FIRST IT WAS THE POST, NOW IT’S THE NATIONAL JOURNAL?

Providing a private, limited-access only platform for lawmakers and lobbyists to mingle didn’t work out well for The Washington Post, but that hasn’t dissuaded officials with National Journal from taking what appears to be a similar route, but with a unique twist. Instead of the intimate setting of Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth’s home, National Journal is creating a private web site for Members of Congress and their staff. Taxpayers are not invited. Lobbyists and others seeking to influence Congress will be able to buy their way onto the site via advocacy advertising.

All these cushy insider-y things all of a sudden. You know, I’m beginning to wonder if some corporate group was really behind JournoList. . . .

Plus, “Need to lobby? Got $295,000? You can be 3121’s ‘Premier Promotional’ Sponsor.” (Bumped, because I wonder just how much paid insider-footsie is going on among the DC media and those they cover.)