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On Running a Safe House
Quinn is a former reporter for The Washington Post. She is married to Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of the Post.
Finally, there is the question of whether you should ever have reporters covering your parties. At your peril, is my feeling. At your peril.
We talked earlier about "safe" houses, meaning that you knew you would not get a really terrible seat at dinner. There is another kind of safe house too, and that is where you can feel secure you won't be pounced upon by a reporter covering the party.
Reporters are not really part of the entertainment. Part of the entertainment should not be seeing your guests and/or the host or hostess skewered in the next day's paper or magazine.
I am speaking from experience. I was a party reporter. The whole idea is to hide behind a palm tree and listen to the guests saying stupid things, which you then write down and put in the paper. This is not always the case, and there are certainly decent, benign reporters and columnists out there who aren't interested in personally destroying your reputation. But the same advice goes for them as it does for your guests. Know your reporters before you invite them in. I almost never do it, but every once in a while I will invite a reporter to cover a book party for a friend in hopes of getting some good publicity for the book.
You may love the idea of a delightful write-up of your tea for your favorite charity or the luncheon you give for the visiting celebrity, who is in town to perform. But it won't be so delightful if the piece turns out to be a hatchet job and embarrasses both you and your guests.
If you care about your guests, just know that inviting a reporter could not only cause them discomfort but also put them in jeopardy. And it would mean that yours is not a safe house.
