DC Porcupine

• 2012-05-31

  Politico Trashes Post Romney Story, Get Trashed in Return

  Earlier today, Politico’s Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei grabbed some remaindered Republicans (Haley Barbour and Ari Fleischer, really?), find out that they didn’t like the Post’s Mitt Romney bullying article, and turn it into a theory of scoops story:

  But the 5,500-word account was invested with far more significance than it merited, and is more voyeuristic than relevant to assessing Romney’s readiness for office.

  Whether or not you see the bullying thing as relevant to Romney’s fitness to be president (and I think that depends on whether you see it as gay-bashing or “anti-longhairism”), it was a solidly-sourced story that revealed something interesting about someone who could be president. 

  That said, I do think Allen and Vandehei make a good point when they write that the Post could have given the Choom Gang story more coverage.  

  Andrew Beaujon at Poynter rounds up the slams on Politico’s story, and Erik Wemple is going long on it at the Post. 

  —

  What’s up with the media reporting at Politico these days? Lots of whiffs. 

• →

  Layoffs at Washington Examiner Sister Company

  Update: Romenesko notices that the Examiner spokesperson attributed the layoffs to efficiencies created by new technology. Worth considering that the Washington Examiner is getting a new CMS. 

  —

  Examiner.com, the content farm/SEO mill that’s owned by the same reclusive billionaire as the Washington Examiner, is laying off top staffers, Denver’s Westword alt weekly reports. 

  Could this be a sign of future cost-cutting across Phil Anschutz’s media empire? In January, an Anschutz lieutenant called the Washington Examiner a “loss-leader.”

  —

  How often must Washington Examiner staffers’ relatives think they work for much-less-impressive Examiner.com, and how annoying does that get? Alan Blinder, you’re the Washington Cussing Examiner. Scott McCabe, you’re the Washington Fugitive Examiner. 

  —

  Get a Google Alert for “Philip Anschutz” if you ever want to be truly stunned by how many fingers that man has his pies in. He’s always plotting to buy a sports team somewhere. 

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  Atlantic Takes Aim at Boring Stories, Hits Innocent Bystander Stories

  

  Atlantic Digital Editor Bob Cohn tweeted recently about an entertainment editor at the magazine putting up a sign to remind himself to stop getting articles on “precious foreign films” that “no one will read.” But it seems like, if it’s after things no one reads, and that suck up far more resources than a movie review, the Atlantic should look a little earlier in their pages to their cover stories (like this snoozer, above).

  The Atlantic’s covers tend to come off like a boring person’s idea of a topical story. Take the topics from this cover:

  • “Why are atheists so funny?” 
  • “Will blogs kill writing?”
  • “Should women rule the world?”

  More obscure foreign film reviews, if they must, and less obscure think tank overflow.

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  City Paper’s Shani Hilton Headed to NBC 4, Tom Sherwood is Spooked

  

  City Paper staff writer Shani Hilton is taking a job at NBC 4, which was why this was available. Hilton’s hire is the latest in some intriguing moves being made by NBC 4 over the past few months, which include nabbing Chuck Thies’s politics column from the Georgetown Dish and pumping up their DMV First Reads blog. 

  —

  Speaking of NBC 4, will someone just go on the record with whatever dark tidings they’re giving Tom Sherwood about various US Attorney investigations? He’s running out of ways to imply that he knows something’s about to happen, but for various reasons can’t report it.

  Most recently, he’s abandoned the centipede-shoes metaphor (since shoes have started to drop) for a forest theme:

  

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  Arlington Press Release Confuses Bank Robbery, Bond Rating

  A tipster points out this email yesterday from Arlington County, in which the county’s press release system goes all 99% and confuses a bank robbery with a bond rating update (emphasis added): 

  
  Oops - Pardon Our Technical Glitch
  
  Due to a technical glitch yesterday with our Newsroom system, some
  subscribers received a news release with the wrong subject line. The
  news release was actually about the County’s AAA bond rating, however
  the subject line referenced a bank robbery (which was from an actual
  Police news release that went out at the same time).
  
  We apologize for any confusion and are working to resolve the issue in
  the future. Visit the County newsroom to see all current news.
  
  

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  DC Porcupine: Revealed! And a New Place for Your Media News

  

  Hey friends of the forest, some things:

  • City Paper’s editors have decided to overlook our differences and have hired me as a staff writer. Blogging switches over to there in two weeks.
  • I’ll be working on the City Desk blog, where we’re going to start trying some new things. You’ll definitely want to check it out several times a day. I’ll be writing the media reporting/grousing you’ve come to expect here, and lots of other cool stuff.  
  • My name’s Will Sommer (above, left), and it has been a pleasure being your anonymous media blogger. Things will continue to pop up here from time to time, but you’ll want to add City Desk to your RSS feeds. 
  • Tweeting will continue, although the account name will be changing. Also follow City Paper’s Twitter for even more microblogging action. 

  Thanks to everyone who read, tipped, and responded to a request for comment from a woodland creature. Send your scoops, as always, to porcupinetips@gmail.com.

• 2012-05-30

  Post’s William Wan to Be China Correspondent

  

  Post diplomatic reporter William Wan is taking a position as a China correspondent for the paper. 

  Wan has worked for the Post since 2005. Most recently on China issues, Wan wrote about US-China maneuverings over blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.

  —

  Can we talk about how fly Chen Guancheng’s style? Alas, since coming to the US, he seems to have dropped his David Lynchian top-button no-tie ways.

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  Superior Court Taking Illicit Times Picture “Very Seriously”

  

  The Washington Times tells Erik Wemple that reporter Emily Miller’s took an illicit picture inside Superior Court because she didn’t know it was forbidden, a story first reported here at DC Porcupine.

  But don’t expect Superior Court to be sated! In a statement to Wemple, courthouse management said Miller and the Times broke a court order against courthouse photography.

  “The Washington Times’ photo appears to be in violation of this court order, a matter we are taking very seriously,” courthouse management writes.

  Wemple makes a good point about the Times’s defense on this. Even if Miller didn’t know the rules, did no one at the Times who looked at the story before publication? A bailiff even told Miller to stop, according to the Times. 

  Like I said before, there are some times that a story might be worth breaking the photo prohibition, but this wasn’t it. 

  Will this mean an end to cameraphones in Superior Court? It’d be awful if the courthouse instituted the stricter cameraphone rules that are in place at the nearby federal courthouse. Fortunately, though, here’s no way Superior Court could enforce that rule without causing even bigger delays in the security line.

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  WTOP Reclaims Top Spot

  WTOP regained its spot as Washington’s top radio station in the second week of May, followed by WAMU and Hot 99.5, DCRTV reports. WTOP had slipped as far as third in the April listener rankings, and came up with some clever explanations for the decline. 

  Update: A well-informed tipster points out that WAMU was doing its pledge drive that week. A twist!

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  Police Offer To Do Prostitute Stings for AP’s DC Office

  The Metropolitan Police Department is considering doing undercover stings to discourage prostitution around the Associated Press’s DC office on 13th St., Romenesko reports.

  The move comes after the AP’s manager for business continuity asked police if the area could be declared a prostitution-free zone. Alas for the AP, but positively for opponents of racal profiling, the zones are under review after DC Attorney General Irv Nathan said they were probably unconstitutional.

  —

  The “traffic whoring” joke on this: already taken by a Romenesko commenter.