has been accused of lax membership criteria, including accepting members with little or no journalistic background. A 1996 article in the Washington Post alleged that the majority of HFPA members were not full-time professional journalists, but rather part-time freelance writers for smaller publications as well as non-journalists, ranging from a college professor to an appliance salesman. Likewise, An investigation by the Los Angeles Times in 2021 found that the HFPA regularly paid its members over $1 million annually for serving on various committees, which may jeopardize its status as a tax-exempt non-profit organization. The report also noted that the association's small membership made it easier to sway than the significantly larger voting bodies of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the Television Academy; members allegedly were offered access to actors and film sets, as well as expensive gifts, such as high-priced hotel stays and restaurant bookings. The investigation also alleged that many of HFPA members are not journalists, and that established foreign journalists who apply are regularly rejected. An antitrust lawsuit was filed against the HFPA in August 2020 by a Norwegian journalist, Kjersti Flaa, whose request for membership had been repeatedly rejected. She alleged that the group was operating as a cartel that monopolized the market of foreign entertainment journalism, that she had been rejected as not to cannibalize other Scandinavian members, and that her inability to join was impacting her ability to gain their "exclusive" access to celebrities and junkets. On November 24, 2020, a federal court threw out the lawsuit, arguing that Flaa did not define the "market" that the HFPA was allegedly monopolizing, and that the HFPA was not subject to the right of fair procedure, since engaging in an "activity of some interest to the public" was not the same as operating "in the public interest". Black representation In 2021, the HFPA faced criticism for the lack of Black representation among its members; it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that the association had not had a new Black member since Meher Tatna, its former president, in 2002. Variety cited criteria requiring new members to have been sponsored by two current HFPA members as being a major roadblock towards recruiting new Black members, stating that "for a foreign journalist based in Los Angeles, building relationships with this small group, which are largely unknown to the public, is difficult due to