Yet Another Reason Why The Post Deserves to Go Out of Business

As if it's not bad enough that the Washington Post gives a platform to global waring-denier freakazoid George Will. As if it's not bad enough that the Washington Post's editorial board is completely brain dead. And as if it's not bad enough that the Washington Post is so desperate for revenues that it was willing to whore itself out by planning an "'exclusive' salon" at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth, "where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to 'those powerful few' — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors." As if all that's not bad enough, now the Post can't even report a simple "hard news" story, complete with photos, video, and even an (accurate) eyewitness account by one of its own employees.

Washington Post editorial aide Stephen Lowman was at 14th and U on Saturday when the controversial snowball-fight-cum-police-indiscretion went down. He wasn't there on assignment--he was just taking it all in.

And take it all in he did. He eye-witnessed the snowball fest and the cop waving around a gun, not to mention all the hubbub that ensued.

So Lowman got on the phone to the Post, to give the newsroom a heads-up. He says he was placed in contact with staff writer Matt Zapotosky. Lowman told Zapotosky about the confrontation and the gun. It was just after 3 pm.


Not long thereafter, Washington City Paper posted photos of the officer, later identified as Det. Mike Baylor, trudging around in the snow with a gun in his hand.

By this point, there was also video on the Web in which the officer admits he pulled his gun out in the midst of a snowball fight.

Two hours later, at 5:40 pm, the inexplicable takes place: The Washington Post files a post by Zapotosky and Martin Weil refuting the photographic evidence already on the Web and taking the official position of the D.C. Police Department...

Simply astounding.

P.S. Great work by the scrappy Washington City Paper, not so much by the corporate behemoth Washington Post.