On the guest list at last night's White House dinner honoring Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were journalists from two newspapers that only one week ago ignored the Bush Administration's pleas not to expose the existence of the secret bank surveillance program tracking terrorists. Journalists at the New York Times and Los Angeles Times were on the official guest list for the party. According to the list, printed in today's Washington Post, the White House invited David Sanger, the New York Times' White House correspondent, and Doyle McManus, the Washington bureau chief at the Los Angeles Times. Each brought his wife to the dinner.
Also attending from the news media were Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News' White House correspondent, and Yoichi Funabashi, an editorial writer for the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
It was just last Friday when the New York Times and Los Angeles Times refused to hold their stories on the secret terrorist tracking program. President Bush this week denounced the press for running the articles, and the House of Representatives even went so far as to pass a resolution condemning the media.
A call to the White House seeking an explanation for the invitations was not immediately returned.
