(A sprinkling of things we think you ought to know…)

Slate‘s Twitter guru offers rules for tweeting during catastrophe– Jeremy Stahl, the guy who runs Slate‘s official Twitter account, has a piece with the DOs and DON’Ts in using the medium after a crisis like the Boston Marathon bombings. “First, media outlets need to turn off their automated Twitter feeds to ensure that frivolous and/or off-topic items don’t get sent out by mistake,” Stahl wrote, noting that Slate wouldn’t want one of its edgy “Dear Prudence” advice columns to go out during a crisis. “Second, use first-person eyewitness accounts and official sources like the Boston Police department’s Twitter account or official press conferences.” (The New York Post reported that 12 had died in the Boston bombings; the actual count was three). Lastly, he said, “Keep your tone as serious as the occasion merits, even if you are in the business of opinion journalism or cracking snarky jokes.” Stahl links to tweets from The Daily Caller‘s “Jim Treacher” and BuzzFeed‘s Andrew Kaczynski as examples of ill-conceived tweets. Treacher had said “You’re going to hear the word ‘tragic’ a lot over the next few days. Not once will it be used correctly.” Kaczynski received three links to his tweets, two of which have since been deleted. One of the tweets questioned an AdWeek headline (“Boston Marathon Tragedy Shows Why Brands Need Human Touch On Twitter”).

Are you a ‘virgin’ or an ‘ultra’?– British bank First Direct conducted a month-long study on people’s social media usage and found a way to separate them into 12 different categories, according to PR Daily. The categories: Ultras, which are Facebook and Twitter addicts (TIME‘s Zeke Miller, Essence‘ Sophia Nelson); Dippers, infrequent users (Matt Drudge; Bill Clinton); Deniers, those who pretend social media doesn’t mean as much to them as it actually does; Virgins, first-time users; Lurkers, the watchers who rarely interact (we’ve heard RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is one); Peacocks, those who amass followers and fans like its their job (Fox News’ Dana Perino, CNN’s Jake Tapper); Ranters, users who have little to say until you put a keyboard at their fingers (Commentary‘s Jon Podhoretz; sharp-tongued Big Mouth Jay Rosen); Salon‘s Joan Walsh; Changelings, users who pretend to be someone else on social media (take your pick of any partisan blogger); Ghosts, anonymous users (“Southpaw” and “Fake Jim VandeHei”); Informers, those who love being first to share news (Yahoo! News‘ Chris Moody); BuzzFeed‘s Ben Smith; Quizzers, users who ask open questions to strike up conversations (hello, Marty Rudolf?); Approval Seekers, those who cannot sleep until someone “likes” or “retweets” their posts (Politico‘s Ben White admits he’s among them); NJ‘s Ron Fournier; Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

Schock defends company which once made food he would likely never eat– Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), known for taking his shirt off for Men’s Health magazine, writes in a column for Politico that anti-obesity campaigns by the government are hurting American job creators, like sugary snack-maker Hostess. “When a company like Hostess — which employed hundreds of employees in my congressional district — dedicates millions of dollars to market its products, it shouldn’t have to worry about the company’s tax dollars being used against it to dissuade the public from buying its products,” Schock says. Hostess closed down in late 2012.

WaPo reader wonders if she should settle for unmotivated dud boyfriend– In Carolyn Hax‘s WaPo advice column, one woman writes in for feedback on her post-divorce predicament: “I thought I wanted someone to push me to do more and be the best me I could be, but he’s very different from that — more tortoise than hare. I’ve come to realize that to some extent it’s good that he’s gotten me to slow down a bit. However, part of me just worries that I’ll slow down too much. Also, it’s my first relationship after a 20-year marriage, and I worry that I’m just rebounding.” Let’s hope the tortoise boyfriend doesn’t read WaPo, lest he find out what a tool his girlfriend suspects he may be. As for Hax’s advice, it could have come from anyone. “Think of relationships as having only these two states — enjoy his company, don’t enjoy his company — until you sort out the other stuff,” she says. Shorter version: Take some time to figure it out. That’s some sage relationship advice. Is Hax also tasked with fostering bipartisanship on Capitol Hill?

Cenk Uyger is the most popular person in media. Say who? Cenk Uyger, of course. And who would dare question Cenk Uyger?

For purposes of clarity, I should first explain who Cenk Uyger is. He used to have a show on MSNBC and was so popular he was replaced by Al Sharpton. I guess MSNBC didn’t want someone so popular on their network. He then went to Current TV (it’s a network on some cable systems), where, since their sale to Al Jazeera, Cenk’s fate remains in flux.

