Post publisher apologizes for paid dinner plan ($25,000 per head)

AP ^ | 07/05/09

[TigerLikesRooster]

Post publisher apologizes for paid dinner plan

Washington Post publisher apologizes for plan to hold paid dinners with officials, journalists

On Sunday July 5, 2009, 6:59 am EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Washington Post's publisher apologized to readers Sunday for a plan to charge business leaders and lobbyists for intimate dinner discussions with government officials and the newspaper's journalists.

A flier surfaced last week promoting a plan to charge $25,000 to sponsor one of a series of dinner parties that would include off-the-record conversations with Post journalists and access to Washington insiders. The series was canceled Thursday.

[GOPJ]

This wasn’t “having a dinner” - it was “pay to play” - easily the tackiest thing anyone’s ever heard of a newspaper doing.