WHAT HEELS: The Wa Po Takes “Elite Media” Status Too Seriously
The Rockville (MD) Department of Public Works ordered residents to restrict water use after a water main break on July 7th. On July 10th The Washington Post issued a news alert that the water restriction had been lifted. When a reporter from WTOP called the PR departments of both the city and the utility for verification (AKA “fact-checking”), she was told that water use was still restricted.
WTOP's Assistant Editor Kit Rockhill called WaPo's metro desk to alert the paper as a professional courtesy, and offered to put their reporter on the line to share what she had learned so a retraction could be issued. The WaPo staffer interrupted Rockhill and sniffed, “We have reporters here ma'am we don't need to talk to your reporter," according to MediaBistro blog "FishbowlDC":
WTOP's V.P. of News and Programming Jim Farley remarked, "Can you spell a-r-r-o-g-ant?" …
Rockhill wrote an e-mail to her boss, Farley, telling her version of what had happened. With the subject line, "Washington Post Rudeness," Rockhill wrote: “It was all said in a very condescending and frankly quite rude voice and then he hung up."
Farley told FishbowlDC: "The main motto of the WTOP Newsroom is "First get it right...THEN get it first."
Half an hour later, the WaPo issued a correction of its earlier report.
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