At the end of last year, kos wrote that the Washington City Paper staff were finalists for the worst people of 2006 for a hit piece they were working on about reporter Murray Waas. Why? Here's kos's explanation.
And if you're wondering what this is about -- in short, the Washington City Paper is running a story about how Murray Waas' battle with cancer has left him bitter and angry -- trashing him for his battle with cancer -- as part of some bizarre feud Mike Lenehan [editorial director] has with Waas.
City Paper is apparently proud of that nomination, since they put it right up top in an editor's note to the finally published story. (Update: You can Google for the link. No need to provide them more traffic.)
Not only are Mike Lenehan, editor Erik Wemple, and reporter Jason Cherkis among the worst people in the world, they are among the worst journalists. You don't have to read their whole final story to conclude that. Just this part:
The story was juicy enough to prompt an inquiry from the House Judiciary Committee. In response, the Justice Department issued a letter taking aim at Waas’ piece. "The Attorney General was not told that he was a subject or target of the...investigation, nor did he believe himself to be," the letter said, leaving Washington to choose between Waas’ credibility and that of the Bush Justice Department.
Uh, guys, have you been paying any attention at all to the Bush Justice Department? Not only despicable, but stupid to boot.
Matt Yglesias has a good debunking of the City Paper story. Waas wrote about his experience with Lenehan, Wemple, and Cherkis in a post at HuffPo last December.