In case you were doubting the tight relationship between the Washington Post editorial board and the upper echelons of the Fenty administration—particularly schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee—check this e-mail, sent on Oct. 5 from Rhee to embattled parks-and-rec director-designee Ximena Hartsock:

Spoke to Wapo ed board folks about you today. Told them you are the most qualified person possible, that you have amazing capacity and that everything you do has your hallmark of excellence. They’ll write a good piece for tomorrow.

Et voilà.

Read More “How to Get a Sweet WaPo Editorial” »

People don’t need much from a newspaper’s weather page or from the forecast on the evening news. You want the graphic saying what the weather will be, along with the high and the low for the day. Preferably the presentation will give you an accurate picture of the next few days.

And that’s all you need. Period.

For the longest time, the Washington Post understood this basic human need. The design of its local weather page reflected as much. Brilliant in its simple, info-delivering elegance, it gave you just the snapshot you wanted. I can remember mornings when I’d flip to the last page of the Metro section, and I’d glean everything I needed in less than two seconds. Not even the Internet can beat that kind of efficiency. The glorious layout is right here, may God rest its soul:

Somehow, the Post wasn’t satisfied with perfection. Read More “Washington Post’s “Improved” Weather Page” »

Above is an ad e-mailed out by the Redskins ticket office this week. As you read this, remember, for chuckles, that just a couple months ago Redskins executive Mitch Gershman was claiming in press releases that the team had a waiting list of “over 200,000.”

Sure, the Skins waiting list has long been bogus. But this year it’s also become apparent that the NFL’s blackout rule is enforced as stringently as its steroids policy.

(AFTER THE BREAK: Where’s Chris Cooley in that photo? Clinton Tortoise? Lord Farquaad? Lindsay Czarniak cheers on teams that don’t pay her? Is the NY Times reporter on Dan Snyder’s payroll, too? Another Have-Nots bowl this week?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Are Snyder’s Redskins Worth Only 17 Cents a Share Now, Too?” »

No wonder the Washington Post is playing up the story on its homepage. That’s what happens when the paper provides compelling Sunday reading. I am talking about the feature piece in Outlook titled “I Didn’t Tell. It Didn’t Matter.”; it’s about a young man, Joseph Rocha, who served in the Navy and got abused constantly over his sexuality.

The gripping part comes when the Rocha, a dog handler, describes in extensive detail just what his superiors did to torment him:

Read More “Weekend in Review” »

In a nice little scooplet, the Washington Post’s Del Quentin Wilber is reporting that a key suspect in the taxicab scandal threatened to kill an informant. The allegations revolve around one Yitbarek Syume, who was arrested last week as part of the feds’ roundup of taxi workers who sought to illegally influence the District’s regulation of the industry.
Here’s how Wilber phrases the matter:

The [court] papers reveal that Yitbarek Syume met with an undercover FBI agent and an informant on the day after the top staffer of a prominent D.C. Council member was arrested on bribery charges. The three men discussed the high-profile arrest and how to avoid detection of their scheme, which funneled more than $300,000 to a D.C. government official, prosecutors wrote in court papers, citing a surreptitious recording of the meeting.

Syume, according to the records cited by the Post, had special plans for Abdulaziz Kamus, who had been identified in a Post story as a figure who had helped authorities document taxi-related bribes. Syume promised that Kamus will be “permanently eliminated.”

In an interview with Washington City Paper, Syume’s lawyer, Thomas Abbenante, said, “We’re going to have a hearing tomorrow afteronoon at 3. At that time, I’ll address the issue before the court. I’m really not going to attempt to try the case in the newspaper or the six o’clock news. I’ll leave that up to the government.”

Additional reporting by Jason Cherkis

Out: Book Burning

In: Bag Banning

The Great Dan Steinberg™’s write-up of the ill-will in the grandstands had great photos of the ill-willed.

Well, Steinberg’s Bog post had great photos when it was originally posted, anyway.

As several commenters pointed out, those photos of folks with anti-Snyder t-shirts and paperwork are now gone. Just vanished.

Who removed them? Why were they removed?

Steinberg wouldn’t tell me what happened. Questions were directed to his bosses at the Post’s sports section.

