To wit: Last week marked the first anniversary of the meanest, most polarizing, and most irresistible political label in recent D.C. history: "Myopic little twits," Milloy's term for the young, white gentrifiers he identified with recently defeated mayor Adrian Fenty. A year later, with a new mayor in City Hall—and a coterie of senior officials with far fewer myopic little twits among them—I asked chocolate city's ace metro columnist to reflect on his contribution to the District political dictionary. No, he doesn't have any regrets:

Yeah, another year and the Myoptic Twits are older, blinder and wise-asser. I did notice that a few volunteered to help spruce up some DCPS buildings before classes began. So miracles do happen. The rest of them seem more interested in bringing a 19th century flava to the city, with their gas lamps and trolley cars. Then again, when you're on their side of the wealth gap, inheritance gap, employment gap, education gap, you can act like landed gentry. But Im not hatin'. In fact, what I'd like to do in this next year is team up with DCist for a Myo-Twit public safety campaign. Tell these folks that if they want more Bike Share they could at least learn how to ride the damn bike, stop weaving in and out of traffic. Car bumpers are harder than their butts if not their helmetless heads. Hey, I just want them to live to see another birthday.

And that, my friends, is why Milloy is so freaking great.

Meanwhile, Milloy's column this morning goes after President Barack Obama: "Now that the presidential campaign season has begun, it’s okay for President Obama to openly court black people again," he scoffs. Obama, of course, is known for having a dog, liking nice restaurants, being a prolific social media presence, and even, on occasion, riding a bike. Could it be that Milloy's latest target is America's first Myopic Little Twit President?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Courtland Milloy, Post columnist and Washington City Paper cover subject, doesn't quite buy the right-wing Heritage Foundation's take on poverty in America:

A study released this year by the Heritage Foundation argues that living in poverty isn’t as bad as most of us imagine. Indeed, from the way poverty is portrayed by the conservative think tank, you’d think that the average poor person was actually living large.

“Poor children actually consume more meat than higher-income children consume, and their protein intake averages 100 percent above recommended levels,” wrote Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, authors of the study: “Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today?”

“In fact,” they continued, “most poor children are super-nourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.”

Who knew? Good thing, too, since so many poor children end up fighting our wars.

It is incredibly difficult to overstate how ridiculous the Heritage report is.

The authors ignore the very real effects of poverty on people who grow up in it: lack of access to good education, increased obesity due to crappy food, a shorter lifespan, more incidences of domestic partner violence, more unwanted pregnancies, less preparation to enter the workforce, etc, etc.

Instead, they focused on the so-called "amenities" that poor people have in their homes, and compared the poor in the U.S. to the poor in other countries. And sure, people living in Barry Farm obviously have it "better" than someone living on $400 a year in a Southeast Asian nation, but in America—which is where the poverty numbers the government publishes are based—a refrigerator is a fairly basic life necessity.

But according to Heritage, the poor are pretty well off because the median poor household has a cell phone and two color (!) TVs in the home. Never mind that, again, cell phones are often a household's only phone (and therefore also its only way for employers to reach them), or that cable TV is often the way to get on the Internet, or that a television is a cheap, basic part of American life, and poor folks deserve some entertainment—especially when going to the movies is expensive, and playing safely outside isn't always a viable option.

About one in five District residents is living in poverty these days. Maybe the folks going to work every day in the Heritage Foundation building by Union Station don't encounter them, but they're here, and as Milloy rightly points out, they might not agree that having a TV makes them rich.

Photo by Global X via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

After revving up a new Twitter account—@Courtland51—on Friday, it didn't take him long to get going. As of Tuesday afternoon, he'd racked up 43 tweets, was following 138 fellow users, and had collected 255 followers.

But Milloy isn't sure he likes it. Asked what he thinks about his experience via email, he's bitingly impish:

Well, to be frank, I still cant get past the name of the thing—no matter how it's conjugated: i tweet, he twit, she got twitter twat...i see stuff like that scrawling along my "twitter feed" and I start feeling like CIA trying to break spy code. But I'll be damned if I let those millennials think I cant keep up.

The scribe once associated the time-sucking tool with D.C. gentrifiers instead of spies, inspiring him to famously dub the social media platform's local devotees "myopic little twits."

But complete about-faces be darned, after taking a mandatory social media class at the Post, Milloy announced he was planning on becoming a twit himself. He wanted to confront gentrifiers on their own turf, he said. The "myopic eyeballs that have been twittered shut to the real world will be pried open so wide they'll need new facebooks," he declared.

