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How to save newspapers: Turn them into lobbying pimps
By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
07/02/09 9:26 AM EDT
I noticed recently that the Washington Post has unloaded its lobbyists. In December, they terminated their contract with Covington & Burling, and in January, they got rid of Tony Podesta's firm, and the Post closed its $10,000-a-month in-house lobbying shop. This lobbying was all for a "Shield Law" to protect reporters from being forced to disclose sources. Was the Post retrenching like most of us in the industry?
Maybe the Post higher-ups missed rubbing elbows with lobbyists, or maybe the cost-cutting wasn't enough, judging by Mike Allen's report in today's Politico:
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.
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