Mark Plotkin was fired over his wicked temper. Allegedly. The Post's Erik Wemple broke the news Thursday that the political analyst had been fired from WTOP, effective immediately, and later updated the post to report that "Plotkin’s behavior in the workplace is at the root of his separation from the station." More precisely, he had a reputation for blowing his top. He'd done so recently with D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, as Fishbowl noted, and during his nearly decade-long tenure at WTOP "he engaged in at least a dozen shouting matches with colleagues, precipitating his enrollment in anger-management classes at one point...," according to the Post's Paul Farhi. (Plotkin was also a bit of a technophobe, as NewsChannel 8's Bruce DePuyt reported.) The most telling details, though, emerged at the conclusion of Wemple's post, where three of Plotkin's colleagues in the press — NBC4's Tom Sherwood, WTOP's Mark Segraves, and Harry Jaffe of the Examiner and Washingtonian — all reveal that they're not on speaking terms with Plotkin. So it's hard to believe Jim Farley, WTOP's vice president of news and programming, when he tells Washingtonian, "Mark and I are still friends."

Continue reading

THE CLIPBOARD

"Washington Post's Shrinking Newsroom" [Romenesko]

"Yikes! Post Botches Story, Sort of Covers It Up" [WCP]

"A Post-mortem with Raju Narisetti: 'I would have actually tried to move faster'" [Nieman]

"Narisetti: ‘I am glad I am seen as having created friction’ at the Post'" [Poynter]

"Emily Gets Her Hearing" [DCist]

WaTimes' Emily Miller vs. the Atlantic Wire's Richard Lawson [Tweetspat]

"No, this is NOT a real front page from the Washington Post" [Charles Apple]

"WaPo Magazine editor: Pat Buchanan’s book like ‘someone from the KKK had written it'" [Caller]

"Gannett Buys Big Lead Sports Owner Fantasy Sports Ventures" [All Things Digital]

"Stars and Stripes upset by order to move" [Romenesko]

"Examiner to Launch Site for Young Conservatives" [Porcupine]

"Times Launches Times247.com Aggregator" [Porcupine]

"Have you been hearing this phrase at work?" [Gannett Blog]

"Repeated Catastrophic failures" at the Post [Romenesko]

"Politico Turns 5. Let the Roasting Begin." [Fishbowl]

"Maryland newspaper resumes daily printing after 3 years without Mondays" [Poynter]

"'The Washington Post' and Polyvore Join Forces for Oscars Fashion" [Adweek]

"CBS Pro-life slideshow features only pro-choicers" [Examiner]

"Washington Post expands Foreign Policy" [WBJ]

"WaPo goes full Orwell. Never go full Orwell." [Treacher]

"New station takes on radio giant WTOP" [Examiner]

HOOK, LINE & STINKER

"Online piracy hasn’t gone away"

That was the actual headline of a story by the Post's Melissa Bell about "hundreds of plagiarized books" being sold illegally on Amazon.com. Nevermind that the headline stated the obvious; it also provided no indication of what's being pirated, and that the piracy is occurring not only through the usual channels — torrents and file-hosting sites — but legitimate vendors, too.

I'm writing in the past tense because I tweeted about the headline and the Post changed it to "Laws alone won't put a lid on piracy." This is probably the only time in my life that anything I write will have a demonstrable, albeit miniscule, impact on the paper.

 

rkearney Ryan Kearney

@MelissaBell I'm guessing this wasn't your headline: http://t.co/NMCUe0Ie

Jan 27 Favorite Retweet Reply

 

in reply to @rkearney↑

@MelissaBell
Melissa Bell @rkearney It's, um, well, technically true, right... Eek! Thank you for spotting it!
Jan 27 via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply

DAN ZAK WATCH

HE IS GOPH

TALK STROUP