American Glob

Back in the 1970′s, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became world famous for their investigative reporting that broke the Watergate scandal which ultimately caused President Nixon to resign. How proud they must be of their paper today.

The Politico is reporting that the Washington Post was planning to offer a “salon” at which the newspaper would provide lobbyists and special interest groups access to Obama administration officials, members of congress and Washington Post editors for a fee of up to $250,000.

Today the Washington Post cancelled the plan completely. Why? Becuase they got caught.

“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.”

Be sure to read the entire astonishing report at POLITICO.

As if we, the American people, needed any more proof that the news media has become nothing more than a lap dog for the White House, this news goes beyond hypocrisy and enters the realm of incredulity.

Imagine if sometime in the last eight years, a conservative news outlet had done such a thing with the Bush administration? The shrieking of news outlets like the Washington Post would be deafening. There would be talk of investigations, calls for resignations, shouts of treason and more.

Erick Erickson, writing at Red State makes and excellent point that this is essentially more pay for play.

“This is disgusting, but not surprising. The media has become increasingly ideologically tilted in the past few years with the New York Times editorial page editors increasingly controlling the direction and slant of front page news stories.”

“Now the Washington Post is going to make you pay to play. You want access to reporters to cover your side of the story? Cough up the cash. More damning, the Obama administration appears to be playing along.”

“Do you think they would if the Washington Post stopped giving the administration favorable coverage? Probably not.”

The Washington Examiner is reporting that the White House had no idea…

“White House officials said privately Thursday that the administration had no idea that the Post was peddling access to its officials.”

“The first event, entitled “Health-Care Reform: Better or Worse for Americans” is scheduled for July 21, at the home of Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth.”

“Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No,” the flier states. “The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it.”

As usual, Michelle Malkin is on the case. Be sure to read her entire report where she points out that Washington Post Editor Katharine Weymouth recently appeared on a panel on “How to Save Journalism.”

Hot Air has video of Michelle Malkin discussing the story on Cavuto’s Your World with guest host Stuart Varney.

Who would have thought thirty years ago that the Washington Post, the breaker of Watergate, would find itself on the wrong end of a political scandal every bit as damaging and corrupt.