Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive “salon” at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”
“Washington Post cancels lobbyist event amid uproar,” by Mike Allen and Michael Calderone, Politico, July 3, 2009
“Astonishing” doesn’t begin to do justice to describing this. Bet the WaPo supports “transparency”, too. Also sounds like Katharine Weymouth and other WaPo execs need to register as lobbyists….