Same team?

[JackReacher]

Did anyone happen to catch Michael Wilbon and Sally Jenkins exchanging thoughts this week about the whole Michael Phelps pot issue?

Jenkins started off with a column saying people shouldn't be so rough on the guy.
Then, Wilbon calls Jenkins out.
Jenkins replies with an online-only column today, calling out Wilbon and Tony K, saying Kornheiser shouldn't talk since he lit up in college, too.

Anyway, what do you people think? Should columnists at the same paper go back and forth like that? Where or when would you draw the line?

Sorry, no links. I suck.

 

[Bubbler]

Mariotti and Telander say yes.

 

[zeke12]

Depends. Is Gregg Doyel gonna cage fight one of them?

 

[mustangj17]

I have a problem with Kornheiser being called out because he had nothing to do with Wilbon's comments. Besides, he's a class act. Leave him out of it.

 

[Moderator1]

Why not? Sharing opinions with your co-workers is not a requirement of the job, I don't think. I didn't read any of the columns in question. If they were done professionally, why would it be an issue?

 

[JackReacher]

Why not? Sharing opinions with your co-workers is not a requirement of the job, I don't think. I didn't read any of the columns in question. If they were done professionally, why would it be an issue?

I agree, mostly. I also think it seems a bit "me, me, me" when columnists call out their co-workers in back-to-back-to-back columns. That's all.

And Jenkins included Tony K in her second column because he apparently took her to task on the Post's online Talking Points video thingy, which he does with Wilbon.

 

[SF_Express]

Different than print, I know ... but we not only accept these, we encourage them and have a lot of fun with them.

If your attitude is "it's business, not personal" ... they work great.

 

[2underpar]

I think sonner should be called out for leaving the biz for a cushy desk job.

 

[JackReacher]

I think sonner should be called out for leaving the biz for a cushy desk job.

Get in line, sucka!

 

[slappy4428]

Back in the day, Jerry Green and Joe Falls would have emphatically said yes.

 

[forever_town]

Tony K. accepted a buyout from The Washington Post, so he's technically no longer on "the same team."

If I were their SE, I'd tell 'em they're welcome to refute each other's arguments, but they're not welcome to take potshots at each other in print because it looks juvenile.

 

[DanOregon]

I don't mind a discussion/argument that does a good job at expressing different points of view. But as we've seen in the political argument, when the sides start arguing about different things or deviating from the issue to the person making the opposing arguments, the audience is not being served.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Having started in the "alternative" press, where these things could go on for so long that nobody remembers what started them, I say yes.

 

[BillyT]

Did anyone happen to catch Michael Wilbon and Sally Jenkins exchanging thoughts this week about the whole Michael Phelps pot issue?

Jenkins started off with a column saying people shouldn't be so rough on the guy.
Then, Wilbon calls Jenkins out.
Jenkins replies with an online-only column today, calling out Wilbon and Tony K, saying Kornheiser shouldn't talk since he lit up in college, too.

Anyway, what do you people think? Should columnists at the same paper go back and forth like that? Where or when would you draw the line?

Sorry, no links. I suck.

I have been following thios.

I read Wilbon's column first, and I wrote him a note saying the column would have been better without taking a shot at Jenkins.

Thing is, when I went back to read Jenkins' original column, it was based on a discussion Tony and Michael had.

I think it's ridiculous and the fact that editors cannot stop it is an example of why the "super-columnist" is not necessarily a good thing.

Great topic, but people really don't care about what other writers think and have done.

 

[Tom Petty]

i only wish sonner would have shown his work. who knows ... we have no links.

thanks, sonner.

 

[JackReacher]

i only wish sonner would have shown his work. who knows ... we have no links.

thanks, sonner.

My bad.

www.washingtonpost.com.

Dig for it, *****!!

 

[Tom Petty]

i only wish sonner would have shown his work. who knows ... we have no links.

thanks, sonner.

My bad.

www.washingtonpost.com.

Dig for it, *****!!

like 12 days later ... no thanks. i won't click on that link in protest.

 

[JackReacher]

i only wish sonner would have shown his work. who knows ... we have no links.

thanks, sonner.

My bad.

www.washingtonpost.com.

Dig for it, *****!!

like 12 days later ... no thanks. i won't click on that link in protest.

Honestly, it's not that exciting anyway.

 

[Tom Petty]

i only wish sonner would have shown his work. who knows ... we have no links.

thanks, sonner.

My bad.

www.washingtonpost.com.

Dig for it, *****!!

like 12 days later ... no thanks. i won't click on that link in protest.

Honestly, it's not that exciting anyway.

ha. god bless ya, sonner.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

There is no way to make Sally's point, to wit, that it is hypocritical to criticize someone for something you did yourself, without getting personal. If you don't name names, the reader will say "who're you covering up for?"