In the high pressure world of a failing industry, tensions run high and tempers are short. In the Washington Post Style section’s department at the WaPo offices, tempers boiled over today. Manuel Roig-Franzia and Monica Hesse got a plum assignment dealing with the recent Congressional ethics hearings that are breaking out like pimples on a teenager. However, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Henry Allen had some problems with the article. Words were yelled, and soon, Roig-Franzia and Allen were engaged in a little kung-fist fighting.
It’s kind of surprising to me that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. I mean, journalists who do freelance work get paid by the word, and better features mean more words. Salaried journalists are always looking to improve their visibility by getting their name on the front page of the paper. Tempers run high, and when you’re an editor whose job is to criticize the work of the reporters, well… not everyone can handle critique.
Tags: Washington Post, newspapers, Washington Post fist fights, Manuel Roig-Franzia, Monica Hesse, Henry Allen, workplace violence