In the writeup, Pexton compliments the paper, the reporters, the copy editors and management profusely. He insists people should have compassion for those tasked with making tough calls where layoffs are concerned. But one line that jumped out at us as odd in Pexton’s farewell was the following, perhaps unintentional, kick in the pants that he sandwiched in right after thanking Post Co. chief executive Donald Graham and Publisher Katharine Weymouth for never interfering with what he wrote.

“And readers, you should know that, although the future Post may not look like the present Post, the commitment of Graham and Weymouth to the survival of this publication is ironclad.”

Whoa! Survival? continued…

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And yet, guess which hometown publication had NOTHING on it? If you guessed WaPo, you’d be right. So much for local news. Right, Marty Baron, who is apparently crazy for local news, doesn’t start until January 2, 2013.

The order of reportage is as follows: The news first broke on a Cleveland Park listserv and was then reported by Popville, which covers D.C., on Dec. 14 at 3:50 p.m. Washington City Paper ran a story that same day at 7 p.m. but gave no credit to Popville. A site known as Nibletz also ran something that day — no specific time stamp. NBC Washington waited until that following Monday, a gargantuan three days after Popville, to run anything. They, too, gave no credit to the previous publications that had stories.

Why the lack of coverage by WaPo? continued…

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At the end of her story Flock added a line saying she used to work at WaPo and had been the subject of a FishbowlDC item. So we wondered, what could that have possibly been? A simple revolving door job announcement or something more sinister?

From the tone of Flock’s incredible Ass Kissing Expedition of her former colleague, WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten, we assumed the latter. In her story she glorifies him and writes about how he “berated” us, calling us “petty” and “cruel” and “crappiest.” We responded, pretty tamely at that, saying that self righteousness didn’t suit him well, and that translated into we  “don’t take criticism well.”

In her story, Flock conveniently leaves out key information, which is that WaPo recently issued a request for readers to — get this! — mock interns. You’d think this would be a vital detail considering that is what had gotten Weingarten all whipped up into such a lather about FBDC. WaPo asked readers to send in their “questionable” experiences with summer interns so that they could meme-ify them. Nope, that wasn’t relevant to Flock at all. Or maybe Flock’s editors over at U.S. News & World Report were taking a snooze.

Wouldn’t be the first time that Flock had editors who didn’t read her work carefully. In December of 2011, Flock was sent on a forced vacation from WaPo after she wrote a post on Mitt Romney using a KKK slogan in his speeches. The headline: “Mitt Romney is using a KKK slogan in his speeches.” Pretty big story, right? But he never did such a thing AT ALL. Editors insisted that she write the Romney campaign for comment. She said the comment went to her Spam folder. She also posted a Romney campaign ad that was not actually a Romney campaign ad. At the time, Ombudsman Patrick Pexton, as we reported, gave her a public flocking for her journalism, ethics and common sense.

Now we understand Flock’s half-assed report on our WaPo‘s intern story and her need to paint FBDC in a less than favorable light. She has a history of that sort of thing and we can’t wait to follow more of her “work” at U.S. News & World Report. Nothing personal, Liz. Hope you take the criticism well. We’re just glad you didn’t call us Nazis.

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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.

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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.

continued…

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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.”

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WaPo

In fact, he says it wasn’t a “briefing” at all. That’s what Klein declared. That’s what three Democratic chiefs of staff with whom he spoke said. Case closed, right?

Maybe. But not so fast. In Pexton’s story published late Friday afternoon is the news that the briefing (or whatever people are calling them these days) was in fact a “private meeting” of Democratic chiefs of staff to discuss “strategy, coordination and policy.” At some point they supposedly stopped the “private strategy meeting” and invited in Klein. Did they pound a gavel and declare, “Strategy Session Over” and let Klein in the thick wooden doors? It’s so normal, they say, that they’ve done this in the past, with WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza or NBC’s Chuck Todd. Interesting to note that neither Cillizza nor Todd came forward when Klein was being criticized for participating in the so-called non-briefing and non-strategy session. One chief of staff, however, declares the idea that Klein would “brief” them as “absurd.”

The ombudsman notes that Klein’s blurred role as a reporter whose opinionated work appears on WaPo‘s news pages is something that bothers his colleagues and “makes reporters in the Post newsroom, and readers, uncomfortable.”

Pexton’s report adds up to a whole lot of new, unanswered questions. If the briefing/strategy session/séance is so innocent, why are the contents still a mystery? Klein says the meeting was a way to develop sources, something all reporters in Washington do. But talking with a group of Senate aides who have supposedly blended a strategy session into a undisclosed off-the-record meeting with a reporter in the Capitol? That is not something all reporters do.

“Evil” may be overkill and not a word we’ve ever used to described Klein. We’ll reserve that for Gargamel (the sworn enemy of the Smurfs) and Osama Bin Laden. But unusual and likely unethical behavior for a reporter, aides and WaPo? Now that’s right on target.

Read Pexton’s story here.

