THE WASHINGTON POSThas abandoned an offer to sell access to Obama administration officials and policymakers for $25,000 (€18,000) a time, including dinner, after uproar at the paper over a promise that its journalists would also be part of the deal.
The offer came to light in a promotional flier aimed at players in healthcare at a time when the White House plans major reform of the industry.
It promised “a collegial evening, with Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds” at dinners hosted by the paper’s publisher, Katharine Weymouth, at her home.
The flier, given to a healthcare lobbyist, also offered access to “healthcare reporting and editorial staff” at the off-the-record dinners.
“An evening with the right people can alter the debate,” the flier said.
“Bring your organisation CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders. Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it.”
Similar dinners were planned in the future to discuss other major White House policy initiatives. Each was to cost $25,000 an organisation or “sponsor”, with one thrown in free for bulk purchases, at 11 dinners for $250,000 (€178,000).
But after the flier was exposed on the Politico website, Ms Weymouth cancelled the plans. “This should never have happened,” she told her paper’s staff. “The fliers didn’t represent at all what we were attempting to do. We’re not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom.”
Earlier in the day the executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, e-mailed staff after a backlash from journalists to say the newsroom would have nothing to do with the scheme outlined in the fliers.
The paper is in financial crisis after losing $19.7 million (€14 million) in the first quarter of this year. – (Guardian service)