Atlantic Media publisher David Bradley responds to our report on the corporate-sponsored, off-the-record salons his company has been hosting for years -- but which had escaped scrutiny until the Washington Post got busted for preparing to launch a very similar series of events:

Further, and this is a modest brag, I think I'm well suited to convening intelligent, committed people across wide divides. There are leadership gifts that I would prefer, but my lot includes a big measure of listening and deference to others' views.

In a lengthy defense of the salons posted at Atlantic Media's Hotline, Bradley concedes that, like Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, he had not previously reviewed the marketing materials for the events: "I don't believe ours are egregious but I now know they do not all reflect the central fact of our conversations - dialogue and debate, without the advance of a particular interest." Zack Roth has more.