'Wash Post' Politics Editor Looks to Defuse Debate Over Froomkin Column

By: E&P Staff John F. Harris, politics editor at The Washington Post, used an online chat at his paper's Web site this morning in an attempt, as he put it, to defuse the controversy over Dan Froomkin's blog at that site and "cool it down." He probably didn't help his cause, however, by referring to recent criticism emerging from "the crankosphere."

The debate -- variously described as vital or a tempest in a teapot -- began after a column by Post ombudsman Deborah Howell on Sunday noted that Harris and some political reporters at the paper felt that Froomkin may lean too far to the left in criticizing President Bush and/or that the title of his column, "White House Briefing," should be changed because it allegedly misleads readers into thinking the author is actually a correspondent.

Harris confirmed and went beyond some of his earlier critical comments in talking with E&P and at Jay Rosen's PressThink blog earlier this week.

Today he opened his online chat by noting "TONS" of questions from users on this topic, but said he would only answer a couple, explaining that he had already talked a lot -- maybe too much -- about it already, and it's not a "huge deal" anyway.

"For all its interesting and useful features, some things I don't like about the on-line crankosphere are its frequent humorlessness and tendency to blow issues way out of proportion," Harris said. "After I popped off on some of these issues, some colleagues gently suggested I might be flirting with these traits myself. ?

"I did get irked by one thing Dan had said on-line, which I took to be suggesting that Post reporters don't work hard to hold the White House accountable. He later quite graciously made clear this was not at all what he intended, and I felt bad about responding hotly. I like Dan and his column.

"It just goes to show what my mother always said about counting to ten before speaking in anger."

At the very close of the chat, he took a question from Sterling, Va., relating to Harris, in his Froomkin comments earlier in the week, referring to the criticism from a "conservative blogger" who turned out to be a Republican operative.

"I'll address the matter here," Harris replied. "I did know that some people raising questions about Froomkin are Republicans, but there was a particular instance two months back that made me wonder whether we ought to be paying more attention. An old friend, quite liberal, who has been around politics all his life said to me, 'I love that column your White House reporter writes.' I said, 'Um, Dwight, I'm delighted that you enjoy the column, but you know, right, he's not our White House reporter, and he does not report to me?' He said, 'Well, why is it called White House Briefing?'

"That suggested to me that maybe this is an issue causing confusion. But here's the thing: It's a very NARROW issue, not a question of trying to suppress one of the website's most popular voices....For all the shouting, that is all this issue is about, and at the end of it all it's pretty pedestrian."