Catching Up With the Complaints

Sally Kranz of the District wrote: "It seems to me that when the Post publishes an article about the divorce of a prominent Washington leader . . . it generally appears in the Style section or sometimes in the main section. So I wonder why the announcement of Mr. Graham's [separation] was placed on an inside page of the Saturday business section -- probably the least-read paper of the week and an unlikely place for marital news. I can appreciate his wanting to keep the announcement a private matter and not make it big news -- but it looks to me as though this was a special privilege accorded to the Post's [chairman]. What do you think?"

It should be noted that Donald Graham is not just an important person in Washington, he's the most important person at The Post. But he does not actively take part in newsroom decisions.

Graham is not a social celebrity in Washington; he's a business executive and leader. Much of the story was about an already-announced transfer of stock to Mary Graham and any possible impact on the Post Co. Executive Editor Len Downie said that was why the story was put in the Business section. If I had been in Downie's place, I would have done the same thing. The story appeared on Saturday because Graham gave the newsroom notice of his separation on Friday afternoon.

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Correction (I'm not procrastinating on this one): Last week, I misidentified the source of a quote from an e-mail. It was Richard A. Melancon of Toms River, N.J., who said: "The article, which I read thoroughly, seemed to give some credence to the campaign to smear Senator Obama as a closeted Muslim, if only by the fact that it was given a place on the front page instead of being buried on Page 70 or so as an utterly baseless rumor being put out." I mistakenly attributed that to Gregory Hays of Charlottesville. My apologies to both.

Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or atombudsman@washpost.com.