John, I cannot presume to be on the inside to hear whispers about “side deals,” but looking back at the Guides we still have in the office, my point stands: if you stumbled across one of these Guides now (and who other than media freaks and geeks still has one?), it reads like serious media criticism, not a “restaurant review.” Some of their critiques were odd (notice I said we debated them). If you want to take exception to their regular praise of you as a hot up-and-coming journalist (at U.S. News as well as at the Washington Times) as clearly a bribed opinion, feel free.