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Edwin Chen

The only thing WaPo can be commended on here is allowing their Ombudsman, Patrick Pexton, to bluntly critique the incident on Tuesday afternoon. Three cheers for Pexton. He wrote, “His mistake may seem minor in the grand scheme of things. But in the context of this town, it is almost unforgivable. The words are similar enough, sure — natural and national — but if you’ve spent any time in D.C., you know that the NRDC is about natural resources, not national resources.” He even got a former colleague to explain how abysmal WaPo‘s copy editing department is. Read the full slashing here.

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WaPo

In explanation, just because the bureaus are closing does not mean the various regions won’t be covered. Rather, there will be no bureaus from which to work, a point some WaPo journalists are contending stems from their ongoing local focus, as tweeted today by NYT Social Media Editor Liz Heron: “News that WaPo closing most local bureaus comes after years of focusing resources on local. Motto was ‘For & about Washington’.”

WaPo Ombudsman Patrick Pexton is reportedly looking into the matter. He tweeted about an hour ago, “Checking on report that Post is closing regional MD and VA bureaus, except Richmond and Annapolis. Cost cutting. More later.”

Developing…

Friends,
As some of you have probably heard already — and as has been rumored for some time — the Post has decided to shut down all of its regional bureaus except those in the state capitals of Virginia and Maryland. Vernon, in a telephone conversation a little while ago, said that the Post’s leases on suburban bureaus will not be renewed after they expire, beginning in 2012, except in Richmond and Annapolis, which he said will “never” close. Vernon also says that although this is obviously another sign of the Post’s effort to grapple with the economy and the radical changes in the media business, the closure of the physical buildings does not mean that the Post will reduce its local coverage. He emphasized that the Post remains committed to covering our region as aggressively as possible. To that end, he said he will also do everything in his power to use some of the savings from the closure of the bureaus to invest in better mobile technology for reporters. We’ll try to update you further as we hear more. Please remember as we head into this Labor Day weekend that more than ever, tough times require a strong union, and we are only as strong as you are. As the Post continues to shrink, the Guild needs every person it can to become a dues-paying member.
Best,
Freddy

We’ve written WaPo Publicist Kris Coratti for comment.

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We expect nothing short of masterful observation from our thriving hometown paper ombudsman here in Washington.

In that case, was Sunday’s piece by WaPo‘s Patrick Pexton a letdown or not?

On one hand, perhaps channeling talk show host Tyra Banks in a column about whether the publication has recently been offensive to first ladies is not the best way to go. And sure, maybe it is not the most highbrow way to reach a tightly wound Washington audience when you’re talking about gender and journalism, which tends to attract a prickly gaggle of women to begin with.

At issue are a recent blog post on first lady Michelle Obama’s 1,700 calorie-jaunt to Shake Shack in Dupont Circle and a story by new WaPo columnist and Jezebel founder Anna Holmes in which she talks about Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush like they were Kardashians. There’s Nancy’s love of astrology and Barbara being “dowdy.” Pexton interviews Holmes for his piece and she says she was being “honest” and declares, “I don’t regret doing it.”

An excerpt from Pexton’s column: “The wives of our presidents walk in a minefield of expectations — the first lady is supposed to be the nation’s unroyal queen, its top hostess, a fashion plate at the same time as a child rearer, a career woman and an issue crusader, plus the eternal earth mother, strong yet nurturing, kind to all yet with a backbone that can bolster her man.”

Really, Mr. Ombudsman. Her man? You mean, her main man, main squeeze, POTUS?

On the other hand, maybe this is a sign of a new, loose WaPo, with the ombudsman flipping back and forth on what’s appropriate. While writing in the voice of Tyra, he declares that Holmes went too far and there were other, ahem, more interesting facets to the first ladies such as Bush’s literacy campaign (Zzzz) and Nancy’s “steely support” for her husband (Zzzzzzz).

After enumerating various complaints from uptight readers about why WaPo editors fell asleep on the job, he concluded that the Shake Shack story was perfectly acceptable. “A little tabloidy, invasive and sexist? Well, yeah. But given Michelle’s child nutrition advocacy, a story not completely out of bounds.”

Thanks Tyra.

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WaPo

As Alexander was largely sharp in his criticism of The Post, Pexton’s first article is glowing in its praise of the paper’s Egypt coverage. He starts with the story of WaPo photographer Linda Davidson, who was detained and interrogated in Egypt while attempting to take pictures of a Cairo morgue.

Pexton writes: “The Post‘s coverage of the turmoil in the Middle East has been exemplary because people like Davidson are risking their lives to bring readers the images and words of revolution.”

To his credit, he acknowledges the positive nature of his first column: “I’m sure some readers will worry that my first column as the Post‘s ombudsman is positive. But I think good work should be praised. Emulation of the good improves a publication as much as avoidance of the bad, about which I’ll have plenty of occasion to write.”

A note: WaPo‘s Ombudsman Blog still very much belongs to Alexander. The masthead features his picture despite his leaving the position last month and the tagline of the blog still says “Andrew Alexander gives voice to reader concerns about The Post.” The blog hasn’t been updated since January. Get on it, WaPo.

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WaPo

As ombudsman, Pexton will represent readers who have concerns on a variety of topics including accuracy, fairness, ethics and the news-gathering process and will serve as an internal critic for Washington Post journalism. He will respond to readers through columns in the newspaper, the Ombudsman blog and social media.

Pexton’s two-year term with The Post begins March 1.

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