Editor Gets Punchy Over Article—Literally

'2nd worst story' ever pushes vet Post hand to violence
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2009 3:59 PM CST
Editor Gets Punchy Over Article—Literally
The Washington Post building.   (AP Photo)

An editorial dispute in the Washington Post newsroom devolved into fisticuffs last week. The item was for the Style section, a department long known for taking an anything-goes attitude toward its reporters. When the story crossed the desk of veteran editor Henry Allen—grumpy about his part-time work and the current state of journalism—he didn’t like what he saw, Washingtonian gossip guru Harry Jaffe reports.

“This is total crap,” Allen reportedly said, bringing a young writer to tears. “It’s the second worst story I have seen in Style in 43 years.” Another reporter on the story, veteran Manuel Roig-Franzia, took umbrage. “Oh, Henry,” witnesses say he told Allen, “don’t be such a cocksucker.” That apparently pushed the 70-year-old Vietnam vet over the edge, and he tackled Roig-Franzia. Executive editor Marcus Brauchli separated the two and had a talk with Allen, whose contract is up in a month. Writes Jaffe: "Few Style writers expect to see him again." (More Washington Post stories.)

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