Milloy is sort of on mission, tweeting out at least one myopic-twit-baiting missive: ”seriously, the main reason im on twitter is to track millennials & find out if they do anything in dc other than party and gentrify." But for the most part, like most those of us who use Twitter, he spends time trolling for followers ("i need a follower. what if i call myself moses?," he asked) and being clever ("so im new to twittin right? and i got these questions, like: if i follow everybody who follows me, do we go in circles? just wonderin.'")

Though he's one of the city's most ornery figures, I'm predicting that what will be most interesting about Milloy's Twitter feed won't be Milloy. When he's written his most controversial words about race and class in the District, the comments have piled up below the online version of his column. With Milloy on Twitter any future venting will likely migrate there, where the writer and his critics can work things out 140 characters at a time.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

'HFS, Back On The Air: Nostalgia cycles move ever faster these days, so it's no surprise that we're currently living through a full-blown '90s revival period. (If only the economy would follow suit.) Which means the news that WHFS is returning to over-the-air broadcast was probably inevitable. It'll be on 97.5 FM out of Baltimore, not 99.1 in Annapolis (which is still El Zol, siempre de fiesta), but a focus on '90s alternative rock will surely have listeners expecting to hear Johnny Riggs, The Weasel, and Damian Einstein between Smashing Pumpkins hits. Instead, they'll have to settle for Gina Crash and Dr. Drew's syndicated Lovelines. +2

The Donald Haunts Us Still: The rest of the country has blessedly forgotten all about Donald Trump and the ludicrous idea that he might one day run for the White House; President Barack Obama's combo punch in May (release birth certificate, mock Trump at black-tie dinner, announce Osama bin Laden's death) pretty much sent him packing. Here in the District, though, we're not so lucky. Trump's team is still nosing around the Old Post Office Pavilion, hoping to turn it into a luxury hotel with a spa and a museum (run, as earlier reported, by Ivanka Trump, The Donald's daughter). No word on whether the museum would be a museum of Trumpiana. -1

Five Guys And Counting: Recalling the days when getting a Five Guys burger required any special effort to find an outlet is harder and harder. The chain expanded out of its northern Virginia home base the way Ernest Hemingway once described going broke: Slowly, then all at once. Not that anyone's worried about the burger joint going broke any time soon. Word now is that it's the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the nation, according to Stores Magazine's annual "Hot 100" list. Coincidentally, its patrons are also some of the fastest-growing people in the country. +2

Now Officially Myopic: Getting Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy on Twitter took a few stages. First, there was the "bash the people on this thing" stage. Then, the "take a mandatory class on social media at the Post" stage. But by Friday afternoon, the "is this thing on?" stage had officially begun, as Milloy broadcast a call for followers. Sign up, you won't be disappointed. +2

Friday's Needle rating: 46 Today's score: +5 Today's Needle rating: 51

The big news of the week, so far, is the imminent arrival on Twitter of Courtland Milloy, the Washington Post columnist who declared in September that Adrian Fenty-voting, bike lane-commuting, fancy restaurant-dining yuppies who use social media are "myopic little twits."

Milloy told Washington City Paper's Rend Smith that he's been taking Post-mandated social media training and was looking forward to joining: The "myopic eyeballs that have been twittered shut to the real world will be pried open so wide they'll need new facebooks."

But he also said he wants to use the Twitter handle @gigabyteme, which someone else already has. We asked for suggestions for other names Milloy could use on Twitter the other day. Commenters suggested a few:

• @PGMeddler or @CrotchetySuburbanite—Mrs. D
• @CM_Ward9—Anon and On
• @PGCtwit—Rake
• @GrouchyOldMan or @HatersgonnaHate–Keith

Which one's your favorite? Got other suggestions? Leave them in the comments, and maybe Milloy will take heed.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Myopia Spreads: Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy apparently couldn't beat Twitter; he's decided to join it, instead. The Post has Milloy and other writers taking social media training classes, and the man who coined the phrase "myopic little twits" will become one, himself, next month. Milloy says he may use the handle @gigabyteme, but alas, it's taken. What should he pick instead? Leave ideas in the comments. +2

Will Post For Profit: Speaking of the Post, it's become increasingly clear in recent years that the company that owns it is a for-profit education and test prep firm that happens to have a newspaper on the side. Which is why it's not entirely surprising to learn that the family of CEO Don Graham sold about $10 million in Post company stock a few days after regulations on its education arm, Kaplan, were loosened. Graham reportedly helped lobby for the regulations. Company officials say he didn't sell any of his own stock, and that he didn't benefit from the sale. But with capital gains like that, maybe the Post can afford to give its writers decent raises. (Not that we've had any around here lately, either.) -2

