Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“woke” is the new caravan.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

We are aware of all internet traditions.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Bark louder, little dog.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

You cannot shame the shameless.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

When we show up, we win.

We still have time to mess this up!

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Fallows on the Froomkin firing

Fallows on the Froomkin firing

by | 52 Comments

This post is in: 

James Fallows is one of the very few establishment media voices I respect. Here’s his take on the Froomkin firing:

Are papers like the Post under suspicion for being too insidery and old-media-y? How does it make sense get rid of an independent minded, new media, presumably not-that-expensive, non-Washington-cliquey voice on politics and the media and leave… well, the full opinion and media lineup the Post is sticking with? Some people tell me that it’s a mistake to say that the Post’s editorial page (and the weight of its op-ed lineup) has “become” neo-con and establishment-minded under its current editor, Fred Hiatt; the argument is that this is the Post’s long tradition, which its anti-Nixon crusade concealed.

It’s obvious that the Post doesn’t care much what DFHs think. But I wonder if criticism from well-known journalists at Official Publications stings at all.

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    dr. bloor

    What is likely to sting is the loss of the eyeballs that Froomkin attracted to the Post site, as he was the only reason many D(But highly educated and with considerable disposable income)FH’s ever bothered to stop by.

    What a death wish.

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    Are papers like the Post under suspicion for being too insidery and old-media-y?

    It’s obvious that the Post doesn’t care much what DFHs think. But I wonder if criticism from well-known journalists at Official Publications stings at all.

    They don’t care. No one cares. The paper is tanking because the owners and the editors think they can keep doing the same thing – only harder – and it’ll all magically turn around for them.

    Criticism won’t change. Only the sting of lost revenue. And even then, it won’t REALLY start to sting until George Will misses his Christmas bonus or Fred Haitt can’t buy a new yacht.

    With all the conserva-cons on board, I wouldn’t be surprised if WaPo is getting a healthy dose of wingnut welfare keeping them afloat. Which means they’ll just go the way of the Moonie times in the end.

  3. 3.

    Atlliberal

    It’s almost as if the same people giving advice to the Republican party are giving advice to the Washington Post:

    “It will be a big boon if you fire your most popular columnist and hire Bill Kristol after he fails at your competitor.”

    Maybe next they’ll hire some Fox news reporters or some more talk radio hosts to raise the level of discourse.

    Idiots!

  4. 4.

    JL

    Fred Hiatt; the argument is that this is the Post’s long tradition, which its anti-Nixon crusade concealed.

    The Washington Post’s article today comparing Michelle to a fictional character was appalling. The one thing about Nixon, like Buchanen he was up front about his rascism.

    She serves as a symbol of middle-class progress, feminist achievement, affirmative-action success and individual style.And she has done all this on the world stage . . . while being black.

    Do we know that Michelle would not have achieved without affirmative action? But of course she did all this while being black.
    Fuck the Washington Post.

  5. 5.

    kth

    I imagine they were fairly happy with Froomkin as long as he was criticizing Bush, because that fits into a familiar left/right frame. But when he began to criticize Obama from the left, that simply blew what little there is of the WashPost’s minds. The idea that there could be someone to the left of Obama, let alone that his words would appear under the Post’s banner, is just unimaginable to them.

  6. 6.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Yeah the cutting loose of an important tie to new media is as significant here as the cutting loose of one of the small percentage of non-right wing voices they have.

    It reminds me of when the NYT tried the firewall thing and I thought oh good move, just when it’s taking over everything, cut your ability to get articles linked around the Web. Oy.

    Newspapers all seem so baffled by what’s happening, yet their actions in the entirely wrong direction are what’s causing half of the fail.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    It’s obvious that the Post doesn’t care much what DFHs think. But I wonder if criticism from well-known journalists at Official Publications stings at all.

    No.

    There’s a Jeffery Goldberg link from the Fallows piece in which Goldberg notes that he spoke with the WAPO editor about Froomkin.

    The editor, Fred Hiatt replied:

    The disappointingly dull truth is that the decision not to renew Dan’s contract–which was not made by me, but which I supported–was based on viewership data, budget constraints and judgments about how well the column was or was not adapting to a new era.”

    I wonder which column was adapting better to the new era.

  8. 8.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @kth:

    But when he began to criticize Obama Krauthammer from the left

    I’m convinced that’s what did it. Can’t prove it of course but the timing is damning.

    Regarding the criticism of Obama, yeah it’s interesting how all of the supposedly Obama-worshipping liberals are so up in arms about Froomkin getting fired when he was actually critical of the President. Another right wing stereotype bites the dust.

  9. 9.