Fear not for Cenk and his “Young Turks” empire, someone as popular as he is will have no problem landing on his feet. So popular, in fact, that he has spent time lately telling the world just how wildly popular he is. Of course, this crusade doesn’t burden those who really are wildly popular because, well, they’re wildly popular and don’t feel the need to prove it.

That’s why it was so curious when Cenk recently blew a gasket about The Daily Caller’s intrepid blogger Jim Treacher on his wild popularity. Read more

After calling out The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher on his deceptive spin on a news story, he wrote in to play the victim.

In a post Tuesday, we described how Treacher wouldn’t acknowledge that he was running the spin cycle by tweeting that President Obama “Talks iPod on Radio as Hurricane Hits.” The radio hit Treacher referenced had been pre-taped and aired the day Hurricane Sandy hit shore.  We chalked the whole thing up to Treacher being blindly ideological in opposing Obama and noted that he “couldn’t make his way out of a right-wing box even if he were being chased inside by a left-wing State Dept. vehicle.”

While walking to a CVS in February 2010 Treacher was hit by a State Deptartment car, resulting in a broken knee. Treacher’s accident was covered by us at least six times in the past. He blogged about it at The Daily Caller and they sent out email updates on his recovery. Now, however, it seems he’d rather we not talk about it.

“‘HA HA YOU GOT HIT BY A CAR,’” Treacher wrote in a sarcastic email after reading our post. He must no longer see the humor in things… Read more

Despite the fast pace world of today’s journalism, reading before writing should still be a given.

But last night this was a non-issue for The Daily Caller‘s conservative blogger Jim Treacher, whose schtick is excessive sarcasm and general bitchiness when it comes to talking about liberals like POTUS. He calls out hypocrisy and logical fallacies of the left when he sees it and sometimes, it’s even funny. But last night Treacher shared an ABC News story with a tweet so misleading that the only possible reason for it was that he didn’t actually read the story. We get him. He hates President Obama and doesn’t want him reelected. But hey, we’re still under the weird assumption that facts matter…

Read more

Slate‘s Dave Weigel committed the cardinal sin of modern politics. He asked Twitter to calm down.

During President Obama‘s taped appearance on the Daily Show Thursday, two White House pool reports were dispatched with quotes from his interview with Jon Stewart. Here’s a quote from the first report:

On Benghazi, Potus said: “Every piece of information that we get, as we got it we laid it out to the American people. The picture eventually gets fully filled in.” Potus also said: “Here’s what I’ll say. When four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal. We’re going to fix it. All of it.”

With Obama describing the death of four Americans as “not optimal,” Twitter lit up like Marion Barry on a Friday morning. Some conservatives saw the report and claimed Obama was minimizing the deaths.

Then the calm and cool Weigel threw himself into the fray at his own peril. “The political Twitterverse is now debating what was said in a TV interview it has not seen, based on pool report only a few have seen,” he tweeted.

A second report was sent out, this time detailing the exchange between Stewart and Obama. This report included Stewart’s question and revealed it was actually him who initially used the word “optimal,” though in a different context. Stewart had asked if the White House’s response to the attack on a U.S. embassy was “optimal.”

Weigel followed up, “What we need: More campaigns/media hyperventilating about out-of-context shit that collapses under scrutiny.”

And with that, he became the target. Conservative blogger “Sooper Mexican” wrote up a post on Weigel’s dismissive tweets. He compared them to jokes Weigel made on Twitter about GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney‘s “binders full of women” remark in the debate this week. “Infamous Journolister Dave Weigel Thinks ‘Not Optimal’ Controversy is Stupid, Loves ‘Binders’ Snark!” blared the headline, suggesting Weigel is biased against Romney.

The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher tweeted out a link to the post and retweeted others who were mocking Weigel. Asked in an email if Romney’s “binders” remark compares to Obama’s “optimal” comment, Treacher said “Weigel’s job is to tell you what isn’t news.”

Breitbart‘s John Nolte jumped in yesterday, too. “Hey everyone, Dave Weigel doesn’t want us making issue out of Obama MINIMIZING deaths of four Americans. So stop it now!”

Weigel told FishbowlDC… Read more

Both President Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney have had their say on the Libya incident, in which a U.S. ambassador was killed Tuesday. Now several bloggers have loaded their guns and are pointing them at the news media.