John Galt, Metro Rider: Public transportation funding may not be popular with the Tea Party, but public transportation itself? Still okay. At least, that seems to be the lesson from Kentucky's Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a self-proclaimed libertarian and, apparently, dedicated Metro passenger. Presumably he stayed away from the Green line. Still, we won't hold our breath for Congress to help Metro out financially any time soon. +1

Faster, Fenty, Faster!: Since leaving his job as D.C. mayor, not entirely of his own volition, Adrian Fenty has been busy. He's gone to Chile, he's declared Republican labor policies make sense, and he's run some races in exotic locales. And it turns out all the practice—and the weight he probably managed to shed by ditching some of his city-issued BlackBerries—helped: He finished 37th among "elite male" competitors in yesterday's D.C. Triathlon. Also, he's managed to get more popular in the District—proving that absence may, indeed, make the heart grow fonder. +1

Friday's Needle rating: 62 Today's score: +2 Today's Needle rating: 64

Brace yourself, D.C.: Courtland Milloy is learning Twitter.

The fiery Washington Post Metro columnist says his newspaper editors have been putting him through a "social networking tutorial," that he's almost done with it, and that his Twitter account launches in July.

The tutorials aren't just for Milloy, says the Post's deputy local editor for digital Jane Elizabeth, though he 's part of an early group. "Everybody is going to go through it sooner or later," says Elizabeth. Elizabeth says the classes have been aimed at pointing out how social media can help reporters. Afterward, the reporters "decide how best to use those tools."

Milloy is an unlikely candidate to be an early Twitter adopter. Way before the New York Times' Bill Keller declared Twitter "the enemy of contemplation," Milloy called its D.C. users "myopic little twits." In an interview for a Washington City Paper cover story ("What's Tweeting Courtland Milloy?"), I asked Milloy what he thought of the Twittersphere he'd skewered, along with other trappings of the District's newly-arrived young, white, professional class; he he assured me it just wasn't his thing. “Sounds perverted," he said mockingly. “Follow me on Twitter, and watch me tweet...”

At the time, it was obvious that Milloy's ire wasn't about the social media platform itself, but about the intersection of two phenomenons Milloy has angrily assailed: gentrification and digital vitriol.

Having seen "Chocolate City" at its zenith, Milloy is furious over gentrification. He believes black residents are on a forced march out of the city—and the age of anonymous digital relationships that give way to ubiquitous hostility disguised as conversation grates at him, as well. He's called comments on the Post website "vitriol," and has indicated to me that that they're often abusive (if sometimes profitable): “I get disturbed because the reality is a person who makes a comment and calls me a nigger, that’s still an ad man’s click.” To Milloy, despite the fact that Twitter users are disproportionately black, the platform is the way in which white newbies and digital vitriol most readily meet.

But that Milloy has put this concern away for now, and is becoming twitterized, is good news. That's not because it will bring any resolution to the Milloy v. Twitter slugfest, but because a more personal and animated conversation between Milloy, his detractors, and supporters is bound to be informative for everyone.

In an email, Milloy says the move is designed to meet twits on their own turf: The "myopic eyeballs that have been twittered shut to the real world will be pried open so wide they'll need new facebooks."

I don't agree with the racial hyperbole that sometimes shows up in Milloy's column, but as I argued in November, as the id of an older black generation in D.C., the often blow-back-baiting Milloy is a valuable District asset. Twitter is likely to only increase his worth.

Milloy says he's batting around the idea of making his Twitter handle @gigabyteme, a name he picked up from "one of those millenials." Though Elizabeth says the Post "isn't like, 'Here are our rules,'" she does think Milloy will probably need to find a different name. "I think we would probably not recommend that," she says. "We tend to be more transparent."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Courtland Milloy

The Washington Post's comments section has attracted a lot of folks who'd rather never be reminded that "wounded knee" can have a meaning beyond Chris Cooley's recent surgery.

The poster going by "Eman8" offered a typical critique of Milloy's piece: "Another plea to change the name of the Redskins. How about an article titled "it's time to give up trying to change the name of the Redskins?"

Good for Milloy for not letting the issue die. The name's gonna change, after all.

On a related note, Sam Bradford is being called "the second best rookie quarterback of the past 25 years."

No question, the Redskins coulda used that redskin!

I can say that, right?

A recent piece on The Root mentions my question to profile subject and Washington Post Metro columnist Courtland Milloy for a story in last week's dead tree version of the Washington City Paper: Whether the well-known, and lately Obama-taunting, writer likes white people. Root editor Natalie Hopkinson figures out one reason I asked: "Even though Smith is black, I don't doubt that he was accurately channeling some urgent wonder among the Twitterati," she writes.

