By inserting themselves into the 2001 Chandra Levy investigation with breathless, often almost completely speculative accounts of the affair between a missing 24-year-old intern and then-sitting member of the House of Representatives Gary Condit, the media exponentially amplified the Levy family's nightmare, obscured potential police leads, and somehow, totally by coincidence I'm sure, made a lot of money off a truly sad incident.
That was bad enough. (See also: Missing White Woman Syndrome)
Now we have this. The Washington Post hops back into the middle of a seven-year-old story under thin cover of, "Recapping the twists and turns of an already incredibly highly publicized investigation will be a PUBLIC SERVICE because the original investigation LET A KILLER GO FREE." (Editors walk away, whistling, as we all ignore the press's original role in the debacle).
Huh. And the reliable circulation bump from yet another "White Girl In Peril..." story (This time merely a thin excuse for a franchise sequel!) had nothing to do with this editorial decision? The police aren't perfect, but pretending the WaPo is now only some disinterested, public-service-minded chronicler of the police's flawed investigation? Really?
Well. There are 10 parts left to go in the 12-part series. Maybe the Post still plans to explore some of the truly interesting issues this story brings up, such as our country's sick, possibly schadenfreude-based fascination with the tale of a mostly good girl who courted danger with "inappropriate" sex, or the many journalistic sins that can be covered by steadfast insistence on only publishing the speculations of "Sources Close to the Family" or "A Noted Expert on Interns Who Screw Powerful Men..." Maybe.
PS - I'm sure it couldn't have been the Washington Post's publicity/marketing/pr whatever team who already updated Ms. Levy's Wikipedia entry with an external link to the series? Because... ew.
SO are you the new blogger? Or is this still Rusty?
ReplyDeleteNew blogger :) But I'm flattered you thought I could be Rusty.
ReplyDeleteI'm Liz. I thought about doing the whole, "Hey every-buh-dee, it's MEEEE," introductory post thing. But it seemed cheezy. I'll put a note up somewhere as soon as I've had time to fool around with the settings.
In the meantime, the new email address is whyih8dc@gmail.com
Liz, it is like the story about the Blonde 23 year old hiker in Georgia. Nobody cares about the eldery couple murdered by the same man? "Welcome Aboard". FREDTERP
ReplyDeleteYou def. have a way better tone than Rusty and better content! I am the anon calling Rusty a douche, I promise that will never happen on your articles .... Thank you for hating DC right
ReplyDeleteanonymous is a douche.
ReplyDeleteAha, hoisted with your own petard!
You should have kept posting under "Rusty"... it would have confused the fuck out of us. No, even better, from now on post as "Chandra Levy's Ghost."
ReplyDeleteWikiscanner that shit.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAs a life-long member of Espionage, I am glad that the timing has come to the fore on this matter, for it represents something FAR GREATER than the average person would see at the surface.
ReplyDeleteAs Condit's "Sexual Political Disposal Service For Hire" gets out, it will result in the LARGEST VOTER TURNOUT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
How can I know this? For in that my entire US Army Military Career, 30 years of it, has been dedicated to going to ground with what I witnessed them do, how they did it, and who they did it for, back then - And then to independently "Shout it from the rooftops," now.
Of course, there were other major secrets to keep, too.
But that timing is now nigh, and the proof is at:
www.rickhyatt.freeservers.com, where you can see my Espionage Album, and also at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27929255@N05/sets/72157606110325832/comments/ where I have a Condit-Specific Album that gets even deeper.
I think the Washington Post articles, to be followed by ones about Jonbennet Ramsey, are just a way of getting the American People "Warmed up."eulsom
I thought it may be the new blogger. This post was better written. You know, it didn't have that raving drunk on the corner quality that Rusty's posts had.
ReplyDeleteOne day on the job and you're already deleting comments? Geez, it wasn't even that bad (and no, I didn't leave it.)
ReplyDeleteStop deleting comments. Rusty hardly ever did that. Your views will decline drastically if you decide to go that route.
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ReplyDeletehey girl heyyyy!
ReplyDeletehello new blogger. Looking forward to your take on this swamp. I think an intro post is appropriate as it affects your viewpoint. James drove a car and bitched about traffic. Rusty didn't and bitched about metro. James was married and complained about everything. Rusty used to claim about dating until he got a g/f. James lived in Arlington, Rusty in DC and Maryland.
ReplyDeleteAnd you?
I'm not sure that the WaPo series is so terrible. (Although stretching it out for two weeks is kind of lame.) There are a lot of issues here. (Who killed her, was it Condit, did the police F this up, etc.) But one key one I hope they get to is the serial killer theory, that Chandra and several other single women, including the Department of Labor lawyer who was found in the river were killed by one nut job. I know my now wife was scared shitless by this at the time when we lived in DuPont.
ReplyDeleteEh, "show us your tits!" comments could be considered meta commentary on the disrespect women get for being women (and I did consider picking a gender neutral name). But I'm taking them down anyway because I'm just mean like that. If you come up with some point to the comment, "You have boobs - that must make jogging difficult," perhaps, then I won't remove it.
