Weekend understatement: “A Saturday free of news crises. #priceless” — USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page.

WHCD Prom Week begins with wrenching choice

“Okay I have two options for the WHCA dinner this Saturday and not one gown in hand. Oh No! I hope to have the one today. cross fingers.” — American Urban Radio’s Washington Correspondent April Ryan.

In a word: disturbing

“My mother is drunk texting me. So I guess I’m at the stage of life where that happens.” — Townhall Managing Editor Kevin Glass. Just out of curiosity, who else out there is in this “stage” with his or her mother?

The Eavesdropper

“Haha guy on this awful date literally just said ‘I love sandwiches.’” — BuzzFeed‘s Kate Nocera.

Driver splits from motorcade in Jerusalem

“We have the worst motorcade driver in recorded history here in Jerusalem. We are actually no longer in the motorcade.” — NBC News cameraman Jim Long, who was in Tel Aviv this weekend on travel with Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel.

Parents advised to avoid press

“Were told Boston suspects’ parents would give us an interview. Then they canceled, saying were ‘advised’ not talk to press for a few days.” — ABC News Moscow correspondent Kirit Radia.

Important Q to Ponder:  “Would WaPo’s Boston coverage be as good if Brauchli was still in charge?” — D.C. resident and avid tweeter Kevin Reiss, referring to Blanched Marcus Brauchli, WaPo‘s previous Executive Editor. The current executive editor is Marty Baron, former editor of The Boston Globe.

Online brawling

“Your right. I should delete you, asshole.” — Seattle’s Scott Omli to Townhall‘s Derek Hunter, who replied, “It’s you’re and you blocked me, so why are you still tweeting me?”

Tagg feels pinch of sequestration

“Waiting in an airplane at Logan. Captain said FAA said we have to wait an extra hour to leave because of sequestration. It begins.” — Tagg Romney, son of Mitt.

Words of wisdom from a TV journo’s obviously religious wife and a journo tries to put herself in shoes of the Suspect #2… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

WaPo

The publication has announced announced that Baron has been named executive editor of WaPo effective January 2, 2013.

Brauchli will step down on Dec. 31, and will step into a new role as VP of The Washington Post Company.

More on Baron…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“With Carlos Lozada‘s coming move to enterprise editor, we’re in the market for a new Outlook editor. Outlook is one of the signature pieces of real estate in The Washington Post, a vital element of the Sunday newspaper and a major source of new ideas and debates in the Washington, national and global conversation. Outlook tackles all subjects — from politics, economics and foreign policy to sports, the arts and pop culture. We want an editor who can build upon the success of the section to take it in new and ambitious directions. Opinion and analysis journalism is as ubiquitous as it is competitive. We need a big thinker, a skilled editor and a creative force who can imagine visual, print and digital content in all their possibilities. To edit Outlook you must be knowledgeable and/or interested in every conceivable topic; you must be able to look around the corner and anticipate where Washington debates are headed; you must have a bottomless well of possible contributors; you must be able to identify the great, simple idea lost in otherwise dense prose; you must know how to combine provocation and point of view with reporting and rigor. Editing experience is essential; opinion editing is useful but not required. We’re interested in hearing from anyone with a clear and compelling vision for what Outlook can accomplish. Former Outlook editor Steve Luxenberg has graciously agreed to serve as interim editor until a full-time replacement is chosen. Interested candidates — from inside or outside the newsroom — should contact Marcus Brauchli, Liz Spayd, John Temple, Shirley Carswell, or Peter Perl.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Makes us want to go on a question rampage. Namely, is this mere rumor or imminent? A story published this week by Washingtonian media writer Harry Jaffe, who has written at least a couple anti-WaPo management stories in his day, seems to think it’s just a matter of time before Brauchli gets blanched. Management formally denies that Brauchli is leaving anytime soon, but anonymous newsroom sources tell him the rumors are heating up and have been since the beginning of the year.

The headline: “Is Marcus Brauchli Soon to Be Out at the Washington Post?”