    Balconesfault

    The current behavior by the Post makes me think a little differently about Cohen’s writings over the last few years.

    I wonder if there is some quota for right-wing pandering that each writer is required to maintain, lest they get banished. That would in some ways explain the behavior of Cohen … he has carried some particularly ridiculous right wing talking points, and when challenged on them he’s not ever mounted what one would consider an intellectual defense of them – but rather taken a whiny “liberals keep attacking me” tone.

    That sounds a lot like someone who is really throwing out those morsels just to invite criticism from the left – which he can then use to prove to his editors that he has value.

  10. 10.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Brachiator:

    I wonder which column was adapting better to the new era.

    Broder. Definitely. That young fella’s got his finger on the pulse of the new, you know, whatever.

  11. 11.

    cyd

    Krugman also just weighed in with a remarkable take on the Froomkin firing:

    As long as the right was in power, he was in effect the Post’s designated moonbat, someone who attracted readers but didn’t threaten the self-esteem of the self-perceived serious people at the paper. But now he looks like someone who was right when the serious people were wrong — and that means he has to go.

  12. 12.

    blahblahblah

    So, in whose interest was it to fire Froomkin? It’s not in the interest of the paper itself, as is clear given the popularity of his work. It can’t be in the long-term interest of other columnists and writers for the post, even if their views were given better representation in the paper in the short-term due to his having been fired.

    So, here we have an great example of corporate parents abusing a trusted brand for short term political gain at the expense of every employee in their hire. This shit just makes me want to puke, it’s so obvious.

  13. 13.

    kindness

    That question you were wondering: ‘if criticism from well-known journalists at Official Publications stings at all’.

    I’ve come to believe they only care about what the fellow circle jerker to their right or left think. While they may care about others farther off in the circle, anyone not in the circle isn’t of importance and they could care less.

    What really dismays me is the number of folks who at one point in their careers or other actually were reputable and now are completely absorbed into their incestuous little ivory tower world.

  14. 14.

    Legalize

    Krugman’s take seems pretty right on to me. It happens all the time:

    1. X does well;

    2. the organization does well;

    3. Y thinks that X doing well makes Y look bad;

    4. Y does everything he can to get X removed so that the organization can get back to thinking that Y is hot shit; and

    5. the organization goes downhill.

    It’s the business model of petty and stupid organization.

  15. 15.

    internetjoe

    Its another Nail in the newspaper coffin.

    was based on viewership data, budget constraints and judgments about how well the column was or was not adapting to a new era.”

    Judgments from elite wig heads about what works on the intertubes is more like it.

    They are happy to keep there heads in the sand. Soon all the MSM news will be RupieNews

  17. 17.

    burnspbesq

    @Zifnab:

    With all the conserva-cons on board, I wouldn’t be surprised if WaPo is getting a healthy dose of wingnut welfare keeping them afloat.

    Really? Seen any evidence of that in its SEC filings?

  19. 19.

    burnspbesq

    @JL:

    The irony here, of course, is that Michelle Robinson had it easier, as a minority woman student, at Princeton in the 1980s because she came in the footsteps of the minority women students who blazed that trail in the 1970s … people like [wait for it] Sonia Sotomayor.

  20. 20.

    ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©

    It’s not worth a lot of time trying to understand Fred Hiatt on a Machiavellian level.

    He’s just not very bright.

    I do believe he’s correct about the decision being made above his head. It was made by the same people who keep a dimwit like Fred in charge of the editorial page.
    ~

  21. 21.

    passerby

    @Brachiator:

    Thanks for that link. A bit OT but, Goldberg, in an effort to sift through Sullivan’s position(s) on Iran, summed up this way:

    But the idea that we should rush in and do something makes little sense at the moment. The overarching goal is to see the birth of a democratic Iran, not to make ourselves feel good, or get in the way.

    I haven’t been following the whole “how are we gonna act about Iran” controversy. I had no idea that it’s such a big issue.

    [That piece was something of a mish mash analysis of various legitimate stances on Iran. It went from looking at Sully’s POV to the editor’s quote which started out about Sully and ended with the Froomkin issue. Kind of a whirl but it seemed to cover all the angles.]

    The editor claims it wasn’t his call but that he agrees with it. I don’t expect that he would acknowledge that The WAPO has shot itself in the foot. My guess is that someone with Froomkin’s experience and popularity will easily find a venue to continue to air his thoughts and opinion.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Broder. Definitely. That young fella’s got his finger on the pulse of the new, you know, whatever.

