WaPo Drops Garrison Keillor Columns

Garrison Keillor

Days after carrying an op-ed byGarrison Keillor in which he argued the calls for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to step down are “absurd,” The Washington Post confirms that it will no longer run his syndicated columns, according to 11Alive.

In a statement provided by representative Azhar AlFadl Miranda, editorial page director Fred Hiatt said, “Readers are entitled to a basic level of transparency from the columnists they read in The Washington Post. Garrison Keillor failed to meet that standard this week. Knowing he was under investigation for his workplace behavior, he should not have written a column on that subject; or, if he was going to write, he should have told his editors and readers that he was under investigation. Instead, he wrote a column defending Sen. Al Franken without any disclosure of his own situation.”

He added, “We also are very troubled by Minnesota Public Radio’s report that Keillor engaged in inappropriate behavior in the workplace, a charge that he denies. MPR, which terminated its relationship with Keillor for that behavior, has given us no information beyond the statement they made public.”

Hiatt expressed admiration for many of the weekly columns Keillor submitted as part of the Washington Post syndication service over the last year and a half. Nevertheless, he concluded, "We do not intend to publish his columns in the future.”