All in all, the short piece contains eight questions including the headline and takes stabs at who might replace Brauchli should he leave.

Might Washingtonian have more details on this soon? Will Brauchli read Jaffe’s story and start packing up his things or will he start throwing darts at his nifty Harry Jaffe office dartboard that he got in the last office Secret Santa gift exchange? Who knows?

We reached out to WaPo PR for comment. They promised to get check on Washingtonian‘s report and get back to us.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

One intern, Rosie Powers, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate, proceeded to introduce her new WaPo colleagues to their own CEO Don Graham. She told them he’s the son of Katharine Graham, explained who she was and misspelled her first name. Rosie committed no crime here. Nor did we “attack” this young woman or say she committed a “sin.”

But as usual, when we do what the rest of Washington’s journalism community does — which is, we dig, report, we get leaked documents — some went into an apoplectic uproar. FishbowlDC is “loathsome” remarked James Grimaldi, a longtime investigative reporter who recently took WaPo‘s buyout and is headed to the WSJ. 1. We’re quite certain that the self-righteous Grimaldi has been leaked documents once or twice in his career. 2. We’re sure he appreciated it. 3. We’re convinced he didn’t give a rat’s ass about the person in question’s feelings. A day earlier, NBC’s Luke Russert said FBDC had reached a “new low” and PBS’s Gwen Ifill appeared to second him, calling him a “good man” — apparently for writing that. For starters, we have a history of defending Luke when his enormous army of detractors writes to say what scum he is for riding his father’s coattails. Funny, he never saw fit to praise us for that. But more fittingly, Luke likely never considered the feelings of others when he interviewed ex-New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner last summer and nailed him on that Weiner underwear shot because everyone was doing it. By Luke and other’s standards, he probably should have thought about Weiner’s poor wife, Huma Abedin, or the innocent, unborn Weiner who hadn’t yet breathed his first weinerous breath.

Journalism is not about protecting people’s feelings. And in Washington when it’s not journalists being covered, it isn’t about feelings. When President Obama recently goofed and called Mitt Romney “George” which is his dead father’s name, the news cycle went wild. Was it petty? Maybe. Did family members get their feelings hurt? Who knows? No one cared. And when Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said first lady Michelle Obama had a large derriere in a private phone conversation, countless pubs (including and especially us) covered it. Were Michelle’s feelings on the line regarding the size of her rump? Again, it wasn’t an issue. But there’s a double standard. All reporting is fine as long as you’re dissecting the lives of government officials, their staffs and the White House. But dare to cover media in the same way that journalists here cover politics and that is preposterously off limits.

The outrage didn’t end with Grimaldi or Russert. WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten, who devotes much of his waking existence to poop, dubbed FBDC “petty” and called us “kindergarten muckrakers” who specialize in “phony” controversy. He spent actual time searching for FBDC stories he feels were particularly egregious. Meanwhile, Weingarten routinely calls up company administrators to harass them about a myriad of stupid things and then he writes about it. Half the time they don’t respond, the responses in his stories are blank spots and somehow this is considered humor. Meanwhile, FBDC is the lowest form of, to put in Weingarten terms, feces, out there. And for what? Getting leaked an odd piece of news about his own paper’s intern? Yes, suddenly there’s a huge moral problem here.

But what is more morally outrageous is the fragility with which this young woman, Rosie, is being treated by these longtime journos like Weingarten, Katharine Zaleski and Lauren Ashburn, Editor-in-Chief and founder of DailyDownload.com. They coddled her. Worse, they pitied her. Weingarten referred to her as a “kid.” Zaleski, formerly Executive Digital Director at WaPo, said an internship at WaPo was “preschool for interns” adding, “that’s what an internship is for.” She later said that was a typo and meant “press-school.” That’s SOME typo. Ashburn said this was “sad” that an “innocent” girl was being attacked. Russert, meanwhile, rode in on his white horse, saying, only “professionals” like him should be on the receiving end of supposed attacks. I’d like to think Rosie is well worth being considered a “professional” and not demean her as a weakling who needs swaddling. Whatever happened to grizzled editors who told you when your work wasn’t worth a damn? They cut your copy with brutal honesty and toughened you into being reporters who didn’t emote all day long. There were editors who killed your copy when it didn’t make sense. Or the ones who threw you out of their offices when you wasted their time with nonsensical chatter. Or the journalism profs who gave you big fat F’s for a single spelling error. Are today’s journalists expecting to have hands held and pacifiers in mouth every step of the way? Is the new mentality that media coverage must be gentle and Washington’s journalists must be protected from hurt feelings?

