David Rogers

In late October, The Daily Caller’s Christopher Bedford wrote a piece attacking a story by Rogers, calling it “garbage.” Today, Jamison Foser‘s (formerly with Media Matters) turn to take a swing.

“Awful Politico paragraph is awful,” Foser tweeted. Accompanying the tweet was a screen shot of a graf from a story by Rogers published last night. The story is headlined “Getting past grudges to fiscal cliff deal.”

The graf in question… continued…

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Every now and again The Daily Caller likes to remind its readers that they don’t like Politico, either by calling it a “liberal” publication or by crunching their web traffic in an unfavorable light. (Side note: Politico generally outperforms DC in traffic, according to Compete.com, a web analytics company)

In DC‘s latest, Christopher Bedford examined one story — in fact, one page of a story — by seasoned (as in ancient) congressional reporter David Rogers to conclude that Politico is “garbage.” Roger’s story, headlined “Bob Kerrey’s last stand to fix Washington,” is a nearly two-week-old five-page piece on a Senate race in Nebraska between Republican Deb Fischer and Democrat Bob Kerrey.

Rogers told FishbowlDC in an email he believes it’s company policy not to comment on attacks directed at Politico.

The five parts Bedford looks at… continued…

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After Strong broke the story, Politico assigned a few reporters the task of finding out more and rewriting it. They credited The Daily Caller, but not without calling the publication “conservative” and not without using the word “confirming.” The sentiment that translated: Politico has “confirmed” what The Daily Caller has written.

That didn’t sit well with The Daily Caller‘s Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson, who then instituted an office-wide policy of referring to Politico as liberal. The decision was largely emotional and many reporters interpreted Carlson’s edict over email as half-joking. After all, he told them, from then on Politico was to be referred to as a liberal publication based in suburban Virginia. The new Executive Editor, David Martosko, (the dude with a seriously long rap sheet) took the letter of Carlson’s law so seriously that he was intent on sifting through old stories and adding the words.

Martosko did not ultimately go through with his mission. Nor did the new policy last. As the week wore on, The Daily Caller had its first leak to a conservative New York-based publication called The Blaze, which reported the alleged new policy by way of an anonymous source. This marked trouble within the ranks of The Daily Caller, a young publication known for its fraternity-like atmosphere. No betrayal of this nature had ever happened. Some chalk it up to inevitable growing pains.

But an office meltdown ensued. Publicist Kurt Bardella sent a sharp but polite note to reporters saying all press inquiries need to go through him, Carlson or Martosko, an act that some reporters found condescending even if that was not his intention. We’re told this was among some 30 emails Bardella sends internally daily. Others are, at times, relieved by Bardella’s insistence on a certain way of handling things, thinking “Thank God” when he steers the publication away from negative press. Carlson, meanwhile, held an office meeting, expressed anger over the leak, and encouraged staffers to come talk to him and get whatever they need to off their chests.

The gist of the office meeting: Don’t go blabbing to other publications about internal matters. Colleagues have one solid suspect, but no one would bet their lives on the mole’s identity. And so far, no one has cracked under the stresses of intense peer gossip.

Since the migraine story, other anti-Politico stories have emerged on The Daily Caller website that irked Politico. They include a spate of stories insinuating that Politico leans liberal — one about Politico‘s David Rogers, another on Politico reporter Andy Barr leaving the publication to go work for the Democratic Party in Arizona.

Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei, who wouldn’t comment on this matter further, told The Blaze, “I know Tucker well, and feel quite confident he doesn’t actually believe we are a partisan publication. Just like our other readers, Tucker knows we pride ourselves in fairness and fact-based reporting. Perhaps it was a simple editing error in his shop.”

Carlson would not speak to FishbowlDC on the record for this story. A quick scan of The Daily Caller website, however, shows a story on Politico and it is not described as a suburban liberal publication. Although reporters have not be told that the policy has been nixed, the idea of the office-wide policy is dead in the water.

Even so, we highly suspect the spark of tension between the two publications is far from over.

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Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

What we know and what we’re reading this rainy Thursday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE | MAGAZINES | NEWS NOTES | WEST WING REPORTAGE | AWARDS & EVENTS | IN MEMORIAM

NEWSPAPERS

WSJ has taken the top spot among daily newspapers, taking over USA Today.

NYT has decided not to sell the Boston Globe.

Tom Brokaw‘s op-ed in today’s WaPo: “A Peace Prize to Share.”

TV

On his radio show yesterday, MSNBC’s Joe Scarbourgh ribbed on Chuck Todd with ABC’s Jake Tapper. Scarborough: “I expect he’s going to have a Billy Ray Cyrus mullet soon” and “His body odor has gotten worse over the past ten years.” To which Tapper responded: “There’s so much body odor in the [White House] press area, I can’t tell who’s who.”

More on “Goatee Gamble” on FBDC later today.

