Post Reporter Disciplined After Blasting Barry
Washington Post classical music critic Tim Page ripped DC Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry in a company email recently. A copy was obtained by this reporter in which Page refers to the former Mayor as a "crack addict" and "useless".
The controversy started late last Wednesday with an email from Marion Barry's Communication staff that went out as a "blast" to several dozen reporters and media organizations. In it the Ward eight Councilman explained that he had voted for the sale of Greater Southeast Hospital; but he wasn't convinced it was a good deal for the city.
Tim Page, a Pulitzer prize winner and 30 year journalism veteran got the Barry email even though he doesn't cover the former Mayor or the DC government and apparently wasn't too pleased to hear from Barry.
Here's Page's email response to Barry's email--sent to MB's Communication Chief.
"Must we hear about it every time this Crack Addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new=and typically half witted--political grandstanding?
I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I Cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose. Sincerely, Tim Page."
After contacting the Executive Editor of the Post Len Downey, an angry Barry says he got an apology by phone and a promise from Washington Post management to take some action against their reporter. Barry in a letter to Post management is demanding more.
"He should be fired" said Barry.
Tim Page called and emailed me Sunday night before our eleven O'Clock newscast and my story about all this. He admitted the comments were his. "Ashamed and over the top..totally unjustified" he said. Page also confirmed that his supervisors at the Post had taken disciplinary action against him. A source said he's been placed on leave.
posted by Bruce Johnson @ 10:45 PM
44 comments
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44 Comments:
Granted that he should have used a bit more "tact" in his discription about the former mayor. After, he writes for a living. However Counselman Barry did get caught smoking crack. I think Counselman Barry should back off bit while he is ahead of the game.
IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT MARION BARRY TOOK PERSONAL OFFENSE TO THE TRUTHFUL COMMENTS BY MR. PAGE. HE IS A POLITICIAN, AREN'T THEY SUPPOSE TO HAVE THICK SKINS WITHSTAND A BARAGE OF COMMENTS. MR. BARRY IS A CONVICTED DRUG USER. MR. BARRY HAS BEEN KNOWN TO BE DISHONEST.
THE COMMUNICATION MANAGER SENT OUT A COMMUNICATION REGARDING MR. BARRYS DECISION TO VOTE FOR THE SELL OF GREATER SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL; AND THEN HIS CHANGE OF MIND TO ALL NEWS OUTLETS.
GUESS THE COMMUNICATION MANAGER DOES NOT UPDAT HER AUTOMATIC LIST OF JOURNALIST WHO SUPPORT THE WARD 8 COUNCILMAN. OOPS SHE MADE A MISTAKE, MR. PAGE RESPONDED. TAKE HIM OFF YOUR EMAIL LIST. TAKE THE LUMPS AND MOVE ON.
Where are Page's First Amendment rights? Does he not have the right to respond to Barry's email?
Nothing I read indicated that Page was speaking on behalf of the Post.
I'm disappointed that Page issued an apology.
I'm slightly embarassed to say that I sympathize with Tim Page on three counts. First, Marion Barry's staff should be "disciplined" for abuse of e-mail communications. I find the practice of indiscrimately "blasting" people by e-mail completely onerous. If Barry's office chooses the convenience of mass e-mailings to publish his views, then at least they should be accountable for limiting their communications to appropriate recipients. Personally, like Mr. Page, it is NOT my job to cover Mr. Barry's personal and political antics, so I would consider an e-mail announcing that Marion Barry voted for something he thought was a poor idea to be a somewhat ironic junk mail and would respond accordingly. Which leads to my second sympathy. Mr. Page appears to have been lured by the often ill-advised gratification of instant response offered by e-mail. Somehow we feel free to impulsively report our unedited thoughts into the cyberspace of e-mail when we would almost certainly relegate them to the interior of the brain if faced with the social cautions of personal, face-to-face communication or the concrete evidence of pen on paper. When response is as easy as hitting the reply button, we tend to write before we think; and if we also hit the send button before thinking, often we regret. The third point of sympathy is with Mr. Page's apparent underestimation of the Barry camp's addiction to attention. Unless I misunderstand the facts of the case, it was Mr. Barry's office, not Mr. Page or his employer, who put the e-mail response into the public arena. I can only ask, "WHY?!?" If the thought was that the public would sympathize with the poor, injured Barry, I must acknowledge that the tactic failed for me, because (and, this is the embarassing part) I found it quite refreshing and amusing to hear my tongue-in-cheek feelings put to words . . . right up to the point at which it was suggested that Mr. Page be fired for his ill-advised rant. My personal entetainment aside, my opinion is that both Mr. Page and the Barry staff should have hit the delete button. As it is, both Mr. Page and the Barry staff should be treated to a thorough course of training in the etiquette and consequences of e-mail communications . . . and Marion Barry should be fired.