That's definitely true, but it also goes a bit deeper. As I point out in the piece, Milloy has often done a fantastic job relaying the kind of D.C. barbershop discourse on gentrification many non-black residents might otherwise miss out on. The assumption that he's just not fond of whites can end up being the elephant in the room, though, and an easy way out for those who prefer to treat his admittedly rabble-rousing analysis as nothing more than a collection of bigoted rants. In light of that, neglecting to ask Milloy how he felt about white people—as uncomfortable a moment as it might have created—would have been a disservice to both the "Twitterati" and Milloy.

It wasn't exactly the first time he'd heard such an inquiry, anyway. The impression I got hanging out with Milloy was that he gets prodded about his racial outlook fairly frequently. It's also interesting to note that the question bore fruit. Milloy didn't just reply with a simple, "Of course I do," but with a long, expository answer that provided insight into both his amiable, humanistic side, and his angry, fed up side.

Glancing at the comments on a blog post in which The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates responds to the Milloy profile, people seem to be ready to have a substantive debate about Milloy unencumbered by the charge that he's a racist, but cognizant of the fact that he's angry.

I'd ask the question all over again, given the choice to go back. As I said in the article, my theory is that as racism grows weaker as an institution, it'll grow stronger as a psychological tick. I'm somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to addressing that disorder, relying heavily on the psychoanalytic remedy of bringing things that simmer in the unconscious mind into consciousness. Or rather, in this case, turning the thoughts that remain unsaid within our typical public conversation on race into a meandering cover story.

In any event, Hopkinson does a good job boring into some of the issues the profile brings up, and you should check out her observations.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Just before midnight, Washingtonians worked their “re-tweet” magic on Twitter and the “share” button on Facebook, expressing outrage over the latest Courtland Milloy op-ed in the Washington Post, in which Milloy animatedly breaks down what was wrong with the Fenty administration. Milloy’s non-spoon fed, non-sugar coated attitude is indeed not for the naïve or timid at heart when it comes to discussing the elephant in the room in the District's politics: race and class. It's a “fuck you and good riddance” to Adrian Fenty, Peter Nickles, and Michelle Rhee.

To some, it came across as very divisive, and unhelpful to the healing effort to unite the city. But was it meant to be a divisive piece? Or was he just stating a harsh reality, a truth that hurts because the city’s would-be savior—armed with his Blackberries, personal business cards, and flanked with his partners in crime (pun not really intended)—failed us, and that's is a tough cookie to swallow?

While airing out some of Fenty’s offenses—snubbing respected figures Dr. Dorothy Height and Maya Angelou, closing shelters, and firing city employees—Milloy gets sarcastic by calling Fenty supporters the “creative class” of “myopic little twits” that occupy chic new eateries and take to social media networks to defend their guy and his sidekicks. Perhaps the real kick to the gut was Milloy mocking the “world class system” headed by Rhee that, in Milloy's telling, might only succeed by excluding low-income black families pushed out of the city by gentrification. He also suggests that Fenty’s administration had all the makings of a Fascist enterprise, with its eerie similarity to “the old antebellum system of control, which featured a chairman for public works, which is what Fenty was, in essence; a chairman with expertise in legal maneuverings, Nickles; and a chairman for education and welfare issues, Rhee."

As if to prove Milloy's point about social media, angry citizens took to Twitter to air their grievances about Milloy.

@bogrosemary: "@grayformayor: “please 'refudiate' this divisive screed.”

@kateddc: “this encourages that divisiveness instead of thoughtful discourse & solutions. I expect more from the Post.”

This morning, Councilmember Tommy Wells took to his twitter to express his thoughts on Milloy’s piece:

@TommyWells: “Courtland Milloy’s column should be read and re-read. While raw, it’s a window on DC.”

Ok, so Milloy does not offer any solutions to a problem that has been throbbing in this city for years, but what if this was not meant to heal? What if this was an “in your face” column, aimed at precisely those staunch Fenty supporters who were just as perplexed about Fenty’s loss as he was? After all, not 24 hours after the primary, tweets from Milloy’s twits were just as sarcastic and rude as before, practically proving his point.

@1br4r14n: “I guess the key to loosing an election is to lower crime, and build new parks and rec centers.”

@1chicklette: “I’m still stunned Fenty lost. #dcvote I mean, Marion Berry was able to get reelected.”

@rachel1029: "@thatgirl405 Have you seen the difference between #voteDC and #DCvote heard it was a racially segregated even on twittuh hashtags."

