Washington Post features editor punches colleague over 'charticle'
Times are tough in the news business. Nerves are on edge. Perhaps that explains why a veteran Washington Post editor punched out one of his colleagues on Friday, turning the staid newsroom of the storied paper into a boxing ring.In the incident, which took place directly in front of executive editor Marcus Brauchli's office, features editor Henry Allen lived up to his reputation of being tough on his beat, issuing a smack-down on feature writer Manuel Roig-Franzia. Brauchli rushed to separate the two journalists.
Allen, nearly 70, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and a retired Marine who served in Vietnam, was reportedly "revolted" by a feature package put together by one of his writers.
The altercation was apparently over a "charticle" -- a peculiar journalistic invention that fuses text with graphics, and is widely disdained by many traditionalist reporters.
According to The Washingtonian's Harry Jaffe, "the incident began when Style Editor Ned Martel assigned a semi-political story to Monica Hesse and Roig-Franzia. Playing off of an inadvertent disclosure last week that many congressmen are being investigated for ethics violations, Martel asked the two Style writers to compile a list of similar disclosures in the past. They came up with a 'charticle' with a dozen examples, starting with Robert E. Lee's Civil War battle plans for Antietam showing up wrapped around cigars."
Charticle was 'second worst story in 43 years'
Allen apparently did not approve and let his charges know of his dissatisfaction, saying, "This is total crap. It's the second worst story I have seen in Style in 43 years." Hesse was apparently reduced to tears by the verbal barrage.
Meanwhile, Roig-Franzia had walked into the newsroom and wandered over to his colleagues. Hearing Allen berating Hesse, Roig-Franzia reportedly said, "Oh, Henry, don't be such a [expletive]." (For the full quote, click here.)
That's when Allen "lunged" at Roig-Franzia and started throwing punches at the one-time foreign correspondent as the newsroom dissolved into chaos. Brauchli, the executive editor, rushed out of his office and separated the two men like a referee. At least one punch reportedly found its target -- Roig-Franzia's head, according to MediaBistro.
The offending "charticle" can be found here.
Allen mourned journalism's bygone glory
Jaffe, D.C.'s longtime gossip scribe of record, reported that "veteran Style writers said they knew Allen wasn't happy. He had come up in Style's heady days, when writers could wax for a hundred inches on the wonder of plastic lawn furniture or the true meaning of the Vietnam War Memorial. No more. Working part time on contract, Allen seethed over the lost art of long-form journalism."
"We take this incident seriously and will address it appropriately," Brauchli told Politico
Update: Allen has been banned from the newsroom. But it's not that bad: The 68-year-old retired Marine, who bemoaned journalism's decline and the passing of the golden age of news, was already set to retire on Nov. 28 anyway, after he accepted a buyout from the paper. "The last time I threw a punch at anybody was in the spring of 1963 in Parris Island, South Carolina, in Marine Corps recruit training," Allen told the Washington City Paper, which has gone and made a dramatization of the incident.
Correction: The initial headline on this story stated that Allen was 70 years old. The editor is actually 68 years old.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
11-03-2009 @ 10:46AM
HBRO said...
A fight at the Washington Post?
Sounds like a girlie-man fight.
But calling your boss a "democat?"
should earn you a slap, right?
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 6:49AM
jkellmorrow said...
YOU ARE PROBABLY THE ONLY PERSON DUMB ENOUGH TO CALL AN EX MARINE AND COMBAT VETERAN "GIRLIE."
11-04-2009 @ 3:12PM
Gekorge V. Williams said...
No, but writing abjout it in this snide, ignlorant manner should earn you something like that.
11-04-2009 @ 12:16PM
jemteku said...
A marine in a girlie fight? I don't think so, buddy. The words marine and girlie do not go together in a sentence. I witnessed a 72 year old retired marine beat the crap out of a mugger, who mistakenly thought he was an easy target. I wanted to jump in, but I AM a girl who can't fight, so I just cheered him on! :o) The police were very amused when they arrived.
11-04-2009 @ 6:15AM
clint said...
If this story was the second worst of all time which story was the first? Does any one else want to know?
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 8:24AM
katrina said...
yes - I want to know what the worst of all time is also!!!
11-04-2009 @ 10:32AM
Kevin said...
If you click on the link in the story that sends you to the full quotes, they tell you what the worst story he read was. Obviously he's never read AOL news or there would probably be a laundry list of bad stories for him to count :).
11-04-2009 @ 8:40AM
joe said...
Calling some one a democrat would certainly earn the right to get punched.
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:03AM
Chuck said...
My Vote.......The non-editorial style of this charticle wins the "Worst writtten Article Award"
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:04AM
mabel eads said...
Just because things didn't go the fellas way, is no reason for fisticuffs! Was he just having a bad hair day or is this going to be the start of something on going if people don't get their way?
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 12:23PM
Mike said...
The guy is 68, maybe he doesn't have hair!
11-04-2009 @ 7:09AM
Mon-Dragon said...
My journalism professor was Tony Hillerman. I am very sure that if you called him a cocksucker in the newsroom or any venue he would have punched your lights out. This 'dude' faux-reporter with more than one last name, I say this after reading the reportage, deserved more than a punch. I would have kicked him in the balls. Probably more than once. If an experienced editor rips you a new one then maybe you have got it all wrong. Re-write, re-write! Damn lightweights...
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 8:52AM
Sherry said...
EXACTLY!!!!
11-04-2009 @ 11:27AM
Kid said...
Mon-Dragon said...
My journalism professor was Tony Hillerman. I am very sure that if you called him a cocksucker in the newsroom or any venue he would have punched your lights out. This 'dude' faux-reporter with more than one last name, I say this after reading the reportage, deserved more than a punch. I would have kicked him in the balls.
>>>You can't kick him there if he doesn't have any!
11-09-2009 @ 3:38PM
M.A. White said...
Thank God SOMEBODY still cares enough about the news to react this way. Instead of banning Henry from the newsroom, they should invite him back, pay him, and have him give lessons to the young'uns. If you can't take the heat, get out of the newsroom, Manuel.
Cussin' name-calling is for elementary school. A really good wordsmith would have called him something much more unusual. Will be interesting to see what the Post actually does with this.
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:38AM
york said...
AND these Liberals call me part of a mob for verbally protesting taxes . . .HAHAHAHA
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:39AM
Howard said...
Just goes to prove that when dealing with an ex-marine, don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash.
Semper Fi
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:55AM
trx said...
Don't call an ex-marine a cocksucker and then be surprised when he punches you in the head, even if they are 70.
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:57AM
Keith J. Mohrhoff said...
They should have known their editor and that he wouldn't have liked the piece. Subsequently, they should have had a "plan B" piece to appease him when he rejected their idea.
Mr. Allen is from a different era. In his day, a person in his position damanded--and got--respect. You don't use that kind of language around no-less at such a person unless you are prepared to defend yourself from physical assault. Nevertheless, in this world of "political correctness" Mr. Allen will find himself retired now--the paper can't afford the lawsuit.
I am surprised that the paper didn't have a written policy for journalistic standards which would include acceptable styles for presentation. That would settled the matter before it was raised.
Reply
11-04-2009 @ 7:58AM
Joseph M. Abad said...
Hey! I'm pretty good with my dukes, got any openings?
JMA Tampa
Reply