*Updated by Gustavo: Salon.com weights in…
Dan Froomkin, the onetime Orange County Register reporter who is best known as the author of the Washington Post's widely-read White House Watch blog, is out of work. According to a story today by Politico blogger Michael Calderone, the Post apparently decided to let Froomkin go because it no longer felt the need for his column. Froomkin drew ire from the Post's conservative readers for his tough coverage of the Bush White House as well as his perceived pandering to President Obama.
“THANK GOD the washingtonpost.com finally fired this guy,” commented one reader on Froomkin's last blog post earlier today. “I've been posting on here for over a year that Froomkin needed to
start looking for a new job what with no longer having Bush to kick
around. Turns out Froomkin's percieved relevancy lasted less than 5
months into the Obama era.”
Kris Coratti, the Post's media communications director, told Politico that the paper felt it was simply time to say goodbye to Froomkin. “I think the easiest way to put it is that our editors and research teams are constantly reviewing our columns, blogs and other content to make sure we're giving readers the most value when they are on our site while balancing the need to make the most of our resources,” she said. “Unfortunately, this means that sometimes features must be eliminated , and this time it was the blog that Dan Froomkin freelanced for washingtonpost.com.”
According to Froomkin's personal website, he worked at the OC Register from 1989 to 1995. Highlights of his tenure there include his coverage of the infamous “Honor Roll” murder case, hanging out with virgins at Cal State Fullerton–that's nice work if you can find them–and writing an “accessible” profile of Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher, an accomplishment worthy of UN recognition.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).