Seems the word “intern” caused some to go haywire this week as if the young woman’s age was reason enough to scrap the story. When a newspaper employs human beings, it is our beat to cover them, whether they are interns, reporters, editors or the blanched Marcus Brauchli himself. Chandra Levy was covered, but then again she was murdered and had been sleeping with a lawmaker. Monica Lewinksy, a low level White House aide, was covered. She gave the President a blowjob. What’s next, are reporters going to be forbidden from covering low-level staffers on Capitol Hill because they are fresh out of school? Next up: Jim Romenesko wrote a quick and dirty post wondering if FishbowlDC had reached a “new low.” His comments were minimal as is the Romenesko way. But he described what we wrote about Ms. Powers as “her sins” — his description not ours. Now there’s no doubt in our minds that Romenesko has never been leaked anything. To put the icing on the cake, The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox, who once made it her life’s mission to screw over many who helped her by giving them a good ass kicking on Wonkette, wrote in all caps, “Romenesko: HAS FISHBOWL REACHED A NEW LOW?” That’s rich, Ana. Call us when you get to that amends step.

Finally, where is the outrage for WaPo? Not only did they release internal documents about these youngsters to an entire newsroom of journalists, but they clearly didn’t carefully read what they had put out there. Or did they read it at all? WaPo Asst. Manager of Personnel Peter Perl wrote to say, “A new low today, picking on an intern. Really?” He didn’t bother with an email. He kept it all succinctly in the subject line. We certainly hope he’s coping in his paper’s post buyout haze with journalists leaving in droves this week and last. Maybe he was on a sugar high from all that goodbye caking? Clearly Perl wasn’t aware, but in a shocking twist of irony, WaPo went on Facebook this week to call for a public mocking of summer interns that they could meme-ify. They wrote, “Tell us about the questionable interns you’ve encountered and we’ll meme-ify your experience.” Urgent memo to Mr. Perl: Picking on an intern. Really? We’re not sure what’s worse — the word meme-ify or the fact that WaPo can’t apparently see its ass from its elbow or its own bullying mentality starting with Weingarten who devoted his entire Tuesday night to casting aspersions on FishbowlDC. Next Tuesday, Gene, we hope you will spend your evening doing something far more valuable such as changing the toilet paper roll or harassing a company spokeswoman. Let’s just hope she’s older than 22 and not an intern.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Politico

Dylan Byers, Politico‘s media reporter, wrote a post summarizing the whole thing. And it wasn’t vanilla. He laid out the criticisms, most of which were rather harsh against Politico, even writing about how Politico aggregated the work of the WaPo story VandeHei and Allen found to be biased.

“Allegations such as this led to a wave of criticism from outlets ranging from Talking Points Memo to GQ to the Washington Post’s media blog, as well as stern rebuttals from editors at both the Post and the Times.”

Byers requested comment from VandeHei, his boss, and Allen. Both declined (maybe they worried he’d twist their words?)… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Although the 10 or so journalists who attended agreed not to talk about the meeting, Adweek‘s Lucia Moses got someone yapping. Hills is one of three WaPo employees quoted in the story. He downplayed the importance of the meeting. The others: Executive Editor Steamed Marcus Brauchli and WaPo Ombudsman Patrick Pexton, neither of whom attended the apparently not so hush-hush meeting.

As the magazine states, if the goal was to get assurances that there would be no more cuts and to convince Hills that the newsroom needs more to produce the high-quality journalism and investigations it’s known for, they left disappointed. Question swirled around the fate of the investigations unit, a permanent group started by Bob Woodward in 1982 and a crown jewel of the paper.