Uh oh.

The mind races. Everybody knows by now that the Washington Post ain’t one of Dan Snyder’s favorite organs.

But would Snyder really try to censor photos of the same bags that he tried to censor for Sunday’s game? I mean, Snyder’s pulled some stuff before, for sure, but if he’s behind Steinberg’s photo removal, that would have to rank among the Skins owner’s most Douchewellian™ moves of all time.

I’ve got messages into the Washington Post’s* sports editors and the Redskins. Stay tuned to Cheap Seats Daily for continued coverage of PhotoGate™!

(AFTER THE JUMP: More tales of anti-bagging from FedExField? “Agent Zero” is the focus of WJFK’s ad campaign? Is “Agent Zero” the most penetrating nickname in Washington sports history? And it came from a City Paper guy? Guaranteed Win Night™ and R²D²™ in the same post? Should I really bet the mortgage and then some on the Twins?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Would Dan Snyder Censor Dan Steinberg’s Photos of Censored Bags?” »

Dan Snyder’s detestability rating enjoyed another spike yesterday: Reports out of FedExField for the Tampa Bay game have Snyder confiscating paper bags at the entrance to his stadium, so fans couldn’t put them on their heads for the TV cameras.

Sportstalk radio station WJFK this morning put on callers who said they got bags past the gate but anybody who tried wearing one got swarmed by stadium security.

Paper bags! That’s where that Sept. 11 fee Snyder tacks on to your ticket price goes? Sheeesh.

The bag gimmick is old, but funny. The ban is just creepy.

***

Death knell for Jason Campbell: Sonny Jurgensen has seen enough.

Unlike other members of the Skins broadcast crew, Jurgensen never talks without thinking about what he’s going to say. And after Campbell’s second interception, Jurgensen, who along with being the color commentator is a pal of Dan Snyder, said he’d seen enough. “I think it’s time to warm up #16 guys,” Sonny said.

(AFTER THE BREAK: Vinny and Larry get the Great Steinographer treatment? Vinny’s going to bring Sally Jenkins on his radio show? Vinny’s going to send Sally Jenkins his Super Bowl ring? Vinny’s got a Super Bowl ring? Dan Snyder won’t tell you how much your Johnny Rockets burger is? The Redskins schedule only winless teams? Brett Haber thinks the Redskins are sleeping giants? Biggest high school football game of all-time this week? Worst high school football season of all-time is imminent?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: The Johnny Rockets Menu Proves Dan Snyder Is Priceless?” »

Sally Jenkins goes after Dan Snyder like she’d invested in Six Flags. Her latest column reviews Snyder’s historic star-struckitude and avoidance of personal accountability, and every paragraph is great and dead-on and brutal.

A sampling:

This is Snyder’s team; he was intimately involved in assembling it. He keeps his favorite players on speed dial, watches practices on the sidelines and demands face time and explanations from the coaches he personally hired. Whatever you think of Zorn, he is Snyder’s own selection. It was Snyder who told Joe Gibbs, “He would make a great head coach.” He is personally responsible for naming Vinny Cerrato, a proven failure, executive vice president of football operations, for the Redskins’ lack of core strength, for their inability to power the ball in the red zone, which is thanks to his decade of neglect of the interior lines in favor of big free agent signings.

But no sampling can do the column justice. It’s all wondrous.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Reading recommendations? Nats give fans an unforgettable “Bang! Zoom!” when down to last strike? Thom Loverro says forget “Bang! Zoom!” Ted Leonsis says Caps better than Jesus? When’s the wake for Hoop Dreams? Say it ain’t so, Susie Kay?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Leonsis Says Caps Bigger Than Jesus?” »

One of my favorite spots on washingtonpost.com is the blog directory. There you’ll find the cob webs of the paper’s site—all kinds of niche blogs, stale blogs, and this blog: “Friday Follies: Totally random polls.”

Well, the Post is now thinking that its 90-odd blogs are just too much for one newspaper Web site.

Good thinkin’!

Check out the memo, post-jump.