ReplyDeleteThe hell with politics.
ReplyDeleteSince you are new, here are few simple questions for you.
Go ahead and google away.
Usually that is all your generation is good for anyway.
I will keep things fairly recent. Within the past 25 years.
Where are you from?
Where did you go to school?
Have you ever been to southeast DC before?
Do you know what DC hood Brown Union repped?
Are you a property owner?
Do you know who Zebraboy is?
What age did you lose your virginity?
What is your racial background?
What year did Georgetown win the NCAA basketball championship? Who was their star player?
Do you know where Simple City is?
Have you ever been robbed/mugged or shot at before?
Are you old enough to remember the 1991 Columbia Heights riots?
Have you ever been with another woman sexually?
What do you do for a living?
What DC neighborhood was Marvin Gaye from?
What year did Metrorail open?
Have you ever jumped the Metrorail gates to avoid paying for a farecard?
Do you know who Big John Studd was?
What floor was the original Ballston Commons arcade on?
What was the original name of the Washington Wizards basketball team?
Who was TINY B.B.?
What year was the million man march held?
Have you ever dated a black man before?
Do you remeber the tv show DC follies?
What year did the airline crash into the bridge?
What airline crashed?
Which bridge did it crash into?
How many people died?
What does the disco song DO THE HUSTLE have to do with Washington DC?
What color is your Ipod?
Do you own an I-phone?
How many hours a week would you waste watching TRL on MTV back when you were in high school?
What year did BET move the majority of its programming from Washington DC over to New York City?
Which DC radio station did Howard Stern work for?
Um, let's all just ignore the above post/rant, and get back to the comment deleting. Meta commentary? Get over yourself.
ReplyDeleteAnd no one asked to see your tits. He (I'm assuming) just asked what size cups you have. So very different.
so the chandra levy incident is a case of missing white woman syndrome. i didn't realize the news media was ignoring cases of missing non-white women who were having affairs with public officials.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletealso liz, by your logic the press should never report on unsolved murders since protecting victims' families and the police is more important.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone said "Show us your tits!" I'm pretty sure he was referring to Rusty.
ReplyDeleteFantastic. It's like Rusty's sanctimonious, over-editorialized, new england attitude but with a touch of I am woman hear me roar. Can’t this blog go two days without bitching about articles in the Washington Post? There’s a whole city out there.
ReplyDeleteToday's installment was literally as long as the typical USA Today article. How on earth did they come to 12 as the magic number over which to spread this already-pretty-thin story? I sense the hand of new uber-boss Katharine Weymouth. Too bad they don't actually report ongoing stories anymore.
ReplyDeleteMara Salvatrucha 4 life.
ReplyDeleteHey younotfromdc, what Columbia Heights riots? You mean the Mt. Pleasant riots? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAbout 15 years ago, the Ballston Commons arcade was downstairs in the food court. I don't know if it was moved before that or after that. But that's an easy one for me, 'cuz while I was born in DC, I grew up in Alexandria, so, you know, the NoVa questions are the easy ones. I think the rasslin' question probably falls into that category, too...
...and a better Georgetown question would be what Hoya passed the ball James Worthy at the end of the 1982 championship game?
I did the math. 478 unsolved homicides since 2002 in the District listed on MPD's website. I'm sure their Post feature is right around the corner.
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ReplyDeletei get why the post is writing this story, but i have to say that (1) i keep reading it anyway (there so short and easy) and (2) how can one Chandra be so Levy?!? (th quote eminem. Seriously. Get us some new dirty dish, WP writers...something juicy.
ReplyDeleteLiz
ReplyDeletewhy you hate DC. haha. love it
in 2500 nobody will hate DC because DC will be ghost town, the WHITE HOUSE will have moved to Juneau alaska for global warming and will be called THE NORTHERN WHITE HOUSE, housed in Juneau's Capital Bldg.
don't believe me?
see blog here and post it if you ahve time and inclined that way
http://northwardho.blogspot.com
DANNY
former DC resident 1975-1979
ticket seller at AFI
Liz
ReplyDeletewhy you hate DC. haha. love it
in 2500 nobody will hate DC because DC will be ghost town, the WHITE HOUSE will have moved to Juneau alaska for global warming and will be called THE NORTHERN WHITE HOUSE, housed in Juneau's Capital Bldg.
don't believe me?
see blog here and post it if you ahve time and inclined that way
http://northwardho.blogspot.com
DANNY
former DC resident 1975-1979
ticket seller at AFI
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOne of the worst aspects of the series ithe generalizing way that every single person is described. You know what? In real life, people are not like their generalized newspaper-style descriptions. They just aren't. But in this series, every single person is generalized and stereotyped to death. Just tell the damn story, for gawd's sake. And leave out the novelish, flowery, over-written, generalized, ridiculous descriptions of people. Enough!
ReplyDeleteYep WP did add their bulsh*t story to wikipedia,
ReplyDeleteIve just deleted article link. TO the reference section I added: wp rehashes her murder for a circulation boost!