Whatever Milloy’s intent, the streets are talking. Even if they're using social media to do it.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Redskins security seized anti-Snyder paraphernalia at the FedExField gates before the Tampa Bay game a few weeks ago, without any honorable explanation for the seizures. The guards' heavy-handed tactics kept shots of bags on people's heads and "Snyder Sucks!" posters off the Fox airwaves for a few hours on that Sunday afternoon, but Snyder's strategy has otherwise totally backfired. Those whose agit-prop props were taken by Snyder's jack-booted thugs or otherwise censored got really motivated, and are now among the leaders of some very organized campaigns to demonstrate against the Dan Snyder Administration on a much bigger stage: "Monday Night Football."

***

The Third Coming? Mike Florio, the one-man TMZ of the NFL, rumors that Joe Gibbs will return to the Redskins to save Dan Snyder again.

The Gibbs rumors might take some steam off Snyder for yesterday's Steve Largent blasts. Largent, a former U.S. Congressman (awesome trivia about Largent: he lost his last election because Oklahoma voters were outraged by his stance against... cockfighting!), told a Seattle radio audience that Snyder is humiliating his buddy and onetime Seahawks teammate simply to avoid paying him the $6 million remaining on the head coach's contract. Largent says Zorn told him that Skins officials, presumably meaning either Vinny Cerrato or/and Dan Snyder, tried bullying Zorn into quitting by waving a copy of his contract in his face, and repeating the clauses that state that wholesale subservience is required or the team can fire him for cause. That sounds unbelievable, unless you've heard several dozen similar accounts of bizarre and mean behavior from Snyder from former employees.

Snyder was seen yesterday at practice talking to Zorn. Standing side by side, Snyder came up to Zorn's sternum. You know Zorn would like to go to the top of the boss' head with an elbow drop. But in his press conference after practice, Zorn simply said, "I have to hold back on any feelings."

God god. Forget a new set of eyes. Jim Zorn needs to grow a new set of balls.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Doc Walker puts a happy face on Skins' budding playcalling disaster? Sherm Lewis looks like Chief Zee without the headgear? Sam Elliott shills for horse racing? Horse racing leads to domestic bliss? Where's Karl Swanson when you need him?)

Zorn should tell the world what it already knows: He's being treated like dirt by a bunch of loser fools just so they can save a few million bucks. Snyder's putting a hurt on Zorn's image that he ain't going to recover from.

On Snyder's sportstalk station yesterday afternoon, Rick Walker tried to put a positive spin on the Skins' switch to a new play caller during a spot on John Thompson's show. Walker, calling in from Redskins Park, said the mood at practice was upbeat, that everybody in the organization was down with the plan to let Sherman Lewis take over Jim Zorn's game-day responsibilities, and basically insinuated that everything about the Redskins was suddenly just peachy.

Then John Thompson stopped the peachiness with a simple question: What's Jim Zorn's role going to be come kickoff against the Eagles on Monday?

Walker hemmed and came up with "clock management," then he hawed some more. And then Walker hemmed some more. Then, he told it like it was: "I don't know!"

Nobody knows what Zorn will be doing. At Fox-5 last night, sportscaster Lindsey Murphy reported that Jim Zorn "will be involved in the pass protection.". WUSA's Brett Haber said Lewis will only be able to call "a type of play," and not make actual play calls, because he's not familiar enough with the Skins playbook. Wowee. Now the Skins are saying that Sherm Lewis's playcalls will be filtered through Sherm Smith, not even Zorn. And he's the head coach?

Why not just make Zorn sell beer in the FedEx bathrooms? Get your bingo jokes ready, people. This is gonna be a disaster.

***

Walking around practice in a burgundy Redskins sweatsuit, Sherman Lewis sure looked like Chief Zee minus the headdress.

Speaking of: In chronicling how the Washington Post grounded and pounded on Dan Snyder in every section of the paper yesterday, I neglected to mention that Courtland Milloy held court for Metro with an assault on Chief Zee. The timing does seem odd.

But damn if Chief Zee isn't the most racist mascot in pro sports. There's nothing else even close.

***

Speaking of geldings... Shocker of shockers: Somebody's marketing horse racing to the masses! Laurel Park has been running commercials on Dan Snyder's sports station for this weekend's DeFrancis Dash.

The spots feature a voiceover that sure sounds like the great Sam Elliott, telling a tale about a father/son relationship enhanced by days at the racetrack.

Sure, the track has torn apart a whole lot more families than it's helped, but, it's still fabulous to hear any mention of racing in the mainstream media.