Brauchli insists he is committed to investigative journalism and will not dismantle the unit. Pexton spoke of newsroom pressure to pick up the pace of reporting.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Finally. Our chance to rub elbows with WaPo‘s Executive Editor Steamed Marcus Brauchli. We cannot wait.

No crashers. This reception is private and invite-only.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Specifics of his duties…As WaPo‘s managing editor, Temple will run Local, Sports, Weekend, the Going Out Guide, Local Living, Food, Travel, Sunday Arts, Sunday Style, The Washington Post Magazine and Capitol Business. He joins managing editor Liz Spayd, who will continue to oversee the day-to-day plans for the newspaper and manage the National, Foreign, Business, Style, Investigative, Outlook, Health & Science sections and Universal News Desk.

Executive Editor Steamed Marcus Brauchli welcomes him on board with this eye-glazing, bone dry quote: “As a reporter and editor with decades of experience running local newsrooms and as a leader who has successfully launched a number of pioneering digital news projects, John’s background is ideally suited to the role he’s taking on at The Post. As a managing editor for The Post, John will ensure that the coverage we provide to our print and digital audiences is smart, original and acutely attentive to our audience. He’ll help us to build on the rapid growth we’ve enjoyed recently with readers who come to us through our website, on mobile devices, or through new platforms like the incredibly successful Washington Post Social Reader on Facebook.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

WaPo

Wemple, whose loose cannon tactics on this matter are being applauded within the newsroom, wrote that portions of Brauchli’s memo send a “destructive message.” In particular, the part that said the objective of the buyouts was to have “limited staff reduction that won’t affect the quality” of WaPo. Wemple interpreted that to mean that some employees are “dead weight” to upper management.

In an email to FishbowlDC, Wemple told us that Brauchli didn’t seem “bothered at all” by the language he used in his post. He said they had a “cordial” exchange and that Brauchli “reacted to what I wrote just the way you’d want an executive editor to react.” It’s worth noting that Wemple doesn’t report to Brauchli, but to Fred Hiatt in editorial.

Last May after Wemple joined WaPo as a media reporter, he said he wasn’t interested in writing about the publication anymore…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Some who attended the Town Hall style meetings yesterday at the newspaper found Exec. Editor Marcus Brauchli‘s comments too vague for comfort on this point. The bottom line: They want 48 employees to agree to the buyout, 33 will do. For now, this is voluntary. He hopes it will stay that way.

Reports are growing increasingly confusing as to who is eligible and who is not. In a few tweets, Ombudsman Patrick Pexton said that the Investigative Team wasn’t eligible for the buyout. He has corrected this to explain that, in fact, they are eligible. The way it works is this: There are seven employees on the Investigative Team. Up to three can take the buyout. But no one is being forced and maybe none will volunteer. The Post Guild website explains that some are exempt from the buyout altogether: “Certain departments, departmental units, and positions have been exempt from the buyouts, including Foreign, Sports columnists, Style columnists, Outlook, National enterprise and politics teams, and others. Part-timers and recent hires are also exempt.”

See the breakdown of of 33 positions being targeted after the jump…

For up to the minute information on the buyout ordeal, visit the guild website here.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Those employees who are offered the deal have 45 days to decide.

Interesting line from Brauchli: “We may turn down some volunteers if we feel their departure would impair our journalism. That said, it is important that we achieve real savings.”

Best example of corporate speak: “The exact details of the buyout, technically a voluntary Separation Incentive Program, will come later, after the company talks to the Guild about its proposed terms.”

Today at WaPo brass will hold two “Town Hall” meetings — one at 11 a.m., another at 4:30 p.m. to answer questions.

