Anyone know who the juror is in the Montgomery County sniper trial who is a White House reporter for a "major media organization"?

From today's Post: "The jury that began hearing evidence last week in the Maryland trial of John Allen Muhammad includes a student at George Washington University, a White House correspondent with a major media organization and a Vietnam War veteran who for a year carried a rifle that was a near-identical twin to the weapon Muhammad and an accomplice are accused of using to terrorize the region in 2002."

Has anyone been noticeably absent from work lately?

The hard part of writing a gossip column is making sure there's some element of fresh-ness to the gossip. The Reliable Source today managed to hash over a Bush Twin incident that happened last Thursday, was reported by Mary Ann Akers at Roll Call on Monday, followed-up yesterday by Akers, and reported both days by Wonkette.

Yet, despite all that, Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts still managed to get in a dig at Akers, reporting the incident was "hardly the Bush-bashing tirade of some accounts."

The Washington Post, proudly living to its motto: "You heard it here 12th."

Take this for what it's worth, but it appears that today could be a big day for the Washington Post in the Pulitzer pool. The newsroom is buzzing that the paper will be getting at least four prizes (which would be four more than it got last year).

The lucky four: Dana Priest, the Abramoff team (led by Sue Schmidt), David Finkel, and Robin Givhan.

Stay tuned for the official announcement at 3 p.m.

As Jared Paul Stern moves into what in 2006 is officially flash-in-the-pan fame-dom, that is to say a guest-editing gig on Gawker.com, there's still some ink getting thrown his way.

First yesterday D.C.'s gossip duo tried but failed to find someone willing to pay them to stay out of the Reliable Source.

Today Howard Kurtz has a column titled "Reporters in Glass Houses" about whether the Washington press corps is a mini-Jared Paul Stern.

"In short, is it really all that vast a distance from the TriBeCa nightspots prowled by Page Six writers to the Georgetown cocktail parties and Gridiron dinners where Washington reporters might sniff out news?" he asks, and then turns to anti-press quote machine Jeff Jarvis for this doozy: "When you think about it, how much really separates celebrity gossip from Washington coverage? Rumors, blind items, schmoozing, tips, paybacks, grudges, parties, lunches, leaks, hidden agendas, corruption, sex."

That said, Kurtz gets to the heart of the rub: "There is little question that some New York gossip writers get better freebies. Stern told USA Today that he accepted a hotel junket to the Bahamas and often got free use of cars in exchange for favorable mentions. Page Six Editor Richard Johnson got a free trip to the Oscars and a fabulously expensive bachelor party at the Mexican estate of the producer of those 'Girls Gone Wild' videos. And Washington reporters? A free screening at the Motion Picture Association of America? Unlimited hors d'oeuvres at a Capitol reception? Watching Condi work out on the road? The temptations are endless."

We couldn't make this up if we wanted to: Gawker.com has asked disgraced gossip columnist/fashion designer Jared Paul Stern to guest-edit the site this weekend.

Our cousin FishbowlNY has the scoop.

The Huffington Post today:

"We're Hearing... That 'Hardball' Host Chris Matthews Is Considering A US Senate Run In Pennsylvania..."

Um, well, huh. That'd be interesting, right?

Does Richard Johnson, he of the New York Post fame, have an improper relationship with Jason Binn, the celebrity-publisher-to-the-stars and boss guy of Gotham and D.C.'s own Capitol File?

In an article today on the tangled web of relationships that is the New York gossip world, The New York Times cites Johnson's column with Gotham as one potential conflict: "In the past two years, Mr. Binn--who is also a source for gossip, according to a reporter who has worked for Page Six--has been mentioned in the column 16 times, and all of the items have been harmless to congratulatory. Mr. Binn was traveling and unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswoman said there was nothing untoward in the relationship."

"Niche Media puts on over 250 celebrity-driven events a year and publishes over 50 magazines," said Sarah Greenberg, a publicist for Niche Media tells the NYT's Campbell Robertson. "They are in the press every week. I would like to think that I could get my client in The New York Post at least eight items a year."

True enough, but sixteen congratulatory mentions in the gossip world is a nearly unheard of record. Come on The Reliable Source has been much tougher on Binn, noting some of his foibles as well as some of his successes--and we know that when the Reliable Source is tougher on you than Page Six, something is definitely fishy.

So yesterday we are asking about disgraced DHS spokesperson Brian Doyle and his history at Time Magazine. Today Spencer Hsu has some more details, which call into question just how well Homeland Security is screening its own employees:

"The Department of Homeland Security official arrested Tuesday on charges of seducing a minor over the Internet faced disciplinary action at his previous workplace, Time magazine's Washington bureau, for misusing company equipment to download pornography, friends and former colleagues said. Federal officials would not say whether the incident came to the attention of federal investigators who conducted a background check in 2004 on Brian J. Doyle, 55," Hsu reports.

"Three people said in separate interviews that, between 1999 and 2001, Doyle viewed pornography on Time's computers, was caught and faced discipline, and that bureau colleagues circulated a petition or letter in his defense."

Doyle worked at Time from 1975 to 2001 before taking a voluntary early-retirement package, Time spokesman Ty Trippet told Hsu. Other Time execs wouldn't comment.

So you know the one about the Homeland Security spokesperson arrested this week and charged by police with attempting to seduce a 14-year-old girl?

"Brian Doyle, 55, was arrested on Tuesday night in a sex-sting operation and accused of obscenely propositioning an undercover agent he thought was a teen-ager," Reuters explains. "Doyle faces 23 charges in Polk County, Florida, related to use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. He was being held in a suburban Washington jail pending extradition to Florida. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Doyle was taken into custody at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, while he was online with undercover detectives."

(Guess their efforts to snoop out which employees were looking at porn didn't quite work in this case.)

Anyway a tipster explains that the same Doyle is a former Time Magazine staffer.

Does anyone have more details?

For what it's worth, Ben Bradlee thinks that State Department deputy Richard Armitage was the source of the Valerie Plame leak.

From Drudge:

"THE WASHINGTON POST's famous Watergate editor Ben Bradlee claims that it was former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage who was the individual who leaked the identity of CIA official Valerie Plame.

"In the latest issue of VANITY FAIR: 'Woodward was in a tricky position. People close to him believe that he had learned about Plame from his friend Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's former deputy, who has been known to be critical of the administration and who has a blunt way of speaking. "That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption," former WASHINGTON POST editor Ben Bradlee said."

"'I had heard about an e-mail that was sent that had a lot of unprintable language in it.'"

Stay tuned for more.