Washington Post cancels lobbyist event in wake of public outrage
Written by Steven K.
Thursday, 02 July 2009 16:13
Politico reports: "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." With the Post newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Weymouth said in an email to the staff that "a flier went out that was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flier would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.""
Rolling Stone reports: "Kevin Jonas took a break from the Jonas Brothers’ current arena tour for a very special reason: to propose to his girlfriend of two years at her New Jersey home. Kevin, 21, has been dating Danielle Deleasa, 22, since the pair met while vacationing with their families in the Bahamas in 2007. He took an overnight flight after last night’s show in Vancouver for the early morning surprise. “She said yes, yes, yes like 500 times super fast in a row,” Kevin told People. “It was tough performing last night, knowing that I was going to ask the biggest question in my life to the most amazing girl in the world.”"
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