I think the writer for the post was right on target. Mr. Barry is a convicted drug used and an insult to the District for holding any office.
diver605
Mr. Barry needs to follow his own advice and "get over it".
Fire Marion Barry! Who in their right mind fires someone for speaking the truth? Barry is a loser and should be ashamed of his own life. If releasing the email was a publicity stunt, it backfired. The Post writer should stay, Marion should go!
Unless Marion Barry has decided to pick up the violin, I can't imagine why Mr. Page should be disciplined for his e-mail. Barry's team should not never have sent such a message to a classical music critic in the first place; for more on PR spamming, see Chris Anderson's latest series of posts at longtail.com. The Post should be ashamed for bending to pressure from Barry's camp.
Marion Barry’s Media Consultant/Communications Director is upset that I emailed him. And it wasn’t even spam.
see http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/sour-note-coda/
This is why I'd rather read the New York Post than the Washington Post -- the folks at the tabloid would've given their reporter a promotion, rather than a suspension. Shame on Downey and his ilk. Long live The Examiner!
This event is another sign that we do not have free speech in what has become..
"the corporation of disconnected states". if you look at the record, Mr. Page is being crucified for telling the truth.
I think that it is so very unfortunate that people are ok with a Washington Post reporter attacking a councilman and former Mayor. Jim Vance went to rehab for using cocaine, would it be ok for this reporter to call him a coke head? I think everyone regardless of the problems that they go through deserves respect. If he wanted to be taken off the mailing list he simply should have stated that. His personal opinion was not asked for. I think Mr. Page should be disciplined for his actions and hopefully it will not happen again.
How desperate is the Marion Barry's Communications office for media attention that they make Tim Page's e-mail public? They were stupid enough to pitch the Washington Post Music Critic and because they didn't like Mr. Page's response (and don't need this reporter in their camp) they used the opportunity to exploit Mr. Page and the Washington Post. Mr. Page was honest, factual and is entitled to his opinion. I hope the Post has the institutional integrity to support their valued reporter.
Was this the first time Mr. Page asked to be removed from the Barry mailing list?
debbie
What ever happened to freedom of speech. I just moved to Maryland last year and all I heard from the news was concerning the former Mayor Barry and his drugs, and lady friends selling and charging. Yet this guy can walk away, go into rehap and then go back out and do the same thing again. What ever happened to once we can over look but go back and do it again and again. That is something you cannot overlook. What would have happened if it had been someone honest, hard working and trying to do right, we would not have been able to walk away, with a little slap on the hand. As far as what Mr. Page had to say, I have to admire the guy for telling the truth and the whole truth. Isn't that what we the people of the United States are suppose to do. If you go to court don't they ask you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So now it has come to the point, if we tell the truth then we can be suspened from our jobs. What about our kids who will run this world some day. Boy this is great, hey we tell lies and get away with it or if someone tells the truth on us we can have them fired. The Washington Post, I am dispointed in you. I liked your paper, now I am beginning to wonder if maybe it's not that great. Does this mean that I might get suspened from my job for speaking my freedom. Mr. Page did not mention the washington post, so what is the big deal. Barry get a life and let people alone to live their live. If you don't like what is being said about you, then correct your life and live it different.
So what is wrong with the email? Barry is/was a crackhead and is useless. The Post has to be so politically correct that it makes me sick.
I have to say that I am disgusted that this man is being discipline for speaking his mind. Hello, is this not America? This response is one that thousands and thousands of people have thought themselves about Barry. The guy is a crack head and tax evader, he is a convicted criminal and it makes me sick to see people continue to vote for him!
I was watching O'Reilly tonight and he had a report about Cuban who has this movie Redacted out now and its about American Soldiers raping and murdering Iraqis. How is it that we can allow people to express their opinions in this way which is going to be used as propaganda to recruit terrorists and put our soldiers into further danger but we cant allow someone to call Marion Barry the crack addict he is? Come On!!
The Washington Post and Len Downie are pathetic spineless wimps for disciplining a writer for accurately calling Marion Barry a crack head.
Barry is a disgrace to Washington, African Americans, and - really - any group that could, against its will no doubt, be made to associate with him. His contribution to society solely rest on having been a bad example.
The idea that it is Tim Page - as fine , creative, and productive a man this town can grace itself with - who has to apologize is a sad, sad example how deeply warped and perverted our core values have become.
But the main culprit is not Barry - whom nothing better could possibly be expected from - but the Washington Post which acted disgracefully and disgustingly by not putting down the phone the second they grasped the ludicrous demand of the Barry office.
