Mike Wise of WaPo fakes story to make a point

Agreed ... and I think that's what's really frustrating. At a time when people are clinging to their jobs, busting ass to do strong work in the hopes they'll keep themselves off the chopping block, this guy does this and basically gets a slap on the wrist. Any of the rest of us tries it and we're probably booted out the door without a second thought. Credit to him for having built a reputation that makes him that valuable, I guess. But a lot of good people in Salt Lake City (this week) and other places have never pulled a smug, self-righteous move like this, yet they're unemployed. There's just something fundamentally wrong with that.

 

Kornheiser's loving this.

 

No, his point is not correct.
For legit journalists to re-tweet or link to crap from amateurs and hacks -- that's a problem.
For a legit journalist to re-tweet or link to something from a proven pro who's written for the NYT and WaPo -- there's supposed to be some credibility there. If I report something, people who wish to distribute the product of my reporting and credit me should be able to trust that I've done my job thoroughly and accurately. My by-line and the credibility of my publication ought to be worth something.
It's not something I would toss away lightly.

 

Can't wait to hear him on the radio expressing his utter glee without ever actually mentioning Wise by name.

 

big wise fan -- like his column, and love his longer pieces like brashear. my take? his radio show is terrible -- a guy trying too hard to be irreverent, pushing the envelope, cute, to BUILD THE BRAND. and this twitter stunt grows out of the same nonsense. i know it's tough these days for writers; everyone is trying to touch any new media base because they don't know if papers will survive. but wise is a writer first, good at crafting well-considered, reported pieces. all this other shit is way outside his comfort zone, and the longer he dwells there, the more he -- and anyone else who follows that template -- shows his ass.

 

Where have you been? People on this board are ripping Florio for irresponsible reporting all the time.

This time, however, he did zero wrong. Wise takes the entire hit, as he should. Hell, this is worse than mere irresponsible reporting. It's outright fabrication.

We in the mainstream media, for lack of a better term, should be far above that.

 

This.

Wise's radio show is a disaster. He's about an awkward a radio host as one could be.

 

This to the nth degree. Very well said, Hacker. And dead-on nails.

As someone who lost his last journalism job for something far, far below this on the transgression food chain, truer words were never typed.

 

Wise's radio show is as fun as nails on the chalkboard or watching paint dry.

I like Wise, but I'm shocked he would do something as flagrantly stupid as this. This is something some 20 y/o a-hole pulls at Podunk Press to make a point. Not an experienced, veteran columnist at a top 5 paper.

I only hope his entire month off isn't paid.

God, what a douche.

 

P.S. I hate having Danny Boy's back on this, but JFK's programming is fucking unlistenable. I know there's Junkies fans out there, but I'm not one of them and LaVar sucks too. Chad Dukes is a freaking clown.

 

Welcome to the Washington reporting world. So many jobs combined with a comfy job market equates to dickheads like Wise pulling stunts like this. Even if he got canned, he'd have another local job in a split second.

 

Where?

Unless the Moonies pick him up, his options (if he wanted to stay in Washington) are extremely limited. He's even worse on TV than radio, so forget that.