NBC and CBS News Presidents Steve Capus and Sean McManus commented on comments their reporters Richard Engel and Lara Logan have made on the war in Afghanistan.

PBS’ Jim Lehrer seems to have an affinity for rap, or at least one of his producers does. An economist was apparently bumped from “Newshour” for a rapping economist. We don’t blame you, “Newshour.”

ONLINE

Arianna Huffington calls for Vice President Joe Biden to resign.

New venture: Michael Kinsley is launching a business site for Atlantic.

MAGAZINES

Rolling Stone‘s Obama cover won an ASME prize.

NEWS NOTES

The US military in eastern Afghanistan recently changed its media embed rules to ban pictures of troops killed in the war. (Photo District News)

And on a lighter note, Rush Limbaugh apparently isn’t going to get to buy the St. Louis Rams.

WEST WING REPORTAGE

After an appearance on CNN this weekend in which she called Fox News “a wing of the Republican party,” White House communications director Anita Dunn is on the cover of WaPo‘s Style section today.

Most interesting: “A source inside the White House, who was not authorized to speak about strategy meetings, said Dunn went out front against Fox first and foremost because it was her job, but also because it potentially gave the administration the opportunity to distance itself from the flap with the Roger Ailes-led news channel once she leaves the communications job.”

Mike Allen also fact-checks the piece in this morning’s Playbook… “UM, NO: “She advised President Bill Clinton.” Anita never worked for Bill Clinton.”

And more on Fox News vs. the White House.

AWARDS & EVENTS

Politico‘s David Rogers, Politics Daily “Capitolist” Patricia Murphy, The Hill‘s Susan Crabtree, Time‘s Jay Newton-Small, CQ‘s Greg Giroux, Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy and Center for Responsive Politic’s Sheila Krumholz will be featured on panels at NPC’s Political Writing Workshop this weekend.

IN MEMORIAM

In memoriam: Nan Robertson, Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT reporter and “The Girls in the Balcony” author.

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser, Politico, NJ‘s Wake-Up Call and Last Call!

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You moved to Bloomberg TV from NPR. What has been the “best” and “worst” parts of transitioning from radio to TV?
Getting to play with another media form is great. Doing television well involves essentially learning a new visual language, and trying to use it (always a challenge in stories that involve numbers). The worst part is losing some of the flexibility of being a one-man-band, which you can do in radio. And worrying about your hair.

What has been your biggest career challenge?
Probably going from zero to 60 covering economics. I think I covered a Fed meeting in my second week at Bloomberg. Had absolutely no idea what was going on.

What was the proudest moment in your career?
Recently, we broke the Chrysler bankruptcy, which was satisfying. But overall, I think Bloomberg did some very good coverage of the dangers of sub-prime mortgages early on. We did one on Katrina survivors with exorbitant mortgage rates that I’m still proud of.

Who is your dream interview?
Otis Redding.

What was the most embarrassing moment of your career?
I’ve told this story before – but it was just. so. excruciating. When I was a PA at ABC I made fun of an interviewee’s name, which sounded kind of dirty. Of course the microphone was hot and he heard the whole thing.

What single person played the biggest role or had the biggest influence on your career?
Melissa Block. Tough, fair, and always herself on the air. Something to aspire to.

What does your morning reading list include?
Well I’m often up at 5, so I read a lot the night before. But Bberg, the NYT, WashPost, Politico, the Journal, and dealbreaker.com, which I love.

How many emails do you receive a day? How many do you answer?
Easily 500. And I answer too many.

Who would win a fair fight — you or Tim Burger?
Seriously? Burger does not fight fair. But neither do I and I can take him.

What is one of life goal that you’ve yet to check off your list?
Racing a Shelby Mustang through the streets of San Francisco.

Who is your favorite active journalist (excluding anyone from Bloomberg)?
I have Google alerts for anything by David Rogers or Anne Garrels.

What subject line in an email grabs your attention?
“Your order has shipped!”

If you were a carbonated beverage, what would you be and why?
That’s too easy. Fizzy Lizzy. They spelled it wrong, though.

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FishbowlDC has learned that the dean of the Capitol Hill press corps — David Rogers — is joining the Politico. He recently left the Wall Street Journal.

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Boehner took another dagger yesterday when he ran into The Wall Street Journal’s David Rogers in the Speaker’s lobby just off the House floor.

Boehner, who ridiculed Rogers’s wardrobe in his speech Tuesday, told Rogers, “You don’t look any better a day later.”

Rogers shot back, “You’re not any funnier.”

(Earlier)

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In a press briefing of GOP senators who disagreed with the resolution — they included DeMint, John Cornyn (R-Texas) and David Vitter (R-La.) — Rogers pointedly asked DeMint, “Did you read the resolution?”

DeMint, who looked embarrassed, replied that he read the summary of the resolution. Other reporters began to snicker. But Rogers didn’t let up. In a classroom moment, he lectured DeMint on the contents of the resolution.

Read the rest here.

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