Sickening, really...
Had the reporter been a typical liberal reporter as most of the media comprise, and had he blasted a Republican major, then I bet you there would've been no disciplinary action whatsoever. It would have all been chalked up to their First Amendment right. Deny it all you want but this is just the usual hypocrisy of the leftist media.
The comments were only unfortunate, but RACIST. He can not call any "white" drug abusers those names. Do you want me to name them? For any one to call for an "overdose" of another individual, is not immoral, it is unforgivable. Don't be surprised that racists like this reporter are coming to his aid. One day, they will all have to face God and explain what they did on this Earth. This reporter should be FIRED. He has abused his public position. I will NEVER read anything written by him.
Hurrah for Tim Page. It is impossible to understand why the media can't get enough of Barry. Every time he opens his mouth, we have to see his mug in the news. Where is the delete button for Barry?
actually, he didn't say "crack head." He said "crack addict." Why did your story say otherwise???
The great Tim Post is going on sabbatical to USC anyway. Its too bad that the truth can't even appear
in an email since the Washington Post
/Washington Times merger. Wouldn't it be great if the SOHO Weekly News
came back if only for the dake of Mr. Page.
Hey Dale? Ever have a feeling that a tidal wave is about to overwhelm you? How come 99% of the posters think that Barry is a crackhead and always will be? He is a disgrace to the city and makes us look like a laughing stock to the rest of the nation. Discipline the reporter? They should give him a raise.
The pro-Tim Page comments below are all overlooking a kep point. He sent this screed via his work email. I am the farthest from a Marion Barry fan, but an an email like this from a work email is totally inappropriate. Your work email is not really yours and you always represent your organization when you send something through it. If you want true freedom of speech, use your personal email. If the Wash Post is like my office there are clear standards about how you can use work emails. All he had to do was to be a professional and politely ask to be taken off the list. Your personal feelings don't factor into it.
Barry is disgraceful. That is obvious. He is a disgrace to public service, Black America, and Washington DC. His self-serving email blast invites criticism. Mr. Page exercised his freedom of speech, which is supposed to be the Holy Grail of journalism, but the Post does not have any moral or ethical integrity. It rolled over because Barry whined. Their Leftist management would have snickered if Page had bluntly hammered a white Republican. But, this incident spotlights the political double standard that infects ALL main stream media in America -- and why newspaper circulation is dropping like a rock among the left-leaning media. Its true for the Post and true for CBS News. They have no clothes.
The danger of a quick email response was recently highlighted by Miss Manners in the very same Washington Post. She said:
It is not only that you want to remain a lady, even when dealing with someone who is not a gentleman. This is especially true when dealing with someone who is not a gentleman and who knows a great deal of personal information about you. Miss Manners recommends that you inform him in writing, so you are not tempted to say more than you should. E-mail will not do, because it so easily goes astray -- and can be forwarded. Also, you need to be able to tear up your first 10 drafts so that the one you send is simple, factual and decently worded.
This is advice that fits a lot of circumstances.
I agree that, normally, it is inappropriate for someone to use their work email to send communications of this nature.
But of course this was a REPLY to Barry's inappropriate email to Page's WaPo email. Page was asking to be taken off the list. His (indelicate) explanation as to why he wanted off the list wasn't required, but it's not unreasonable for someone to explain themselves.
Is the truth & reality so threatening to you liberal racists that you have to froth every time it is served to you? Get real.
RACIST? Because he didn't refer to any white crack users in his email??????
Are people now required to list crack users of all races when criticizing the crack head who sent them the email they're replying to?
You might want to think this one through a little more.
For the umpteenth time, Barry-defenders: "Page said he had been cursed by a Barry staffer during an earlier phone request to be taken off the e-mail list."
Perhaps Barry's immature spamming staffer should apologize for sending spam, continually, months after Tim Page politely asked to be taken off the mailing list. Instead, we have the spectacle of a sad sack politician playing the race card -- which should be an affront to people who actually care about racism -- and the POST pusillanimously bowing to the pressures of political correctness.
Forget Barry's persona. The point is that Page "offended" him -- gasp! There is no greater sin in modern America. And instead of just taking Page of the mailing list and being done with it, the Barry-ites chose to cry cry cry to Mommy Post for redress. They got it, all right.
Political correctness is the Stalinism of our age. As a proud Leftist, I can only hang my head in shame.
What exactly did Tim page say that was untruthful? Since when is honesty an offense? If Mr. Page's offense was to offend Marion Barry in an e-mail that was in basis private until Barry released it to the public, then he did nothing wrong at all. Hang in there, Mr. Page, if they fire you I think a large settlement from a lawsuit for wrongful termination would make your retirement very enjoyable.
