Features editor Henry Allen threw a punch at reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia after Manuel called him a cocksucker. The name calling came after Allen apparently said that an article Manuel and another reporter wrote about government leaks was the second worst story he’d ever read.
In Allen’s defense, the story did have a really piss-poor lead that reads like it was written by a high school student trying too hard to be hip. And all accounts I’ve read so far indicate that Manuel was being a major douchebag.
But I figure if you’re in a managerial position and you escalate a dispute into a physical altercation, then you’ve lost whatever moral high ground you had, regardless of what an underling might have said to you. Again I’m not defending Manuel, but there are certain lines a manager just shouldn’t cross.
A lot of journalists have come out in Allen’s defense, on account of his many years of service and his talent. But I myself believe that talent doesn’t give you a free pass to break the rules, the reason I’m also not a supporter of Roman Polanski (although Allen’s crime was nowhere near as heinous).
Also a lot of veteran reporters say in the old days this wouldn’t have been that big deal. Well, neither was misogynism.
But newsrooms can be pretty tense places. I’ve never seen anyone get into a fist fight, but I have seen a few cussing matches break out, as well as other sorts of behavior that would easily get someone shitcanned in many white-collar jobs.
So how do you feel about this?
Also has anyone ever thrown a punch at your work?
No, not justified in the slightest. However, it made more sense when I read this part of the story:
Sounds to me like the guy was already on his way out and decided, screw it, I’m going to punch this asshole who has been on my nerves. Not that that makes it OK, of course.
ETA: Oh, and the offending story really was a complete piece of shit.
When did it become ok for employees to call their boss a cocksucker? Even if I were mad as hell at my boss, I’d never, ever do something like that. I like being employed.
To your point, no I don’t find the editor’s punch throwing acceptable. The right response would be to use the poorly written story and the writer’s attitude as ammunition to get them fired or get some sort of official reprimand.
I’ve not seen fistfights break out anywhere I’ve worked, but I’ve seen a few very loud shouting matches. I’m embarrassed to admit that once or twice I’ve been involved. Even so, these never got to the personal insult level.
Granted, The Washington Post doesn’t have much in the way of standards, but it’s fairly evident that it would be well that Manuel Roig-Franzia’s journalistic output be limited to YouTube comments.
A punch in the face was probably not just in this situation, but Mr. Allen is nearly a septuagenarian; it’s unreasonable to expect him to knock a much younger man down and deliver a proper kick to the testicles.
I once watched (in horror, but was taking a body down to the morgue, so couldn’t really intervene) a nurse’s aide beat the shit out of a (much) younger RN. And then I got into trouble for reporting the incident, but all of that is quite another thread…
I doubt anyone at work could get me riled enough to want to punch them, but I’m not prone to physical violence (I’d rather shred your self-esteem at 20 paces). I don’t approve of fist-fights in general, much less at work. That said, sometimes…
He better hope his retirement package didn’t include any strings in the fine print.
1.) The article is incredibly shittily written.
2.) Roig-Franzia was completely out of line and could/should have been disciplined for his inappropriate comment.
3.) Neither #1 nor #2 justifies Allen punching Roig-Franzia.
4.) The whole thing is still pretty damn funny.
There’s a lot of ethical mumbo jumbo in this thread which is rather beside the point. If you call someone a cocksucker to their face, you should expect you’re going to get a hiding. Similarly, people who have quite sophisticated moral sense will punch someone in that circumstance. One might as well tell the birds not to sing and the bees not to fly. I doubt very much it was a rational decision.
And if you think the story sucks now, imagine how it looked with the errors in it!
It’s unprofessional and you can’t do this kind of thing. I think that goes without saying. But I don’t see this as a management vs. staff thing. Namecalling and punching is not allowed from anyone. Roig-Franzia comes off as a huge asshole and the instigator here: he called Allen a dick, and later he ripped a page out of his notebook during a meeting, then a few days later he writes a bad story, and in response to criticism, calls Allen a cocksucker. After all that, I think most people would have been tempted to punch him in the face.
And even if you ignore the stuff from earlier in the week, and the journalistic issues, if you call another guy a cocksucker, you are probably going to get punched in the face. If you don’t, you are lucky. That’s not intended to be a defense, but there you have it.
You know, I’ve never seen a fight at work, but reading the articles about this one I’m almost surprised I haven’t. I have definitely seen some tense moments.