Jeremy W. Peters’ story about The Washington Post in Sunday’s New York Times is a fine addition to the canon of Washington-Post-at-a-crossroads-or-perhaps-about-to-die stories. It takes a place alongside Gabriel Sherman’s 2010 “Post Apocalypse,” Harry Jaffe’s “Marcus Brauchli is Sinking the Washington Post” and Erik Wemple’s “This Bag Is Too Heavy” (full disclosure: I helped copyedit the latter). Bonus points to Peters for reporting on purported tensions between executive editor Brauchli and publisher Katharine Weymouth over cuts to staff.
>>Meanwhile, the Post’s ombudsman worries about what the announced buyouts mean to the paper’s mission.
• The five Sun journalists arrested this weekend were all middle-aged, and the information leading to their arrests came from News Corporation, a former News International executive said. Justice is wonderful, and if it helps slide a few mid-career salaries off the books, hey, that’s just lagniappe! (Flashback: In November, Sun editor Dominic Mohan tried to assure staffers that journalists would not alone be blamed for a journalism scandal.) Also, the Sun would like the government to leave it be. Most over-the-top anonymous quote from a rattled Sun journalist comes courtesy of the Telegraph: “This is behaviour reminiscent of Mugabe.” Note: If you work for Rupert Murdoch, go easy on the genocidal tyrant references.
>>RELATED: Don’t count on James Murdoch reading your email.
• MySpace says it has a million new users.
• If you’re able to keep track at this point, Felix Salmon replies to Michael Kinsley’s reply to his original post about the writing style of the New York Observer. So it’s writing about writing about writing about writing. Please keep this going.
• Speaking of things that have gone on too long, the Huffington Post parenting blog has a new name. (Previous: HuffPost drops ‘lode’d battle with New York Times over parenting blog name.)
• New career objective: social media marketing manager in San Jose, Calif.
• Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock tweeted a stupid joke about Jeremy Lin, and then apologized. Part of his explanation: “I still want to be a standup comedian.” Deadspin calls the apology “half-baked” so I don’t have to.
• Jeffrey Zaslow’s funeral is today in Southfield, Mich.