I remember when Barry and his people tried to indict Bruce Johnson for his coverage.
What part of the truth does the Post object to? He said nothing in a work email which the Post's editorials shouldn't be saying at least once a week.
The boss who disciplined Mr Page is the one who should be apologizing.
This is fairly typical of the arrogance and omniscience exuded by the Washington Post over the last five years or so. Writers in the paper know better than anyone else how to conduct the lives of others and the writers are not shy in expressing their dicta, especially the political writers. But I'm not sure what ethical school condones one person expressing unconcern over the possible overdose death of another. Do not send to ask for whom the bells toll; they toll for thee.
Hey Anonymous, the TRUTH is not and cannot be RACIST. Marion Barry is both a crack user and useless and a half-witted political grandstander, these are undeniable facts. Moreover, he did not call for Barry to overdose, he just said he wouldn't be interested if Barry did, so you need to work on your reading comprehension before you get all outraged.
I'm surprised that no one has brought up Tim Page's Asperger's syndrome, of which he wrote very movingly in the New Yorker this summer. I think this quote from Tony Attwood's COMPLETE GUIDE TO ASPERGER'S SYNDROME says it all: "Sometimes the person with Asperger's syndrome can be criticized for being tactless or socially naive during a conversation, perhaps saying something that is true but would hurt someone's feelings."
Page is on the autistic spectrum. Page is tactless. Page is an incandescent genius. Give the man a break.
I had included the Asperger syndrome article in my report that aired Monday on Nine News Now and told Tim Page by email that I was doing so after someone had brought his New Yorker story to my attention; but I had to cut that information because of a time crunch.
I think Mr. Page was right on target with his comment about Barry. As for me, my subscription to the Washington Post will be terminated tomorrow. They should back and support Mr. Page, not discipline him.
I think a boycott of the Washinton Post is in order here.
Perhaps the Washington Post higher ups would think twice about punishing such a decorated reporter to support such a "CRACK HEAD." if many more were to join in the boycott perhaps justice would be served where needed as in Mr. Page being put back to work. After all there is the Washington Times.
Enough said America, enough is enough. Unite and support this reporter for stating the facts. The only thing Mr. Page did wrong here was to issue an apology. He should have stated proudly that's my email, that's my feelings and I stick by them.
Too bad Page let himself be bullied into an apology for telling the truth. Barry was a crack-head, a textbook case of corruption in big-city politics, a whore-monger, and a disgrace for YEARS before he was kicked out of office. The only reason Barry is still in politics is because the racist blacks in the District use Barry as a thumb in the eye of the Man, i.e., upper northwest DC and the Congress. It's a pity that people are tying to attribute this sudden outburst of truth to a pathological condition.
Regarding the issues raised about "first amendment" and "free speech:" The first amendment applies to the government only. It says "Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech...." It doesn't say "your boss," or "your mom and dad," or "the Washington Post shall make no law...." I wonder what, if anything, it says in Page's contract regarding private communications sent under the newspaper's aegis?
I've met and interviewed (and hung out with) Tim Page, and I can only shake my head at this sorry contretemps. This is why they invented "save draft." What was he thinking when he clicked "send?" Why not just delete unwanted messages? Or better yet, use a filter and send unwanted emails directly to trash. It's not as if Page was being forced to read every press release sent to him by Marion Barry's office.
Very sad. And also stupid. We are all prone to making stupid mistakes (the risk of living life in real time), but some mistakes are stupider than others. Page is lucky he wasn't summarily dismissed. At the end of a lucrative and pleasant semester in sunny California, he'll come back to his desk in DC. There may be a few wry comments, a few raised eyebrows, but the dust will have settled and all will be well. But somewhere in an alternate universe, there must be a hidden-camera video of Page in a motel room, muttering, "The Internet set me up!"
I think that was a hilarious "REMOVE" letter. Good for Tim Page. "Up to and including overdose" - hahahaha.
I'm going to have to agree with Mr. Page on this one. He apologized...Marion Barry needs to let it go. Really...
For many years Barry has been the brunt of jokes brought on by late night talk show hosts and comedians. Chris Rock even referred to him as a "crackhead" in one of his taped stand-up shows. In the movie "How High" a high school was named 'Marion Barry High School'. Common folk such as myself have referred to him as a 'crackhead' and no I'm not taking it back.
He got caught in the FBI sting smoking crack, has been arrested numerous times for drug possession, and let's not forget the tax evasion - and get's off. But let's be real...he smoked it, so he needs to live with the title.
As the saying goes...'if the shoe fits, wear it'.
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