***

I was wondering whatever happened to Karl Swanson. I'd reached out to the Redskins top PR man a lot lately. But, no return calls. No return emails. Not even a "no comment"! But I wasn't taking it personally: These are tough PR times for the Redskins, what with the organization all messy and beer being sold in the bathrooms, but "Karl Swanson" wasn't even getting any hits in Google news. So I called and emailed Swanson yet again just to find out if he was still with the team.

And at long last, Swanson responded yesterday! He's still on the job. Swanson gave no explanation for the radio silence.

Maybe it's me.

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

This morning, however, Brauchli dumped the Mr. Incremental persona in favor of Change Agent, handing down an enormous, nearly 1,700-word memo blowing up the newsroom. No more Balkanized Washington Post, with nine million fiefdoms, all with their own top bosses who tussle and muscle each other over every little thing.

In the new Post world, there'll be three top editors: Kevin Merida, in charge of national stuff; Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, the current sports editor who'll take over local coverage; and Sandy Sugawara, the current business editor who's going to be in charge of a "universal" news desk that'll funnel all kinds of content into print, the Web, and so on.

The rest of the changes kinda flow from that new structure, with massive personnel upheaval, and desks and titles moving around the place like gchats. But one newsroom change towers above all the others for Posties as well as readers.

The memo announces that Assistant Managing Editor for Metro Robert McCartney will leave his current perch to take a job as a Metro columnist. He's run excellent Metro coverage since mid-2005, when he was chosen to succeed Jo-Ann Armao. His people love him, he's had good relations with the Web folks, and he did fabulous things for the long-suffering feature hole in Metro's front page.

So the move to providing content is nothing short of a shocker. In mid-December, McCartney sent out a notice announcing that his desk would be hiring a new columnist. The memo called the move "exciting news," doubtless a reference to the extraordinary act of hiring in these tough media times. Here's what the job announcement said, in part: "We want a columnist who becomes a must-read feature in the paper and on the Web. We want a columnist who can offer a compelling and provocative read twice a week, who is an exceptional reporter, voiced writer and deep thinker. We want a columnist who has a lot to say and really looks forward to saying it."

Who knows—perhaps the boss fashioned a job description so delicious that he just had to have it himself. The Dick Cheney of the Washington Post? Or is McCartney's position separate from the one that the paper declared open in December?

Either way, management seems happy with the move, if the re-org memo is to be believed:

Bob McCartney, who has served the paper so well as AME/Metro for the last four years, will become a Metropolitan columnist, one of our leading voices in the community where Bob grew up and has lived and run coverage for so long. His distinguished career as a foreign correspondent, managing editor of the International Herald Tribune and the first AME of the continuous news desk, and as a business editor and a reporter gives him the kind of depth and wisdom that will infuse his writing with authority and insight.

Unsaid is how long it's been since McCartney scored regular bylines—that would be about 18 years, judging from a quick Nexis search. Correction 4/17: This part is wrong: McCartney picked up regular bylines in 2003, as a correspondent from Paris. I apologize for the mistake. So McCartney can management employees, but can he manage sources again? I'd say yes—he'll get the magic back.

The bigger consideration—and it's a huge one—relates to the lineup of Metro columnists. Here they are: McCartney, Marc Fisher, John Kelly, and Courtland Milloy. The relevant percentages: 75 percent white, 100 percent male.

Now, there is no way this can stand at the Washington Post. Just no way. Not at a paper that over the years has taken great pains to ensure diversity within its reportorial corps. The boys club on the Metro page this morning emerged as one of the top items of gossip in the Post newsroom.

Answers on Metro columnist diversity, though, are tough to come by right now. Sources at the Post appear to be digesting the news and not picking up the phone.

One editor in a position to know, however, says there's "more to come on columnists." The editor did say that McCartney is not moving into the columnist slot announced in December.

This afternoon, there's a "town hall" meeting on the changes at the Post. Turn off that BlackBerry, Brauchli!

Memo after jump.

To the staff:

Today, we are beginning a reorganization to create new reporting groups, streamline editing desks and anticipate the impending integration of our print and digital news operations.

The changes reinforce our longstanding belief in great reporting and writing as the vital center of The Post’s journalism. We want to empower journalists and encourage them to work across departments and platforms. In addition, we want to simplify the handling of words, pages, images and new media, building on the prescient move to “two-touch” editing under Len and Phil. Decisions about space and play must happen faster, both in print and online, and in a way that pulls together our now-separate newsrooms. A single editor ultimately ought to be able to oversee all versions of a story, whether it appears in print, online or on a BlackBerry or iPhone. Space in the newspaper and editing firepower in general should be allocated based on a day’s news priorities, not a predetermined formula.

