Washington Post sells access, White House denies involvement

A clip from the flier circulated by the Washington Post advertising a conference program which offered access to top Obama administration officials and senior Post staff to health-care lobbyists in exchange for sums between $25,000 and $250,000.

The Washington Post has long prided itself on its access to the capital's elite. Now, it appears, the paper is willing to sell that access.

In a flier circulated to Beltway lobbyists, the Post touted a "salon" program which gives "exclusive access" to "Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds" for between $25,000 and $250,000. (View an image of the flier.)

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."

The flier, first reported by former Post editor Mike Allen on the Politico web site, offers the chance to "hear and be heard as an equal with key policy-makers and other stakeholders," including Weymouth, Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli and health-care "reporting and editorial staff members" at the Post.

Post company spokeswoman Kris Coratti issued a statement Thursday morning claiming that the flier was a "draft" that hadn't been "properly vetted" before being dispatched.

"As written, the newsroom could not participate in an event like this," Coratti's statement said. "We do believe there is an opportunity to have a conferences and events business and that the Post should be leading these conversations in Washington, big or small, while maintaining journalistic integrity. The newsroom will participate where appropriate."

Washington Independent columnist David Weigel posted an e-mail from Brauchli which said that the "language in the flyer [sic] and the description of the event preclude our participation."

"We will not participate in events where promises are made that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable," Brauchli's e-mail states. "There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can do these things in ways that are consistent with our values."

Like many newspapers, the Post has been hemorrhaging money. In the first quarter of this year, the newspaper reported an operating loss of $53.8 million.

After news of the salon program circulated widely on the Internet, the Post canceled it.

"This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted,"  Weymouth told her paper. "They 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."

bmyers@washingtonexaminer.com