Romney was widely criticized for his comments on the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks. He said the administration’s own response to the attacks was an “apology” for America.

NYT editorialized that Romney “showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character by using the murders of the Americans in Libya as an excuse … to attack Mr. Obama…” WaPo called Romney’s critique of Obama’s foreign policies “crude.” USA Today said Romney “erred in moving so quickly to make political hay of an unfolding tragedy.”

In a post today, RedState‘s Erick Erickson argues that the media, led by “group think,” wanted the “focus on Romney” rather than what he saw as the president’s own shortcomings on foreign policy. He took names:

“I get that Chuck Todd is a former Democrat hill staffer. I get that the Politico is riddled with Democrats, some former activists and a former staffer for Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I get that Michael Scherer from Time magazine is a left wing reporter for Mother Jones and Salon.com turned respectable, “objective” journalist. I get that Ben Smith, leading up Buzz Feed, is a left wing journalist paraded about as if he is some sort of objective reporter at a trendy site full of cat photos. [Editor's Note: Totally forgot to include Journolist and have updated to include it] I get that precious Ezra Klein started Journolist so reporters and political operatives could collaborate on the news and narrative and now he sits at the Washington Post and gets trotted out as a fact checker.”

Erickson, however, does credit Slate‘s Dave Weigel for writing that Romney’s comment wasn’t a gaffe, but a consistent view on foreign policy.

Over at WaPo‘s Right Turn blog, Jennifer Rubin largely made the same argument as Erickson: The collective media didn’t concentrate on the real issue at hand, the death of an ambassador, a delayed response from the White House. “What [Romney] said was valid then, as it remains valid in retrospect…” Rubin wrote today. In a separate post Rubin took another swipe at the media, arguing that conservatives have not turned against Romney as some have suggested. “The mainstream media… decided that Romney was ‘isolated’ or in trouble with Republicans,” she wrote. “Perhaps the media don’t know very many conservatives. Or perhaps they thought a few moldy Beltway insiders were representative of the party at large. … If the media are going to rally to Obama, then, by gosh, conservatives are going to rally to Romney.”

Rubin’s liberal counterpart, Greg Sargent … Read more

Quotes of the Day

Words to Live By: Ever Heard of Google?

“I don’t know about you guys, but every time b4 I report an ‘exclusive’ I’m all up in Google News making sure that it actually is one.” — Capital NY’s Joe Pompeo.

Scribe unnerved by first gray hair

“Fear I have just discovered my first gray hair. Not cool.” — WaPo‘s Aaron Blake.

Text sent to us Wednesday: “Now that I know who Ezra Klein is, I see him all the time and he is soooo annoying.” Oh, Ezzy, don’t even listen. Person is just jealous! (Not really, but isn’t that what everyone says when someone’s TV personality gets knocked?)

Healthcare vote lacks drama

“The drama seems to be lacking in this health care repeal vote. Maybe they should have held off until Christmas Eve to build tension.” — NYT Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Carl Hulse.

Journo is anti-Slurpee

“Stopped by 7-11 on way @FLOC_DC. Kids being encouraged by parents to fill up slurpees over&over again (free slurpee day). Humanity, doomed.” — Catherine Andrews, Director of Digital Content at Home Front Communications and former editor of Washingtonian.com.

Dirty newsroom banter

“O/H in the newsroom, coworker asking about poker strategy: ‘what does it mean when old men nut on me?’ ‘that’s not poker.’” — Roll Call HOH writer Neda Semnani.

The Observer

“Ah Cavuto explains the weird sound in background was from a ‘generator.’ what is it with Cavuto and interviews with background noise?” — ABC News reporter Matt Negrin on FNC’s Neil Cavuto.

Left & Right Media Wars

“Oh, and if you’re wondering how this story would be covered if Jackson were a Republican? You already know how this story would be covered if Jackson were a Republican.” — The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher in a post about Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.‘s (D-Ill.) whereabouts. Interestingly enough, this appears to make little sense. When you search “Where in the World is Jesse Jackson Jr.”, some 19,000 hits come up. It appears all sides are covering the congressman. Relentlessly.

Fish Poll Results: Last week we asked you to choose how best to get through a hot summer slow news day. Coming in at 26.66 percent: Michelle Fields‘ TV cleavage. “Watch the heat index shoot up as Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields’ cleavage plunges down.” Two answers received second-place status at 23.4 percent. 1. “Tally the number of times FNC’s Bret Baier tweets about his son’s summer activities.” 2. “Create a shade chart to measure how sunburned MSNBC’s Chris Matthews‘ face gets.”

