Politico, The Washington Post Have Become Virtual 'Escort Services' For Moneyed Elites

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/media/141361/politico_and_the_washington_post_have_become_virtual_%22escort_services%22_for_moneyed_elites

Politico and the Washington Post Have Become Virtual "Escort Services" for Moneyed Elites

Raw Story. Posted July 17, 2009.

More and more mainstream media are brokering cozy relationships between politicians and lobbyists.

The various elite Washington news organizations that have become caught up in the so-called "pay-for-play” or "salon” scandal have now commenced a circular firing squad of sorts -- in an effort to distance themselves from their peers whose conduct they are trying to paint as worse than their own.

That was evident as the editor-in-chief of the Politico called the Washington Post an "escort service” in response to allegations that it also had too cozy relationships with politicians and lobbyists.

It was Politico that originally broke the story of the Washington Post’s attempt to raise money with "salons” at the home of its publisher.

As Ken Silverstein first disclosed on Harper’s website Tuesday, "Politico itself is hardly virginal when it comes to the wall between reporting and chasing revenue.” Silverstein uncovered evidence that last year, Politico "co-sponsored a party at the Democratic National Convention with the Glover Park Group, a top Washington lobbying and consulting firm.”

Silverstein posted "an excerpt from Politico’s rapturous coverage” of its party:

- snip -

Silverstein’s assessment of all of this was devastating: "This intermingling of celebrities, journalists, and politicians, courtesy of big lobbying money, suggests a cabal of insiders who don’t really care who pays for their partying.”

What was the reaction of John Harris, the editor-in-chief of Politico to the disclosures?

Harris bristled at the suggestion that anything he did was even remotely anything done by the Post, saying: "I strongly don’t accept your interpretation that the Post’s salon events and items you mentioned are equivalent in any way. These are essentially social events… I don’t want to be name-calling with the Post, which I’m admirer of. What troubled me about the salons is that you had it advertising itself as an escort service.”

This isn’t the first time Politico has been caught engaging in this type of activity: Last October, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald wrote about the "cozy relationship” one of its top political writers enjoys with a right-wing operative.

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[Gabi Hayes]

1. politico's owned by one of the PTBs. WaPo has always been an instrument of

the same, with a few occasional exceptions, that TFHers would say was on purpose, to serve their own ulterior agenda

it's just become more and more obvious in the last few years just how in the tank for the neocons, big money, etc. the Post has become

read some Eric Boehlert stuff on Politico's origin and who runs it. they've always sucked long and hard

[FrenchieCat]

2. Agreed.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. greenwald on politico

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/30/allen/index.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=x6vE_fJ4f-IC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=greenwald+politico&source=bl&ots=Wya5pDxZpJ&sig=oYexocfN-rzAKiJZDI0eRpdGPbU&hl=en&ei=WThgSrjMMMWltgfN4qXXDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

you can read tons of GG's book here, with lots on Politico, including its origin as a spawn of RW maniac Joe Albritton's stable of sycophantic lunatic buttmunches

[EFerrari]

4. We have to support the indy media. Let the echo chamber talk to itself.

I don't take any papers any more and mostly watch niche shows in the indy media that aren't part of this cabal. Gawd, they're disgusting.

[leveymg]

5. Jeebus, look at who signs the pay checks. You think they lose all that money just for fun?

The Graham/Meyer family and the Allbritons. Just two branches of the same rotten media money tree. Selling tickets at the parlour door is just a sign of their industry's impoverization and downward trajectory. So is their sniping about it.