December 26, 2007

"WaPo writer Keith Richburg's journalistic hand-job" on Al Sharpton.

TNR's Dayo Olopade graphically expresses displeasure at WaPo journalism.

7 comments:

Revenant said...

Well, DC is 60% black. I'd expect the hometown paper to kiss a little black activist butt now and then, no matter how much of a crook the guy is.

Ron said...

Gee, I hope there's no pictures!

George M. Spencer said...

"A journalistic hand-job"

Does that mean he stuck the guy's dick in the printing press?

Laura Reynolds said...

The post yesterday about the (mis)use of the title "Doctor" reminded me of the same problem with "Reverend". At least Jesse Jackson attended seminary.

Peter V. Bella said...

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are frauds created through media complicity. They represent no one and never have. They are only about one thing- $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

John Stodder said...

"Blow job" is a term newspaper editors and reporters have long used to describe a personality profile that is almost entirely laudatory, with the implication that the motives were not entirely straightforward, i.e. it was written at someone else's behest, or to maintain friendly relations with a source, or to make up for some past legitimate grievance on the part of the subject.

The fact that this piece is running during the dead holiday week is further evidence that the reporter or the paper want to appease Sharpton for some reason, and wanted to smuggle it past most their readers that they were doing so.

Here's my question: Do you think the expression "blow job" (in this context) evolved into "hand job" so as to be gender-neutral? I've never known a woman to use the term "hand job" to describe being stimulated digitally. Or do you think TNR used the term "hand job" because the Sharpton piece isn't laudatory enough to make it all the way to "blow job" status?

Ann Althouse said...

I think the writer thought he was being somewhat discreet.