Over the weekend, Breitbart.com associates unveiled a brand new website. Longtime Breitbart business partner, Larry Solov, wrote that this was what Andrew Breitbart “dreamed and planned” before his sudden death last week. Solov says, “Andrew’s battle – our battle – has only just begun.”

But that isn’t all that has begun. It seems there is a strange online phenomenon, an explosion of Breitbart grief porn happening one click, one avatar at a time.

The battle, at least on the newly unveiled Breitbart.com, begins with a piece posthumously filed by Breitbart titled “The Vetting.” Just weeks before he died, Breitbart warned that he would lead the charge to vet President Obama and warned that he had videos. In this latest piece, Breitbart exposes that Obama took part in a panel that occurred following a Chicago production of a play called “The Love Song of Saul Alinsky.” While it seems a thin start to the vetting the website promises, you can bet that there’s always something brewing in the Breitbart camp.

To us, that’s the legacy of Breitbart. You never knew what was going to happen next. Each story and stunt seemed more outrageous than the last. We’re happy to just leave it at that.

But, others want to take it further. Rolling Stone‘s Matt Taibbi infamously called his remembrance of Breitbart “Death of a Douche.” Which led to Slate asking the question, “When Did Douche Become an Insult?” Have we really gotten there in the Breitbart debate? Does Slate really need to go that far off the map to keep the Breitbart topic alive? And this came after allowing writer Matt Yglesias to gloat over his death on Twitter.

Twitter isn’t any more sane when it comes to Breitbart’s death, but it is telling. While co-workers and friends offered up remembrances of the man and relayed personal stories, there was a bizarre race to prove who knew Andrew best. There is an online movement for people to change their Twitter avatars to pictures of Breitbart. It appeared to begin with The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher, whose avatar is Breitbart on that yellow-hued piece of toast. (Can we just say how weird it is to scroll through Twitter and see dozens of Breitbart faces in various poses and frames staring back at us?)

There’s even a hash tag called #armyofandrews trying to convince the masses to change up their picture. Pundits were racing to see who could get the best picture of them with Breitbart as their avatar. Big Journalism Editor and CNN Contributor Dana Loesch quickly (and rightfully, he was, after all, her boss) changed her avatar to a picture of her and Breitbart. Actor Adam Baldwin, a contributor to Big Hollywood and a conservative pundit, also changed his avatar to an image of him and Breitbart. Over the weekend, he tweeted this out as a message from beyond.

“Goodbye Fellow Patriots. Keep Up the Good Fight.” – twitpic.com/8s0dab

— Adam Baldwin (@adamsbaldwin) March 4, 2012

Other online conservatives followed suit. Like @KamaainaInOC, who posted this picture of her and Breitbart… Read more

Quotes of the Day

Disturbing headline of the Day: “Fallen Tree Pins Fairfax Woman to Bed” — Washington D.C. News. See story here on MyFoxDC.com. Best line: “Fire officials say this is a good time to do a quick site survey at your home to make sure your trees are stable.”

Fueling the fire

“Four words nobody at @MMFA wants to see: ‘First in a series.’” — The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher, referencing this story.

Washington media types react to Whitney passing

“@BravoAndy I loved to hear your favorite Whitney Houston song is I Love the LORD!! You have gained even more cool points.” — American Urban Radio White House Correspondent April Ryan to Bravo’s Andy Cohen in aftermath of Whitney Houston‘s death. In a series of emotional tweets over the weekend, Ryan expressed her sadness. A sampling: 1) My heart really wants to cry! 2) Girl this will never make sense. 3) My heart breaks for her mother especially as she loved her so much with motherly and tough love to help her family. 4) I actually wiped tears away when I heard her sing I Love The Lord Live. Didn’t we almost have it all is so meaningful.

“Deepest condolences to #Whitney Houston’s entire family, including her young daughter. “Weeping may endure for a night..” Peace out. I’m sad.” — CNN Political Analyst Donna Brazile. In Manhattan over the weekend, Brazile mentioned an outing to visit her Aunt Lu in Harlem. “What’s on your menu? A walk in Central Park and a visit to see Aunt Lu in Harlem. Weight Watchers beware of Southern cuisine up north,” she said, adding, “I plan to watch Aunt Lu cook. She’s my Dad’s last surviving sibling (number 11) and he’s number 12. Will bring my #Whitney Houston music.”

