Deborah Howell Loses National Beat Goes “Local”
UPDATE: So, I've been hearing some strong criticisms regarding the title and content of this post. My headline was wrong, so I retract it, because it does scream that I'm announcing definitive news, which was not the case. Ms. Howell's “Global Reach…Local Focus” column does, I believe, signal a shift in her column's focus. So, let's just say it seems obvious that the Post got nervous after the Abramoff-blog brouhaha and is directing Ms. Howell to have a “local focus” in her columns, keeping her out of thorny partisan issues like dissecting which party got more cash from Jack.
One of the big surprises for me in becoming
ombudsman is that most e-mail focuses on national issues, not local news. This
column is an initial effort to solicit comment from readers about local news.
Is The Post covering the kind of local news that is relevant to your life as
a citizen, shopper, homeowner, apartment dweller, parent or commuter? Are there
some stories that The Post is missing?
A Global Reach, but a Local Focus
I know it's Super Bowl Sunday, but baby, this is news. …on an added note, does anyone believe it's a coincidence that this shift in Howell's beat was slipped in on Super Bowl Sunday?
Alert the media! Of course I already have, over at Open
Letter to the Washington Post, where much of this is cross-posted. I'm the
moderator of that blog.
The New York Times will now be a category on “Jeopardy.”
John Roberts quit CBS to join CNN. David Marash was fired from “Nightline,”
when ABC went MTV on news, to become an anchor of the new English-speaking Al-Jazeera
Intl., which will have a large Washington bureau. And another Sunday goes by
with the blogger panel missing. It's as if bloggers have disappeared from the
conversation, wiped from the media memory, at least as far as the Washington
Post's Howard Kurtz is concerned. Oh, and did I mention that Ms. Howell
lost her national beat has now gone local? Oh, but rest assured, she will still have a “global reach.” Whew, I got worried for a minute.
So, another Sunday, more silence, as Kurtz's “Reliable Sources,”
the microscope on all things media, retreats from new media and the web, replacing
the blog panel with sports, not to mention that Kurtz is no longer reporting
on anything Post, not even when a major move occurs.
The glaring omission of the story responsible for this sudden shift in Kurtz's
show is one thing, but when that glaring omission also gives way to the person
it revolved around getting her beat slashed column's focus changed, well, let's just say “Reliable
Sources” needs a new name. So since Howie is into reporting on the Times,
maybe he could just add a slogan: “all the news I feel like reporting.”
Seriously, The New York Times starting a cross promotion campaign with “Jeopardy”
gets a mention, while the issue of the Post's ombudsman being taken off national directed to take on a “local focus” doesn't?
news doesn't
Deborah Howell, in a stealth move without a mention, has been quietly demoted (–at least, I think it's a a demotion–) to a local beat focus, because bloggers nailed her on inaccuracies through a comment
section that was eventually nuked. But Kurtz doesn't think it's worth a mention.
Hey Howie, who's your mommy?
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