These changes will alter the way we do things, but t hey will not affect the commitment to journalistic depth, authority and excellence that has defined The Post. Just the reverse: We think these steps will help us to adapt more easily to the economic and technological challenges that face us, while preserving the best of our traditions and values.

Key Personnel Changes:

In keeping with our strategic focus on serving readers in and interested in Washington, we will put most news reporters under two senior editors, a National Editor and a Local Editor. Much first-line editing, copyediting and production will occur on a new Universal News Desk under another senior
editor. Together with the executive editor, the managing editors and the deputy managing editor, these people will form the core leadership of the newsroom.
- Kevin Merida, now Assistant Managing Editor for National News, will become National Editor.
- Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, now Assistant Managing Editor for Sports and Weekend Editor, will become Local Editor.
- Sandy Sugawara, now Assistant Managing Editor for Business, will become Editor of the Universal Desk.

These changes, which become effective May 1, will set in motion other personnel moves.
- Scott Vance, now Assistant Managing Editor for News online, will become News Editor when our print and online desks merge, working closely with the National and Local editors to drive coverage across platforms.
- Bill Hamilton remains Enterprise Editor, working for Liz and helping to guide many major projects into the paper and online.
- Bob McCartney, now Assistant Managing Editor for Metro News, will become a columnist on metropolitan affairs.
- Matt Vita, now Emilio’s deputy, will become Sports Editor.
- Greg Schneider, now Sandy’s deputy, will assume responsibility for Business.

Coverage Groups:

Local, National and Business reporters and editors who “commission” or drive coverage will be organized into coverage groups. Decisions about what we cover and who should handle what story will be made by the leaders of these reporting groups. Each reporting group will be responsible for a
specific area of coverage and be led by an editor and probably at least one deputy, who may also write.

To give you an idea how this will work, we recently posted a job running Science, Health and Environmental coverage. That editor will have primary responsibility for coverage of those areas, across the paper and the website, and will oversee the reporters on those subjects. Most stories
from these coverage groups will be edited on the universal desk throughout the day. The groups will manage blogs and may edit major projects internally. Other groups will be created around subjects such as National Security, Local Business and Development, Social Issues, and so on. We will
announce their formation in coming weeks and post available openings for editors and deputies.

All the news reporting groups will work for Kevin or Emilio. Kevin has run National since January, but already has displayed great talent as a story conceptualizer and the special effectiveness of someone who is both a leader and a role model for many of his reporters. Together with his deputy, Marilyn Thompson, Kevin has been building a highly capable team whose coverage goes beyond the routine and brings real insight.

Emilio, a native of the Washington area, has run sports brilliantly in his second stint here at The Post. His focus on breaking news and exclusives, on strong narratives and the superb work of our columnists and photographers, has made our Sports section the best. He’s also pioneered
print-online integration for The Post this year, bringing together our sports journalists in what has been a very useful and successful experiment. We will place great emphasis on developing strong local journalism, especially online.

Emilio’s exceptionally talented and versatile deputy, Matt Vita, will succeed him as Sports Editor. A former national-security editor and Congressional reporter for The Post and a former foreign correspondent for Cox Newspapers, Matt shares much credit for the Sports department’s recent
successes.

Bob McCartney, who has served the paper so well as AME/Metro for the last four years, will become a Metropolitan columnist, one of our leading voices in the community where Bob grew up and has lived and run coverage for so long. His distinguished career as a foreign correspondent, managing editor of the International Herald Tribune and the first AME of the continuous news desk, and as a business editor and a reporter gives him the kind of depth and wisdom that will infuse his writing with authority and insight.

Universal News Desk:

The Universal Desk will ultimately combine what is now spread across departments and two separate newsrooms, bringing together many people now in the ranks of assigning editors, copy editors and the news desk, as well as many producers at the website. It will handle editing tasks large and small, and make decisions about space allocation and story play, deciding what appears where on the paper’s news pages and online. Most stories will be edited on the universal desk, rather than in reporting groups. Stories edited during the day for use online will form the basis for their print
versions, and vice versa.

We still have a lot of planning and consultation to do before the desk will be up and running. We invite your input and ideas, and expect to be discussing with many people both downtown and in Arlington what the right organization is.

Anyone who has watched Sandy’s incredibly agile oversight of the business and financial staff, especially the way she and Greg led The Post’s super coverage of the economic and financial crisis, will understand immediately why she is the right person to take on the immense task of creating a new, high-octane news engine.

Greg, a smart, seasoned editor with experience on National as well as Business, will take over the business staff from Sandy and become The Post’s main national economics and business editor. Greg has more than learned this field promotion after the often-heroic hours and exacting editing he put into the business staff’s outstanding coverage of the financial and economic crisis. Like Kevin, Emilio and Sandy, Greg will work with us in mapping out the detailed newsroom structure.

