STOPPED MAKING SENSE: Exciting behavior by the Post!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

What we've been talking about: We believe we've referred, in recent weeks, to the devolving nature of the Washington Post.

We've been especially struck by the strange, developing contrast between its still-traditional print edition and its increasingly tabloidized web site. That said, a report the Post is pushing today brings this devolution center stage.

As we type, the report in question is the Post's MOST READ. Its exciting headline says this:

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem dismisses conservative website’s claims of extramarital affair with former Trump adviser

Yum! Governor Noem has been accused of conducting an extramarital affair! Dearest darlings it's so delicious!

We're embarrassed for Felicia Sonmez and Josh Dawsey, who agreed to write this report. Lip-smacking headline included, their delicious report starts like this:

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem dismisses conservative website’s claims of extramarital affair with former Trump adviser

South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) on Wednesday dismissed a conservative media outlet’s claim that she is having an extramarital affair with Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump adviser who is also advising Noem.

“These rumors are total garbage and a disgusting lie,” Noem said in a tweet. “These old, tired attacks on conservative women are based on a falsehood that we can’t achieve anything without a man’s help. I love Bryon. I’m proud of the God-fearing family we’ve raised together. Now I’m getting back to work.”

A conservative website, American Greatness, published a piece Tuesday claiming that, according to “multiple” sources, Noem has been having an affair with Lewandowski “for months.” The website did not identify any of the sources.

Lewandowski was Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign manager. He was fired by the campaign in 2016 but remains part of the former president’s inner circle and ran the pro-Trump Make America Great Again Action super PAC.

Is Noem conducting an affair? We don't have the slightest idea. If she is, we wouldn't consider it newsworthy.

That said, consider the journalistic standard which now prevails at this sliding newspaper:

In the current instance, the Post links to, and cites, a report from a conservative website—a report which claims "multiple" sources while naming exactly none.

That means that, by traditional standards, Sonmez and Dawsey don't have any sources! They write for the paper which became famous, long ago, for requiring two credible sources before a report could appear. 

In this case, it isn't just that Sonmez and Dawsey have no sources for the claim they're advancing. Their claim has them sniffing around in the bedroom again—the place where a recent quarter century of deeply destructive gong-show journalism began.

And yes, their exciting report is the Post's MOST READ. Our failing culture runs on such fuel, and apparently always will.

In our view, the Post has been sliding in this direction, especially online. Let's make a long story simple:

In its print edition, the Washington Post remains a traditional newspaper:

Its front section covers the traditional news of the nation and the world.  It also prints a daily Metro section, covering news of the Washington area, plus a daily Sports section and the iconic daily section called Style.

From time to time, a fair amount of silliness may appear in Style. Over the years, Style has published a fair amount of nonsense, trash and twaddle.

But in print, the Post is still built around traditional "news." Online, perhaps not quite so much.

Online, the Post's site does start with links to traditional news reports, but it often moves on rather quickly. The reader is soon bombarded with a bewildering array of offerings built around human interest, lifestyle and opinion, plus a great deal of undisguised dumbness. 

All too often, the online motto seems to be No Foolishness Left Behind.

In various ways, the online Post seems to be weirdly discontinuous with the print edition, in ways which may seem contradictory. 

As best we can tell, the iconic Style section doesn't exist online. Neither does the weekly, content-heavy Outlook section, a major building block of the Sunday print edition.

Somewhat comically, the online Post doesn't even offer National news as one of its featured sections. Here's what we mean by that:

At the very top of the site, the Post offer links to "World" news and to "Local" news (to news from "D.C., Md., and Va.").  But it offers no link to National news. There's no such link at all!

Perhaps somewhat comically, there is a link to "Race & Reckoning." So the culture goes as the upper end poses, performs and pretends.

For the record:

If you scroll down far enough at the Post's site, you will hit a National section. But what does this increasingly silly newspaper think of as National news? 

This morning, at the top of the National section, the top three reports were these, listed in order of prominence of display. And no, we aren't making this up. These were the top three listings:

Army to investigate spate of suspected suicides by N.Y. base soldiers

A man awoke to a bat on his neck and declined a vaccine. Weeks later, he died of rabies.

Florida man wrangles alligator his ‘own way’—with a trash bin

Judged by traditional norms, one of those reports was news. The other two were tabloid dreck. In summary, we offer this:

According to this morning's Post, a man awoke with a bat on his neck. Also, a Florida man wrangled an alligator.

And also this, in the MOST READ slot: Governor Noem is getting it on, according to multiple unknown alleged parties!

In fairness, we ought to say this:

The Post will say that it only reported this matter because Noem denied the claim in a tweet. But how about this? How about Noem denying the claim in a tweet and letting it end right there?

At any rate, this is the way a society dies. Or so Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba, now rather constantly tells us.

Tomorrow: When Maddow quoted Kagan

For deep reflection only: Noem has been floated as a possibility as Trump's next running-mate. Our question would be this:

Have you ever wondered if Kyrsten Sinema is thinking about that slot?