Falling is a good thing?

“Just slipped, slid and fell in the lobby of my office building. Normally, this would be a bad omen, but I just thought it was kinda funny.” — Greenwire‘s Jessica Estepa.

Bizarre promo for a story: “Man who locked himself in a toilet claiming he had a bomb arrested at Amsterdam’s busy Schiphol Airport” — CBS News. Since when can a person lock themselves in a toilet? Whatever it was, it involved a bomb and caused an entire airport to be evacuated. See the AP story here.

Boybander bleeds for budget cuts

“Gonna say the reason I cut my neck shaving & bled on my collar is to symbolize defense budget cuts.” — Wired’s Spencer Ackerman in a geeky yet gruesome thought of the day. (Note to readers: This isn’t Ackerman, but how we envision he might shave.)

From the Dept. of Bragiculture…

“.@DonnaBrazile nails it on why WH bungled contraceptive cvgs: “The outer loop couldn’t get into the inner circle.” #ThisWeek @ThisWeekABC” — Brazile retweets a compliment from ABC’s Rick Klein. Thanks Rick!

Quotes of the Day

“Game Over” — Politico‘s Roger Simon accompanying the above picture.

More on the Christie fat issue…

RT @foxheadlines “Do You Want a Fat President or a Thin President?” // Or do you want a fat president to EAT a thin president? — The Daily Show

Journo could do without Levi fame

“Levi Johnston says fame has improved him. Anyone else wish he’d stayed obscure? #HotlineSort” — NJ “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson. Read here for more in New York Magazine.

An exclusive Jewish New Year

“May you all be inscribed in the Book of Life for the Jewish New Year.* *except for some of you.” — ABC News White House Correspondent Jake Tapper.

“Happy New Year to my family and any Jewish followers, in honor of @howardmortman (his fav joke), hope I can stop writing 5771 on my checks.” — NBC’s Chuck Todd. Howard Mortman is C-SPAN’s Communications Director. The pair worked together at NJ‘s “The Hotline” back in the day. The full joke is: “Happy new year. Can you believe It’s already 5772? Wow, it flies by so fast. I’m still writing 5771 on all my checks.” Mortman explained, “It’s actually an old joke. Chuck was kind to remember me telling it during our Hotline days together… I think back in 5761 or so.”

Unusual pitch of the week: This week we were offered the chance to get fitted for bras by a specialist known as the Bra Whisperer. FishbowlMatt declined. I’m on the fence though I’ve agreed to go this afternoon. “She’s back Thursday/Friday doing VIP fittings, maj lingerie (like fancy schmancy $500 french underpinnings). You want to come to meet her? She also just fit the Kardashians before the Royal Wedding if you want to pump her for juice?”

Quick Convo Between Two Journos

NPR’s Michele Norris: “Clyburn said he cringed when president made bredroom slippers comment because he feared it would overshadow rest of speech.”

PBS’s Gwen Ifill: “@michele_norris It has indeed been widely overlooked that the folks in the room at CBC didn’t seem to mind what POTUs sed.”

Drudge Whores: In a potentially new feature, we highlight journos who mention the attention they get from the God of Page Views…”Leading Drudge now (from @DailyCaller): NC governor sounded serious about suspending elections (AUDIO)” — The Daily Caller‘s Executive Editor David Martosko. Read here.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Is anyone an Amtrak Guest Rewards member? Is it worth my time to join? I feel like it is, but I need your support to feel whole inside.” — Politico web producer Alex Byers in a truly who gives a sh-t tweet of the day.

Um…WHO CARES? We can read TV Guide. Politico CLICK writes on actor Kelsey Grammer‘s new show, “Boss,” in which he plays a Chicago mayor with a brain disorder. He’s a Republican in real life. And that’s about all you need to know. Go ahead and torture yourself here.

A question probably best left unanswered… “Has anybody called you a racist yet today? If not, consider it done.” — The Daily Caller‘s Jim Treacher.

Brag Book: Politico‘s Alex Trowbridge is having a hell of a good week. First, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, during his Tuesday night speech, ordered everyone to go to Politico.com to watch Trowbridge’s video montage in which Christie repeatedly declares that he’s not running for prez. Then on Wednesday night, Jon Stewart discussed his video and ran Christie’s shout-out and a portion of the montage on The Daily Show. “It’s like a treasure hunt, I love it!” Stewart cracked with fake enthusiasm. “It’s like a live linking to another website. We’ll follow the clues and reveal the secret message!”