My old friend used to handle some PR matters for a union in Northern Virginia, and people still pick his brains. Here’s a rule near the top of his list. Don’t waste too much time trying to get into the Washington Post, even on the most newsworthy stories. L Street probably will just ignore you. […]
Read MoreBible of newspaper biz reincarnated under new owner, Duncan McIntosh
Good news: Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper business, is back from the dead and will be published by Duncan McIntosh. Mark Fitzgerald, an E&P veteran, is the new top editor. Online reporting has resumed, and a February issue will appear. Duncan McIntosh is a boating magazine publisher—it also organizes boat shows. Separately […]
Read MoreTheGeorgetownDish starts up: Hyperlocal newspaper war ahead? Or a friendly buyout?
A new online newspaper, the TheGeorgetown Dish, is starting up right in the neighborhood of Ben Bradlee, Sally Quinn and other VIP journalists. Beth Solomon—no relationship to the fictitious government landlord in The Solomon Scandals, thank you—is the editor and publisher. She has worked at ABC News and Voice of America among other places. Robb […]
Read MoreA tale of two obituaries—plus wisdom from J.Y. Smith, first official editor of the W. Post obit desk
You regulars already know my complaint. For whatever the reason, Washington philanthropist Robert H. Smith enjoyed a free ride from the Post’s usually stellar obituary desk as well as from the editorial page. His family’s paid obit at Legacy.com was rather redundant. Ahead I’ll compare the Smith encomia with a more balanced write-up of Indianapolis […]
Read MoreRobert H. Smith death editorial—and the need for the Washington Post to tell the whole story
Robert H. Smith, philanthropist and Crystal City developer, gets another paean today from the Washington Post—this time an editorial, which follows an obituary of more than 1,100 words. The Post appropriately notes Smith’s donations of “hundreds of millions of dollars to universities, the arts, historic sites and civic activities.” Given his significance, then, perhaps the […]
Read MoreRobert Smith’s death as the W. Post covered it: Nothing on Skyline or secret Ribicoff investment
How did the sprawling Crystal City complex, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, get its name? In the 1960s, developer Robert H. Smith dressed up his first apartment building there with a chandelier in the lobby, and soon the name spread to other Smith properties. It was, as I see it, a perfect example of […]
Read More‘Caste and class at the Washington Post’
More than a little hatred of the Internet lingers among certain elite journalists, and not just over copyright issues or job losses. The Net—with so much of a focus on pure information, as opposed to the social standing of the people delivering it—tends to reduce class differences. Despite the clues that the attentive can pick […]
Read MoreFisticuff in the Washington Post’s newsroom: And here you thought ‘Scandals’ was only a NOVEL?
Henry Allen, a Pulitzer Prize winner in his late 60s, punched the face of feature writer Manuel Roig-Franzia—right there in the city room at the Washington Post. Marcus Brauchli, the Post’s executive editor, is said to have separated Allen, an ex-Marine, from Roig-Franzia. Enjoy not-quite-ringside reports from The Washingtonian’s Harry Jaffe, FishBowlDC’s Matt Dornic, the […]
Read MoreSlate press guy vs. hype about newspapers as saviors of democracy
Mencken (photo) loved newspapering. But he did his best to be impervious to the industry ballyhoo, and I think he’d have enjoyed the latest from Jack Shafer, press critic for Slate, which the Washington Post Company owns. Shafer’s headline is Democracy’s Cheat Sheet: It’s time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy. […]
Read MoreThe trash factor: A big reason why newspapers are in trouble? And how can they cope with it?
Despite the dark humor in my Washington newspaper novel, The Solomon Scandals is also an exercise in nostalgia—taking us back to the oft-glamorous heyday of big dailies. Why are newspapers struggling today, by contrast? No small reason is The Trash Factor, which I’ll get to. That’s trash as in trash room, not trash as in […]
Read MoreDeep Throat is dead—and so are the old rules of investigative journalism
Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, the whistleblower in the FBI who blew open much of the Watergate scandal for the Washington Post, is dead. Leonard Downie, a Post staffer at the time, writes how much investigative reporting has changed since then—for example, technologically. Imagine staying in touch with a source who totes a prepaid cell […]
Read MoreThe ACTUAL Telegram?
A friend and I had just seen a movie with a soft-spoken and obscenity-free editor, a balding Boy Scout of the city room. Now she wondered if my novel hadn’t sinned in making such a wild character out of George McWilliams, editor at the fictitious Washington Telegram. Her message couldn’t have been clearer. Ben Bradlee, […]
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