Ask The Post

Robert McCartney, The Washington Post (Julia Ewan - The Washington Post)

This Week: Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor for Metro Robert McCartney was online Wednesday, July 12, at noon ET to field your questions about The Post's coverage of local news in the Washington, D.C.-Metro Area.

The transcript follows.

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Robert McCartney: Hello, everybody. We already have a number of questions, and I'll get to them quickly. To help people understand some of The Post's bureaucratic inner workings, let me explain at the outset that in my job I oversee the Metro staff of the paper. That includes the Metro section, of course, but also stories by Metro reporters that run on the front page and inside the A-section. Metro also includes the Extras that cover individual counties or other local jurisdictions, and are published every Thursday (plus Sunday in Prince William, Loudoun and Southern Maryland). Metro also handles our well-read Obituaries section. So that's the landscape, and now I'll get to the questions.

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Washington - police reassignment: The reassignment of the Second District Police Commander, Andy Solberg, is the latest strange twist in how DC functions. Solberg earned high marks from residents in 2-D for leadership and communication, and the quick capture of suspects after the Georgetown murders is a great relief. While I imagine in hindsight he might have chosen more careful words at the Georgetown forum the other evening, his swift transfer to "school security detail" is baffling. Indeed, it seems that perceived "racial insensitivity" is the only conduct that jeopardizes one's job in DC. It certainly trumps gross incompetence, wanton indifference and poor leadership. Look at the bungled Rosenbaum case: with one exception, all of the EMTs, fire fighters, police and Chief Thompson are still in their positions!

Robert McCartney: This is an interesting comment related to the hot topic of the day, the newly declared crime emergency in the District. Chief Ramsey, in relieving Solberg, said specifically that Solberg was a good policeman and not a racist. But Ramsey said he took the action he did to protect the confidence of the community in the police department. Perception of the community matters here.

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Silver Spring, Md.: What's with the pictures on the front of Metro pointing to obituaries inside? I'd rather see that space used for news. Pictures are nice, but the Post isn't a yearbook.

Robert McCartney: The photos in the index in the left-hand column on the Metro front are what we call "keys" -- brief references, sometimes called teasers -- to call readers' attention to particularly significant or interesting obituaries inside the section. We're especially proud of our obituaries, and like to use that space on the Metro front to help make sure readers find them. We use a picture, as well as text, because photos improve the overall look of the page and because images are especially effective in attracting the eye.

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Washington, D.C.: The Mall crime story said that the attacks occurred "near the grounds of the Washington Monument." Those of us who frequent the Mall would like to know exactly where. Can you tell us? Also, the map today was helpful, but as for the Mall, precision makes a difference.

Robert McCartney: We'll try to say in tomorrow's paper, or as soon as possible on the Web, where exactly the crimes occurred.

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washingtonpost.com: Two Robberies Reported on National Mall, (Post, July 12)

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Falls Church, Va.: I know it's not your beat, but you might pass along to the Wapo.com editors that at least one reader is appalled that yesterday's coordinated bombing in Bombay, which killed almost 200 people, is being buried in small type on the Web site, while prominent play is given to baseball, Robert Novak, and the obituary of a dance teacher.

Robert McCartney: Okay, the washingtonpost.com editors may see your suggestion here. And I'll send a quick message to our Continuous News desk alerting them to your concern.

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Robert McCartney: A follow-up to the question above: I suspect the Mumbai (Bombay) bombing may be getting less play on the Web site today because it was covered pretty thoroughly on the site when it happened yesterday.

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College Park, Md.: I live in Prince George's county for 15 years. I notice that the Post especially pains a very negative picture of the county. Based on what it has been written about the county, I am sure that the reporters do not know the county very well and hence report based on their opinions. What do you do to prevent the reporters from injecting their opinion when report news?

Robert McCartney: I take issue with some of your assumptions. For instance, while some of our reporters and editors responsible for Prince George's county are relatively new, a good number of them have lived there or covered the county for many years. Also, and more importantly, our professional obligation, which we take seriously, is to strive to keep our personal opinions out of the news coverage. (By contrast, personal opinion abounds on the Editorial and Op-Ed page.)

Our reporters are trained to base their writing on reporting that they do from as objective a perspective as is humanly possible. We editors regularly go to them with suggestions about doing more reporting, including extra material or adjusting their writing to be rigorous and fair.

However, it's a simple fact of our work that readers' views often vary about what's newsworthy and important for the paper to cover. Those differences often give rise to perceptions of bias.

In the case of Prince George's County, you may be referring in part to our coverage of the sharp increase last year in homicides there. That was pretty negative, no question, but it was also an important and valid news story. We believe it's a story that matters greatly to our readers in Prince George's.

