Washington Post cops reporter writes about own crack habit

Ah, I see your point. That could work well. It's apparent he can explain it here. Perhaps he either found it easier to do himself, or realized that it could be hard to get someone to open up to the level of clarity he could describe as he would if he told his own story.

 

Oh, my God, that's 52 kittens! Will the senseless slaughter never end?

 

How many readers are going to say, "Shit, I just read about some guy's pill addiction in the LA Times in the '80s?" If we stop doing stories that have been done before, Sunday papers will soon be printed on postage stamps.

 

If the reporter's mission is to suck a reader in so all he does is read until the end, then turn the thoughts over and over in his head, then this guy certainly completed his mission with me.

Unbelievable.

Been there, but not to the level he has.

 

read the story and there are some parallels. ok, lots. i'm feeling amorous toward the lover, and i know i shouldn't right now. feels like she is calling me.

 

Walk away, Xan.

Walk away.

 

Yeah, Xan, walk away.

Don't cave.

 

Stansfield, I scan this site once or twice a week and pick my spots. I have much, much better things to do in life than post 3,662 times, which leads to the type of overwrought Monday-morning quarterbacking we're seeing over an otherwise great story. Jesus, some of you guys are so deep in the damn fishbowl, you can't even see the surface.

 

And for all we know, scanning the site hundreds of times a week under a regular username. Hell, it's a message board; it's purpose is Monday morning overanalysis out the ass of everything. That said, if sportsjournalists.com isn't supposed to critique stories, perhaps critically, may as well shutter the place.

As for the piece in question: haven't read it, was just fascinated about someone dissing analysis on a forum. Next: candor in a PM...gasp!

 

This is my second post in as many weeks where I'm writing, "What Gauchos said." You guys are over-thinking. It doesn't matter where the story was told, paper, magazine, web, whatever... it's just a great piece of journalism.

Gauchos, please ignore the folks who think post total means something... that concept is just really, really strange. Often what happens on this site is, you'll post something very good, and you'll get a response like that somewhere in the mix. Don't even bother addressing it -- just continue with the conversation.

Don't worry, there are lots of people who appreciate your point regardless of your post count. In fact, I really wish that 'stat' would just go away on this site so we wouldn't get sidetracked like this.

 

And that's not going to be perceived as further elitism? Just askin'.

That said, it was a fascinating read -- some direct insight into a problem that many people face, yet one that few people have any real firsthand knowledge of.

Still, it's going to leave some readers with an unintended feeling that this person's story is more important than the millions of others out there.

A few stops ago, one of our reporters lost a child in a traffic accident. He wrote a lengthy (100-inch) Sunday cover piece. It was a very sad story, but no sadder, really, than that of any other parent who lost a child. I remember having the same thoughts about that situation that I do now upon reading the WaPo story.

What makes this tale worth telling now vs. any of the thousands of others that have taken place previously, besides the fact that we have a printing press and it involved our own people? Why couldn't we tell stories like these previously? And wouldn't this have made an excellent piece of a larger package -- whether it's about addiction or tragedy?

Again, just askin'.

 

I've known Rueben's work with The Post for a few years, the beat he covers is crime and courthouse and he is known for his close connections to the local defense bar, especially the top drug and drug related homicide defense attorney. He's a very aggressive reporter but has the local reputation of being anti-cop. Now it makes sense.


BTW F_B, The cops are randomly drug tested and are subject to immediate firing for a positive test. Rueben isn't. In fact, Rueben got a long piece in the Sunday Mag section for his addiction and got to know his editor in a very personal way, only because he's a crack head.