The bridge between the coverage groups and the Universal Desk will be Scott, when he becomes News Editor. Among his many roles will be setting intraday deadlines, guiding our homepage and ensuring that The Post is competitive on all platforms, on all stories that matter to our readers. A
veteran of National and the printside before he took on a key news job at washingtonpost.com, Scott has worked with just about everyone here, and to great effect.

Another central figure in the universal desk will be Ju-Don Roberts, Managing Editor of washingtonpost.com, who has steered our digital edition’s continued success and whose print and online experience are vital to re-imagining our editing operations. She’s been a top-class leader and
will remain point person for The Post’s digital edition, working with Raju on innovations and development of the best possible website for our readers.

Future Changes:

While we have outlined major changes here, there are many gaps still in our plan. As you will see, there are unanswered questions about some departments, including Style and the presentation, visuals, interactivity and web tools/innovations groups. Working with the new leadership team, we
will come back to you with more specifics in coming weeks. We plan to move as quickly as possible to announce further details of the structure of the reporting and editing groups. Some new roles will emerge from this process, and we expect to post those jobs as well.

We are, as you know, embarked on a number of big projects. Most notably, we plan to bring in a new content management system—production software, in plain English—and are rethinking aspects of our newspaper’s design. We expect that system will take a year to go live, but our reorganization
anticipates the changes in workflow that will result from a single editing and production system. Design changes in turn will reflect what the new technology and newsroom organization will enable.

We also are on track with plans to meld our print and digital newsrooms over the summer and into the fall. Shirley Carswell, Claudia Townsend, Peter Perl and a small army of others are leading various efforts, and we undoubtedly will have more to say about these plans in coming weeks.

We believe the changes we are undertaking will enhance our competitiveness by focusing our journalistic energy on coverage of core areas and by simplifying editing processes. As we integrate editing and production, print and digital, we will be able to deliver smarter, faster news online, while preserving the writing, depth and range of coverage that define The Post.

Finally, for anyone who gets this far, we have one final tidbit: We’ll hold a town hall meeting at 2 p.m. today in the auditorium to take questions and discuss these plans or any other issues.

Marcus Liz
Raju

This week I chronicled D.C. Fire Department arson investigator Greg Bowyer. Bowyer, along with his partner Gerald Pennington, went from working arson cases to checking fire hydrants. They allege their demotion wasn't for any performance reason. No. They got transferred because of their whistleblowing activities.

For more than two years, Bowyer and Pennington have waged a campaign to right a fire department that they allege has routinely bungled major fire cases like the Eastern Market fire and the Mount Pleasant fire, and put in place untrained and unqualified fire investigators. For their efforts, they got placed on hydrant duty.

I just posted a timeline of their activities. And it definitely appears that when they've talked to the press whether it's WJLA or Courtland Milloy, the departmental hammer has come down. For my cover, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin and Attorney General Peter Nickles refused to comment about the whistleblowers' claims.

But I wonder what will happen to them now? Is there a position in the fire department lower than hydrant checker? I hope my story didn't mess them up.

Give me an "L." Give me another "L."

Every time I slam the Washington Post for its latest misspelling, people swarm the otherwise empty comments box with a slam or two on me. Oh, you can't criticize the Post until City Paper stops making mistakes of its own. Nitpicker!

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted an error that stuck out: The Post had fouled up the byline of one of its own staffers: Debbie Wilgoren instead of the correct Debbi. It's understandable, though inexcusable, when you misspell the names of others; but hey, when you can't get your colleagues' name right, that's another level of dysfunction. So I threw up a post about the gaffe, and, predictably, got upbraided:

Yeah I hate how the City Paper always thinks its shit doesn’t stink, like it’s never made a copyediting error before. And don’t give me this crap about “Oh, but the WP has 1,000 times the resources we have.” Bullshit. If you’re gonna throw stones, make sure there’s no glass in your house. Period.

Affected by the backlash, I must admit I passed on pointing out that the paper had misspelled the name of Louise Erdrich this past weekend. In the same breath that it called her "one of our major writers," it called her "Louse Erdrich." I caught another one in the book page on Sunday; it was two words fused together.

So, yeah, I figured: We know that the Post lost an extraordinary number of copy editors to last year's buyout, and mistakes will happen from time to time.

But today's miscue, pictured above, is just too large to ignore. If this fuckup isn't the subject of meetings and shouting and othersuch, then there's an even bigger problem than botching the byline on a column that's been running since 1983.