016 presidential election for the Post, appears to have initially been put on leave last November after the Free Beacon revealed documents showing she gave a presentation to the Democracy Alliance’s fall investment conference, “Beyond #Resistance: Reclaiming Our Progressive Future.” Ross briefed the donor conference, attended by liberal billionaires such as George Soros, on “getting the economic narrative right,” according to conference documents… The paper refused to answer whether any disciplinary action was being taken against Ross. Now nearly two months since the Post learned Ross gave a presentation to the donor conference, CNN reports she has been put on leave and is not expected to return.

So they’re still not willing to say that Ross has been “fired” but she is on leave and not expected to return. Whatever. Sounds like a situation of being unemployed to me.

The real question here is how it took so long for them to come up with a decision. If they found one of their intrepid political reporters attending a Trump 2020 reelection strategy conference and pitching ideas on how to get his ratings up, do you think that reporter would still be employed (even on leave) 48 hours later? And again, because this bears repeating, Ross was not part of their editorial board, being paid to offer opinions on the two political parties. She was in the newsroom. She was one of the reporters who write articles which are supposed to inform the public on matters of who, what, where, when and how, leaving it up to them to make up their own minds.

Ross is someone we’ve been dealing with here at Hot Air over the years and questions of her nonpartisan credentials have arisen more than a few times. The fact that it took something this blatant for the Washington Post to show her the door probably says a lot more about the newspaper than their former reporter.