Press restrictions imposed by the National Press Club for a meeting of the International Stability Operations Association, a government contracting group, were outrageous and a "fiasco," wrote Washington Post columnist Dana Millbank, who tried to cover the event.
Millbank attended the Oct. 8 event to hear former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford speak, but the writer was told at the event that speeches by Ford and National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden were off the record.
"It’s unseemly for current and former government officials to be hobnobbing privately with government contractors," wrote Millbank. "But it’s a whole other level of outrage for them to do it at the National Press Club -- a century-old shrine to the free press -- and to forbid journalists to report what they say."
Millbank noted the club's membership decline from 5,500 to 3,100 -- about 1,400 PR professionals -- has sparked a need to raise revenue by renting its event space. Press Club director of business development Brian Taylor said the meeting was a “private” event, a stance executive director William McCarren admitted is a “gray area.”
Read his full column at washingtonpost.com.
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