See the memo…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

But FishbowlDC sources are insisting that Flock was suspended last week for writing that post on GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney‘s using a KKK slogan in his speeches. Editors who oversaw the post insisted that she call Romney’s campaign for comment. She did so via email and the comment went to her spam folder, as reported by WaPo Ombudsman Patrick Pexton on Dec. 16. In his piece, Pexton gave Flock a public flocking on many levels — her journalism, her ethics and her common sense. He suggests that she pick up the phone once in a blue moon and use it. He also suggests she think before associating someone who has never been accused of racism with the KKK. Then this morning, weirdly, she writes about an 8-year-old American girl being targeted by Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. Coincidence perhaps?

Sources in WaPo‘s newsroom say word spread last week that WaPo had suspended Flock. She didn’t post anything last week, nor tweeted about anything work-related. But today she’s back on BlogPost. Was she on a regularly scheduled holiday or what some are calling a “forced vacation”? At WaPo Managing Editor Raju Narisetti‘s newsroom Q&A last week, he said experienced editors read the post before it went up and didn’t flag it.

Flock did not deny the news. But she responded to FBDC, saying, “Thanks for your email. I can’t comment on the matter. You will have to go through Marcus Brauchli.” Narisetti, who oversees the entire website operation,  also wouldn’t comment. “Happy holidays,” he said in response. “As you might imagine, I can’t comment on personnel issues.” To that end, we sought comment from WaPo Director of Communications Kris Coratti. We also threw in an email to Executive Editor Steamed Marcus Brauchli for kicks and will check our spam filters pronto. We’re hoping four’s a charm.

UPDATE: Coratti wrote, “We don’t comment on personnel issues. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to WaPo‘s poverty and wealth reporter Annie Gowen. A few things to note about her: She’s a Bachelor junkie, as in the reality show starting back up again on Jan. 3. In addition, she’s got a screenplay about a cancer survivor that’s currently being shopped around Hollywood. It isn’t easy getting Annie to meet a FishbowlDC deadline — a little sharpness (on our part, not hers) shifted her into high gear and she got it done, with flying colors we might add. One more thing…we’re sure your big boss Steamed Marcus Brauchli won’t take offense that you ditched him for MSNBC’s Chris Matthews as a dinner companion. At least we hope not.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be? Diet Dr. Pepper – the ultimate Midwestern drink.

How often do you Google yourself? Hardly ever, but I check Google “Images” sometimes to make sure it looks like I’m behaving in party pix.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)? “You’re throwing me under the bus!”

Describe the unforgettable story of your career. Troop drawdown in Iraq, Summer of 2011

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? George Packer of The New Yorker. He writes with an eye toward history in unbelievably lean and muscular sentences.

Do you have a favorite word? Hmmm..that’s a toughie. Sometimes I say “Hi Foxy” to my female friends.

What word or phrase do you overuse? See above.

Who would you rather have dinner with –  MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, FNC’s Chris Wallace or WaPo’s Marcus Brauchli? Since I see MB at the office, I’d have to say Chris Matthews, because we’ve never met and I’m a fan.

You are ordered to go on a road trip to an undisclosed location. You can go with White House Spokesman Jay Carney or Bo, the President’s Portuguese Water Dog. No ones feelings will be hurt. Who do you take? Jay.

What’s the name of your cell phone ring? Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable”.

It’s 3 a.m. and you get up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Do you check your BlackBerry? Yes, alas.

What word do you routinely misspell? Attach…always seems like there should be an extra “t.”  Is there?

What swear word do you use most often? The S word.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Washingtonian

It’ll be a husband and wife war of the roses kind of column called “Ask Harry & Louise.” Apparently they don’t always agree on everything?

The launch was this morning at 10 a.m. and involves a married woman who spends a little too much time on the side with a guy named “Dan.” Harry discusses “brain sex” and trust. Louise gets all organized about it, columns and all. Read here.

An email dispatch explains,”We have been fielding your questions and tussling over the answers for months. Now we have columns to get us through November. In a nutshell, we will distinguish our advice from others — Savage Love, Dear Prudence, Carolyn Hax, etc. — by offering two distinct answers: Louise’s reasonable voice; Harry’s rash response. A twofer! We will not be giving up our day jobs any time soon. Louise will teach; I will write.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.