NYT’s Bai to D.C. Examiner: Get Off My Doorstep!

This is war. NYT Magazine political writer Matt Bai is at odds with the Washington Examiner. Or more specifically, with the publication’s Circulation Department, which refuses to take no for an answer.

Call this a case of forced delivery. Bai says he has no desire to read the newspaper that has been relentlessly delivered for many, many years to his Bethesda home and before that, his Northwest D.C. home. Not once has Bai signed up to receive the Examiner, but like a lost puppy, it keeps showing up on his doorstep. Despite verbal protests, week after week he wakes up to it.

“You can keep dropping the @dcexaminer at my door, but you can’t make me read it. Or bring it inside, for that matter,” Bai wrote on Twitter this past Sunday.

Last month we reported the news of the Examiner‘s unwelcome advances on homes in Adams Morgan. A resident wrote on the Adams Morgan Listserv that the newspaper was trashing the neighborhood. At the time Editor Stephen Smith told FBDC, “Our circulation staff does its best to quickly handle complaints such as this.”

We asked Bai more about his conundrum. Has he ever subscribed to the newspaper? His reply was a curt: “Certainly not.” He later explained, “I’ve called several times. It stops for a bit, then restarts. I’m sure they have to give advertisers a certain number.”

Bai refers to the newspaper as a “thing.” He explained that he has tried to make it stop. “There’s a number on the bag that’s supposed to stop delivery,” he said. “It worked for a while, but then the thing starts showing up again.”

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