    It is becoming painfully obvious that the media needs to bring in more younger (and younger-minded) reporters and correspondents. It’s not just a chronological age thing, but I was doing some channel surfing a while back and stopped on an episode of The McLaughlin Group. It was painful to watch this clueless bunch talking about media. John McLaughlin couldn’t understand why anyone would go the the InterTubes for news and information, insisting that people needed to have that newspaper delivered each morning, and needed to sit in their parlor in a comfy lounger and turn the pages of their beloved Daily Eagle, presumably while sipping tea or sherry and listening to ragtime music on the old Victrola.

  24. 24.

    Nellcote

    Since Froomkin was online ONLY, how much did it cost the WaPo to keep him? I second that it was Krauthammer behind the firing.

  25. 25.

    passerby

    @Balconesfault:

    That sounds a lot like someone who is really throwing out those morsels just to invite criticism from the left – which he can then use to prove to his editors that he has value.

    This is an interesting observation and I can easily imagine that that’s exactly the dynamic in play. These print folks are circling the drain, staying relevant would naturally be a big part of their survival modes.

  26. 26.

    Woodrowfan

    DFH?

    FWIW, the only reason we even get the Post anymore is that the Times is (for the time being) still far worse…

  27. 27.

    binzinerator

    @Zifnab:

    With all the conserva-cons on board, I wouldn’t be surprised if WaPo is getting a healthy dose of wingnut welfare keeping them afloat.

    I was kinda wondering if Froomkin’s firing was the quid pro quo for getting that wingnut welfare.

  28. 28.

    passerby

    @Brachiator:

    and needed to sit in their parlor in a comfy lounger and turn the pages of their beloved Daily Eagle, presumably while sipping tea or sherry and listening to ragtime music on the old Victrola.

    Heh…and don’t forget the quilted satin smoking jacket.

  29. 29.

    Little Dreamer

    @Nellcote:

    Well, I think that’s part of the clue. Froomkin was only online because I think WaPo was afraid to acknowledge that he was one of their own to their hand delivered newspaper’s subscribers. When things get tight, you get rid of the ones who matter the least first.

    As someone who used to work in the newspaper business, I can tell you that, at least four years ago, there was very little crossover between those who read the version cut from a tree and those who read the one illuminated by a monitor. I used to be in distribution management, I talked directly with customers and quite often got into discussions with them about internet availability. Granted I lived in a community filled with a lot of retirees, but the people I talked to wanted NOTHING to do with that “computerized newspaper” thing.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @passerby:

    A bit OT but, Goldberg, in an effort to sift through Sullivan’s position(s) on Iran, summed up this way: But the idea that we should rush in and do something makes little sense at the moment. The overarching goal is to see the birth of a democratic Iran, not to make ourselves feel good, or get in the way.

    There was a lot about this issue everywhere, including a lively thread here. Of course, the issue was largely made moot when it became clear that the Iranian protesters were asking for — and receiving — tangible assistance from outside Iran in getting news and pictures out. Someone noted in a column or blog, “Why do you think there are so many signs in English asking ‘Where’s My Vote?'”

    Damn, it was good so see living history bitchslap armchair foreign policy wags.

    These print folks are circling the drain bowl … and will soon end up flushed.

    Fixed.

  31. 31.

    Elroy's Lunch

    @Little Dreamer

    The WaPo has been THE family .newspaper that my parents turned to since they washed up in DC in the late 40’s as Capitol Hill Democratic political junkies. I cannot, to this day, convince my mother that the Post is no longer a “liberal” newspaper. But then she doesn’t use the internet…

    I gave up on on the Post a long time ago but is was Froomkin that kept me going back to them.

  32. 32.

    WereBear

    No one is bigger than the party.

    Or, in this case, the newspaper.

    Perhaps this shove, while with short-term mayhem involving being fired, will turn up something even better for Froomkin.

    I hope so.

  33. 33.

    MikeJ

    If I ever move back to DC, I will buy a raccoon coat, a pennant that says “State U” and a jalopy with “23 skidoo” painted on the side. I will be the hippest thing large parts of DC have ever seen.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @Little Dreamer:

    As someone who used to work in the newspaper business, I can tell you that, at least four years ago, there was very little crossover between those who read the version cut from a tree and those who read the one illuminated by a monitor. I used to be in distribution management, I talked directly with customers and quite often got into discussions with them about internet availability. Granted I lived in a community filled with a lot of retirees, but the people I talked to wanted NOTHING to do with that “computerized newspaper” thing.

    We may have a similar background (I worked in the newspaper business for a time), but I also used and helped beta test an early online news and information service, Prodigy. Some of the most adept users were retirees. They had time, disposable income to buy computers, and many of them were not only smart, but they had a curiosity about technology and also defined interests (sharing family recipes and sewing and quilting techniques and patterns, desire to find medical information, etc.) which helped them master the computer technology faster than people who just wanted to use the computer to play video games.

