Incest Desk: <em>TWT</em> Op-ed Editor Promotes Outside Media Site of <em>TWT's</em> Head of Digital

Plump the pillows and freshen the fine linens. This one's a real incestuous mess. Sure, Wes Pruden, TWT's newly rehired opinion editor owes a fair amount of good will to TWT's newly reinstalled "Chief Digital Officer" John Solomon for supporting his syndicated column and helping to secure his return to the publication. But at the expense of TWT? In a move that boggles the mind and perplexes the soul, Pruden is promoting Solomon's other journalistic venture, The Washington Guardian, while both men are working full-time at TWT. Although TWT and the Washington Guardian are presumably separate entities, TWT occasionally prints Guardian stories. Guardian reporters have even worked out of TWT's snaky office building off New York Avenue. In a letter sent by email on January 10, Pruden urged friends to support The Guardian, describing it as "A news outlet keeping them honest in Washington." Where's CNN's Anderson Cooper when we need him? It's not as if The Guardian is new, but Pruden presents it as if it is. Our favorite incestuous line: Pruden writes, "As a bonus, I've arranged for Pruden & Politics followers to get a daily newsletter from the Washington Guardian with its top stories." Whoa! What? What about TWT's top stories? Has he forgotten he works there now? We reached out to Pruden on the matter and received no response. See the letter... FROM: WesSUBJECT: A news outlet keeping them honest in WashingtonDear Friends:I know you share my frequent frustration with the mainstream media and its refusal to cover the stories that matter to you, or to ask hard questions of the leaders in power. But my good friend John Solomon, who succeeded me as editor of The Washington Times, is bucking that trend. He has started a news organization that is holding Washington accountable for the money it spends, the liberties it infringes and the ethics it flouts. It's called the Washington Guardian and I'd like you to join, and become Guardians along with it.The Washington Guardian was the first news organization in the country to challenge the Obama administration's false story line on the Benghazi tragedy. Within 40 hours of the attack, the Guardian reported that intelligence officials believed it was an organized terror attack, carried out by al-Qaiada sympathists. A few days later, it once more corrected the record, this time about the true role of the brave ex-NAVY Seals who died defending the compound and who were wrongly cast as the ambassador's security detail. And when the administration tried to explain away Susan Rice's televised hogwash, John Solomon himself obtained the president's daily intelligence briefing and was the first to report that President Obama was briefed three days before Miss Rice's first TV appearance, when she knew she was misleading us all. That's the sort of take-no-prisoners journalism I learned from tough editors years ago. It's the kind of reporting we must have more of in Washington. The Washington Guardian does lots more. One of my favorite features is its weekly Golden Hammer award, which highlights an audacious example of wasteful government spending, such as the government program that subsidizes Christmas tree growers' annual convention or the “earmark” to a Hawaii study center that has managed to outlive Sen. Daniel Inouye, the man who first sponsored it. I also like its Whopper of the Week, which blows the whistle on political fibs and stretchers like the president's claim this past week that the fiscal cliff deal typically saved middle-class taxpayers $2,000 each. In fact, as the Guardian noted, taxes are going up for 77 percent of Americans. Check out Washington Guardian's work yourself. It's covering the stories others won’t touch. And it's beginning to have an impact in challenging the nonsense going on in Washington. As a bonus, I've arranged for Pruden & Politics followers to get a daily newsletter from the Washington Guardian with its top stories. I think you'll find it a powerful addition to your reading arsenal. You don't need to do anything. At any time, if you don't like the newsletter, just click on the unsubscribe button. But I know you’ll be impressed. Regards, Wes P.S.: If you don't want to receive the Washington Guardian Top Stories newsletter, just click here.

Fishbowl

Incest Desk: TWT Op-ed Editor Promotes Outside Media Site of TWT's Head of Digital

Betsy Rothstein

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