Comments on: Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell: Taking a Shortcut?

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:14:11 +0000

I'm curious: Now that you've had a chance to read the Deborah Howell column, Mr. Wemple, who do you think took the more egregious shortcut? The ombudsman looking for advice from reporters or you in posting her e-mail and calling it her taking a shortcut?

By: thefrontpage

thefrontpage — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:24:03 +0000

That's not a shortcut--that's reporting. When you report, you ask people for input. Any reporter, author, writer, researcher, does exactly what Deborah is doing. It's called reporting. It is not a short-cut. You owe Deborah, who is a very good Ombudsman, an apology.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:19:01 +0000

You should care about it, Dave, because it shows just how much more petty the City Paper becomes with each passing day. Instead of maybe waiting on the ombudsman column to come out, Wemple would rather assume that Howell is taking a shortcut. Instead of trying to find out how often Howell asks her newsroom colleagues for input on her column (probably quite often, considering what she writes about), the City Paper would rather pat themselves on the back for this "scoop." It's kind of sad. Especially considering the shortcuts that appear on this blog every day. Including this silly post.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:56:56 +0000

And I should care about this because...