Tim Craig's Twitter photo

After reading Occupy D.C.'s long and cranky letter about recent Post coverage of the movement and "breathless" tweets by staff writer Tim Craig as he walked through the McPherson Square site, I checked in with Craig to see if he had a response.

While the letter complains about Craig's language and questions his objectivity in describing chalk markings on the statue of  James B. McPherson, Craig says the comments stemmed from his belief that "the public deserved to know about what was happening at that moment."

He says he will take up the question of whether the tweets were out of line with his editors. In one, he wrote that the chalk drawings were "messy, disrespectful actions."

But, Craig says, "I'm also a citizen of the District of Columbia—it's a national statue and I believe it was defaced, and people walking through that park saw a defaced statue."

And he is right on that point: Marking the 135-year-old statue is prohibited by park rules.

The Post’s guidelines on Twitter and other social media use expressly state: “Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything… that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism. When posting content online, ask yourself: Would this posting make a reader question my ability to do my job objectively and professionally (whether you are a reporter, an editor, a developer or a producer)? If so, don’t post it.”

We are now questioning Tim Craig’s and the Post’s ability to do their jobs objectively. Through Craig’s Twitter feed streamed at the end of Washington Post web articles, Craig referred to chalk being drawn on the base of the General McPherson statue by members of McPherson Square last week as “disgusting,” “messy” and “disrespectful.” He breathlessly referred to a situation that lasted all of 20 minutes among no more than a dozen people as Occupy DC “in a tailspin.” He referred to one side of the park as “the more civilized end.”

This biased and dismissive tone was expanded upon in the Post’s front-page article “The Occupy movement: More trouble than change?” The allegation that “sanitation hazards and drug overdoses, even occasional deaths and sexual assaults” occur at occupations any more than they do in society at large is the height of simplistic, uncritical reporting.

Referring to a peaceful protest as an “infestation” is simply hateful. The Post writes as if the poor, hungry and disenfranchised cannot or should not stand up for their rights. Instead it dismisses them by alluding to the stereotypes that plague their economic condition.

And so on.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

A Weekend of Mental Anguish: While Glenn Beck and his friends are sure to annoy plenty of District denizens this weekend, thanks to the intrepid reporting by The Washington Post's Tim Craig, mental images of Vince Gray in Sex and the City have the potential to create some distress as we're all falling asleep tonight. Thanks Tim! -3

Blue to Red: The old Georgetown "Blue Bus" will be eliminated this weekend. In its place will be a new D.C. Circulator route linking Dupont Circle with Rosslyn. +2

Person vs. Garbage Truck: Not much to say here, but bad news undeniably. -2

Progress! Day by day, we're getting closer to the day we can feel like New Yorkers who get to have a really long train ride from the center of the city to an international airport! +1

What's Good for D.C. Is Good for Bethesda: D.C.'s Taylor Gourmet is certainly a wonderful place, so we don't mind sharing it with the Maryland suburbs. +1

Water Antics: When we lived on Connecticut Avenue near the National Zoo, we so wanted to throw water balloons off the side of our building and hit some of those Tai Shan-bound visitors who used to take up too much room on the sidewalk. Now, with plans for the "Wet Zone," orangutans will get to have all the fun. +3

Yesterday's Needle rating: 42 Today's score: +2 Bonus points for Friday +2 Today's Needle rating: 46

Anyhow, there was some pretty good journalism getting tossed about on this holiday weekend. The Washington Post's Eli Saslow went to Texas to monitor the GWB post-presidency and came back with all kinds of details, including an account of a dinner with the Bushes and neighbors, the efforts of some Boy Scouts to penetrate the former prez's cocoon, and the usual template about how Bush gets up early, goes to the office, keeps in touch with former administration officials, etc. I'm guessing the piece weighed in at about 3,000 words.

So how did the New York Times manage to fit more into a piece one fraction of that size? Because it had one key detail: Dick Cheney isn't coming to an anticipated administration reunion. Gotta say that the Cheney bit was worth a lot more than the fact that George and Laura don't like to cook too much.

Post's Tim Craig on how D.C. is going all liberal all of a sudden.

AP goes into some detail on the Chandra Levy–Ingmar Guandique case, talking about how the thing is riddled with holes. This is one of those stories that rests on, like, "former prosecutors" and various experts.

Missed the blossom? BYT has got you covered.

In mid-May, David Nakamura, who has covered Mayor Adrian M. Fenty since his 2007 inauguration, will leave town for a yearlong fellowship sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Replacing him on full-time executive branch coverage around May 1 will be Nikita Stewart, who has covered the D.C. Council since May 2006.

Filling the Wilson Building void left by the shuffle will be Tim Craig, who currently covers the Virginia state house for the Post, and covered the Maryland state politics before that. Undoubtedly, the most exciting aspect of Craig's appointment is the fact that he looks a lot like Fenty:

Post Metro editor Robert McCartney jokes that his reporters are now required to look more like the politicians they cover. "That was actually vital in our making this decision. We are also trying to find a reporter who looks Jack Johnson to cover Prince George's County and a reporter who looks like Ike Leggett to cover Montgomery County....We're comparing photographs and doing scans."

McCartney says the division of labor between Stewart and Craig isn't set in stone. "Sometimes Tim will be writing abut the mayor, and sometimes Nikita will be writing about the council," he says.

Nakamura's been on the city desk since 2002. He broke the WASA lead scandal in 2004, then spent two years covering the baseball stadium saga before hitting the mayoral beat. Now, he says, "I'm going as far away as humanly possible" (yuk yuk). He'll be a fellow at the Keizai Koho Center in Tokyo. His Japanese is meh-meh mah-mah, he says—so-so. He'll return to Metro when the fellowship ends.