    Similarly, younger people who originally came to computers for games, music and videos gain knowledge and skills that keep them at the computer for other things, including news.

    My young niece and nephew have never known a time when computers and Blackberrys did not exist. This is bad news for anybody who wants to bet the farm on the continued existence of physical newspapers.

    Oh, yeah, and the use of Twitter and the InterTubes in Iran to bypass not only government restrictions but also mainstream news outlets should have newspaper editors either playing catch-up or looking for that early retirement option.

  36. 36.

    TenguPhule

    It’s the business model of petty and stupid organization.

    Or as we like to call it, American Capitalism.

  37. 37.

    JenJen

    O/T, but is Howard Kurtz just a completely naive entrenched village gossip, or am I completely missing his take on the Ensign-Fox story, as told by tweet??

    HowardKurtz:Fox producer blew it. But can’t accuse Fox of sitting on Ensign story when no one else there knew.
    4 minutes ago from mobile web

    Suited up for #nerdprom2 Why does tux makes grownups feel like they’re playing dress-up?
    19 minutes ago from mobile web

    Fox’s big worry when husband of John Ensign’s mistress sent a letter: that he was stalking Megyn Kelly. So did zip http://tinyurl.com/mtpfwf
    about 1 hour ago from web

    Fox did get email from husband of Ensign’s mistress day before senator went public, called, didn’t find him credible. Baaad call.
    about 5 hours ago from web

    Well, he is getting ready to go to NerdProm2, so I guess we can hardly expect him to really think too deeply about why Fox News spiked the Ensign story, not now. Maybe after the weekend, when the journalists are back to work!

    This man is a teenage girl, he really is. /howierant

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    Granted I lived in a community filled with a lot of retirees, but the people I talked to wanted NOTHING to do with that “computerized newspaper” thing.

    In the aggregate, it’s age, but what it really comes down to is whether you’ve shut down your brain or not.

    Some of the young people capable of texting in their sleep will become 50 or 60-year olds who refuse to have a chip in their head and will whine about it.

    When I moved to a very rural area (town I live in is 7,500, town I work in is 2,500) most of the people I called didn’t have answering machines. To the point where dental offices and the like would say, “Oh, we tried to call you, but we couldn’t reach you.”

    “I have an snwering machine. You could leave a message.”

    “Yeah, we couldn’t reach you.”

  42. 42.

    Little Dreamer

    @Brachiator:

    Well, I will also admit that the monetary demographic of the location I lived in was not normal by any standards either (and there was plenty of shopping, golfing and beach activities very close by). I met a lot of cyberphobic retirees who simply did not want to get involved with these newfangled electronic contraptions (perhaps the fact that I was in the south had a part in that, hmmmm!). Maybe it was just that the place I lived in felt like a permanent vacation resort. I can’t say why they were different from your clientele, but apparently they were.

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    I second that it was Krauthammer behind the firing.

    Pity that Richard Widmark is dead. He’d have known what to do with Doktor Kraphammer.

  45. 45.

    passerby

    @Steeplejack:

    “Jeeves, bring me the paper!”

    …and lets go ahead and complete the image with a pipe and a pair of slippers.

    I can soooo see McLaughlin fitting right into the scene.

  46. 46.

    JGabriel

    DougJ@ Top:

    I wonder if criticism from well-known journalists at Official Publications stings at all.

    I doubt it. If that were the case, it seems unlikely that they ever would have hired Billy Kristol.

    .

  48. 48.

    Napoleon

    Fallows is the gold standard of the media. He really is that good, and the only reason I have an Atlantic subscription.

  50. 50.

    ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©

    @MikeJ: I wouldn’t recommend that.

    Most of D.C. is not the media/lobbyist/politician d-bags you read about.

    It’s people who suffer from their decisions and presence. I know you’re kidding, but they/we (I still consider my hometown to be D.C., in spite of long absence) don’t even have a voting congresscritter.
    ~

  52. 52.

    PaulB

    In the aggregate, it’s age, but what it really comes down to is whether you’ve shut down your brain or not.

    Some of it, I think, is whether you’re satisfied with what you see on the news or read in the paper. A lot of us came online specifically to find stories and opinions that just weren’t available anywhere else. The MSM and its treatment of Clinton, for example, gave birth to such institutions as the late, lamented, MediaWhoresOnline, plus MoveOn.org and the granddaddies of the progressive liberal bloggers, Atrios and Kos.

    This is also true of the rabid right-wingers, although in their case it is because they aren’t reading daily front-page stories about Obama’s birth certificate, social ism, the Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Marxism, and the like.

Comments are closed.