That said, we've reported recently that the homicide rate in the county has dropped a bit. We've also covered a lot of other important subjects in Prince George's, such as efforts by the new school superintendent to deal with education issues there. And last month we had a prominent, front-page story about the dramatic growth in upscale restaurants and night life in the county. So I think we've covered much good with the bad.

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Washington, D.C.: To whom at the Post should local organizations send press releases and media advisories regarding local events?

Robert McCartney: There's no simple answer to this question. The best approach is to figure out who at the paper is most likely to cover or list the event, and direct the press release or media advisory to all of those people (editors and reporters alike).

For instance, a press release about a Maryland gubernatorial candidate's event in Montgomery County should go to the reporters covering the governor's race, the Maryland state political editor, and the editors of the Montgomery Extra. A notice about a community meeting in Loudoun County should go to the editor of the Loudoun Extra, since the listing would likely not appear in the daily paper.

An item about a concert or other entertainment event should go to Weekend, perhaps Sunday Source and Style on the Go, and the editor of the Extra serving the jurisdiction where the event is taking place.

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Washington, D.C.: I frequently see things going on around town that I'm curious about. Police activity, mostly. (Not traffic stops, but a dozen cop cars, armored vans and three fire trucks clustered around a building, for example.)

Is this the sort of thing that is covered in the WP? If so, can I reliably go to the Metro section, or perhaps another one, and find listings of these occurrences by date and address?

If not, WHY NOT? As a tax-paying, WP-buying citizen of the District, I believe it is my right to know what my public services are up to, and what threats they're responding to. I think that the most appropriate source for this information is our own Washington Post.

Thank you very much for your time!

Robert McCartney: I've had this question before, including from a neighbor of mine who wondered why a half-dozen police cars showed up near her house one day and she couldn't find anything in The Post about it the next day.

The answer is that we cover these events when the outcome is something that we see as newsworthy -- usually a crime, or a local person's death, or a fire or other mishap. If the impact is sufficiently large, we'll have a story about it. If it's fairly routine or minor -- a burglary, for instance -- then we'll include it in the "Crime Report" listings in the Extra.

However, such events are often false alarms. Police or fire trucks assemble, but nothing much happened. In that case, we almost never write anything. It's just a question of resources. As you say, these events happen frequently. We don't have enough reporters to cover them all. We cover the ones that lead to something important.

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McLean, Va.: Longtime reader of the Post, but sad that the coverage in Metro and the Extras is so BORING. So many zoning board and school board meetings, so few feature stories on cultural trends, interesting people, news about how schools have changed.

Robert McCartney: I hate picking this question and thus publicizing such a negative sentiment, but of course we who hold others accountable need to be responsive when others do the same to us. We are actively trying to do more human interest stories, ones with life and emotion in them, and fewer incremental institutional stories. That said, our obligation to serve the public includes coverage of zoning decisions, which affect people's communities in important ways, and school policies.

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Washington, D.C.: Does the Metro staff tend to be younger than the average Post employee? Any advice on how to break into the Post's newsroom? I love the community aspect of the Metro section, along with the benefits of working for a first class paper.

Robert McCartney: I haven't studied the statistics, but I'd guess the average age of the Metro staff is younger than that of most other sections. If you want to be a reporter (or editor) at The Post, you should typically get several years or more experience at another paper. We hire based primarily on clips from other papers, reference checks and job interviews with the candidate.

People at the start of their careers can apply for summer internships. We also hire editorial aides and news aides, who don't necessarily have reporting experience.

Anybody interested in working for The Post can call 202-334-6000 and ask for the newsroom recruiting and personnel office.

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Washington, D.C.: I live in both D.C. and Virginia. I work in Maryland. I care about ALL local jurisdictions and hate that the Post Metro section (zoning) thinks I only care about the one my paper is addressed to. Why do you do this?

Robert McCartney: We typically zone the Metro section five days a week --not Mondays and Saturdays -- because our research shows most readers care most about their local communities. Thus, the Virginia section is more likely to give prominent play to Virginia stories on the Metro front and on page 2 of the Metro section. Maryland and District stories are more likely to appear deeper inside the section.

However, and this is important, almost all stories appear in all zones. So even if the Metro front in the Virginia zone has relatively more Virginia stories, most stories about Maryland and the District will be in that edition, as well. They'll just appear in the back pages of the section.

Some stories of particularly narrow interest do appear only in one zone. For instance, a roundup of relatively routine actions in the Maryland state legislature will appear only in the Maryland zone. But that's the exception to the rule -- and it means, of course, that we can get more Virginia news in the Virginia zone.

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Robert McCartney: Time's up, so I'm going to sign off. My apologies to the many people who sent questions that I didn't get a chance to answer. There will be opportunities in the future. Thanks for all the feedback, which helps us edit the paper more thoughtfully in the readers' interest.

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