Read More “Washington Post: How Many Blogs Are Too Many?” »

Earlier today, Cheap Seats Daily reported that J.P Szymkowicz, an expert on Dan Snyder’s parking operations, had no problems getting to and from FedExField for the U2 show.

By reporting Szymkowicz’s anecdotes, Cheap Seats Daily could have left the impression with readers that Snyder had, after 10 years of owning the stadium, come up with a way to get people to their seats on time.

But, upon further review, it seems traffic at FedExField was as Snyder’d up as ever. A quick reading of the comments section of Washington Post rock critic Chris Richards’* review of the show reveals that about as many concert goers are venting about their commute as are praising the band’s performance.

After the jump, some of the early returns.

Read More “Clarification: Traffic Situation at FedExField for U2 Was Indeed Snyder’d Up” »

Hard to imagine much going on over the next two or three news cycles save for post-mortems on the Redskins central role in ending the 19-game losing streak of the Detroit Lions. I suppose ending that terrible run of fecklessness has to fall to one team or another. But the fact that it was the once-proud Redskins does indeed chalk up another mark of ignominy for the reign of Daniel Snyder. So add an historically bad performance on the field to the Frerotte wall head-butting to the ripoff parking schemes to the club-seat fleecing to the ripoff parking schemes to the ruinous free agent acquisitions to the ripoff parking schemes to the filing of lawsuits against lifelong fans to the ripoff parking schemes to the commercial exploitation of 9/11 to the ripoff parking schemes Read More “Weekend in Review–Lions Edition” »

Even in the NFL, employees take their cue from the boss. So all the Redskins are feeling persecuted these days.

“Our media have been our harshest critics,” whined Mike Sellers during his media session yesterday.

He’s the fullback who dropped what would have been a touchdown pass from Jason Campbell in Sunday’s game with the Rams.

Sellers’ comments, which were aired repeatedly on WTEM-AM, Snyder’s sportstalk station, and rival WJFK-FM, also included a rant about how one of his Redskins coaches told the players that reporters in other towns where he’d coached were much better cheerleaders than DC’s.

“Instead of boosting you,” Sellers said of local scribes, “they kind of tear you down.”

If you make a touchdown catch, Mike, I bet even some folks around here will write that you made a touchdown catch.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Now Cooley’s whining, too? Portis admits a day at FedExField is money well wasted? Should Olie Kolzig have waited until NHL training camps opened before retiring? What? NHL training camps are open? Have you spent your Guaranteed Win Night winnings yet? Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, the sluggingest sluggers in DC baseball history? So it’s the pitching?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Portis Wants You to Get Your $700 Worth?” »

Good get by Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp: Pulitzer Prize-winning Middle East correspondent Anthony Shadid is making the familiar jump from the Washington Post to the New York Times, joining Peter Baker, Peter S. Goodman, David Segal, Mark Leibovich, Serge Kovaleski, Michael Powell, Jo Becker, Sharon Waxman, and others who escape me at the moment.

Shadid’s prize-winning work focused on the tumult in Iraq at the time of the March 2003 U.S. invasion and its aftermath. It was amazing stuff, and a great point of pride within the Post.

His official explanation to Strupp, as is usual in such cases, yields absolutely no insight into why he went from one huge sinking ship to another: “It was a difficult decision to move. I still have deep affection and admiration for the Post. My time there represents my favorite years in journalism, and Don Graham remains an inspiration to me. Nada [Shadid's wife] and I just thought it was time to seek new challenges.”

Joel B. Anthony took the words right out of my mouth. Writing on the Washington Post’s Free for All page on Saturday, Mr. Anthony articulated a lingering feel that I’d had about a piece of columnizing by Washington Postie Michael Wilbon.

Read More “Weekend in Review” »

The District’s unemployment rate “rose dramatically” to over 11% last month, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. There were about 36,000 Washingtonians without jobs in August.

11% is certainly not pretty, but D.C.’s actual unemployment rate is probably higher, because the unemployment rate that appears in the newspaper is often misleading.

The problem? It doesn’t include what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls “marginally attached workers”–people who want a job, but aren’t looking because they don’t think there’s much chance of getting one. Also left out are those who are involuntarily working part-time.
Read More “D.C. Unemployment: It’s Worse than You Think” »