Author's book publication cancelled after a tweet reporting on a WMATA employee eating on the metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book Lady got her just desserts.

Now it’s time for Metro Felicia to get hers.

She may or may not but at the very least her reprimand will remain her private business while Book Lady's unfortunate repercussions got blasted all over cyberspace - that's what happens when folks don't know when to mind their business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Twitter thing was scary. Nothing but a mob rushing to destroy. People were literally asking, what else can we take away from Tynes? What else does she have that we can ruin? Someone even posted photos of her kids. Suggested she kills herself. Her life basically crumbled in 48 hours.

She kept her job.

Exactly.

The PP has clearly never actually had their life crumble.

Man, get a grip. Twitter mob mentality is for drama llama tweens, not purported grown-ups.

Tell that to the Commander-In-Tweets, Mr. Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Book Lady got her just desserts.

So did the metro worker. Later that day she was seen enjoying a hot fudge sundae on the red line!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book Lady got her just desserts.

So did the metro worker. Later that day she was seen enjoying a hot fudge sundae on the red line!

She may have been seen but those commuters who saw her didn't tweet pictures of it all over social media because unlike Book Lady they aren't stupid and/or petty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

Could've gone the other way if the Metro lady was the idiot who took it to Twitter. Stupidity is thinking a mob of people on a platform of anarchy will behave in a predictable unanimous manner. If Book Lady had a shred of sense she would have known there'd be backlash from folks on Twitter and thus thought twice about posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

Could've gone the other way if the Metro lady was the idiot who took it to Twitter. Stupidity is thinking a mob of people on a platform of anarchy will behave in a predictable unanimous manner. If Book Lady had a shred of sense she would have known there'd be backlash from folks on Twitter and thus thought twice about posting.

No, it could have gone the other way, if someone caught the whole interaction on tape and recorded the employee being rude. Employees need to be set the standard for service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

Could've gone the other way if the Metro lady was the idiot who took it to Twitter. Stupidity is thinking a mob of people on a platform of anarchy will behave in a predictable unanimous manner. If Book Lady had a shred of sense she would have known there'd be backlash from folks on Twitter and thus thought twice about posting.

^ yes, this. regardless of whether book lady was right on the merits of her complaint, she should have known that there was a strong possibility the mob would come for her in this situation and that it could in turn affect things she cares about that rely on not having a twitter mob come for you, like a book deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

Could've gone the other way if the Metro lady was the idiot who took it to Twitter. Stupidity is thinking a mob of people on a platform of anarchy will behave in a predictable unanimous manner. If Book Lady had a shred of sense she would have known there'd be backlash from folks on Twitter and thus thought twice about posting.

No, it could have gone the other way, if someone caught the whole interaction on tape and recorded the employee being rude. Employees need to be set the standard for service.

Well shit it could’ve gone the other way if Kim Kardashian was on the train when it happened and she posted a pic of herself smiling sitting next to the Metro Lady while drinking Courvoisier. How many hypotheticals you gonna use to try and run from the fact that Book Lady is an idiot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author was mad that the metro employee told her off. So, she "one upped" her and put her on blast. Publisher thought hell, is she going to do this everytime she gets bad customer service, or gets told to stay in her lane? This is nothing but a drama queen who will attract negative attention for the few thousand dollars that she is going to bring in. Nope, she's not worth it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody that gets it. Character. That is important to many.

Both of them should have some character. Doing something that's against Metro rules while wearing a Metro uniform and then being bitchy when someone calls you on it shows a lack of professionalism.

Well if they both lack character but the Book Lady got the worst of the whole incident that shows she's the dumber between the two.

No, it just shows that twitter justice is arbitrary. It easily could have gone the other way...

Could've gone the other way if the Metro lady was the idiot who took it to Twitter. Stupidity is thinking a mob of people on a platform of anarchy will behave in a predictable unanimous manner. If Book Lady had a shred of sense she would have known there'd be backlash from folks on Twitter and thus thought twice about posting.

No, it could have gone the other way, if someone caught the whole interaction on tape and recorded the employee being rude. Employees need to be set the standard for service.

but that isn't what the author posted. she didn't post a f*cking video of herself being totally reasonable while someone else was a jerk. she posted a picture and a caption with that picture which she knew or should have known could provoke the reaction it provoked.

[Anonymous]

When did a Metro employee ever get fired?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Should a Washington Post journalist get fired
if he documents a crime in action?
Or some kind of bad behavior in public?

The answer is that it depends.

When you work in a newsroom, you are expected to exercise news judgment. Is something newsworthy or not? Will you do more good than harm with this story, or more harm than good? Is there a question that matters to your readers you are attempting to answer?

There's no black and white answer to whether something is newsworthy - it requires good judgment, a sense of what is important and interesting in the right balance.

Even here: A reporter could legitimately do a piece on Metro employees eating on the train. But it wouldn't likely just be like this - just posting a photo and saying, "HEY LOOK AT THIS METRO EMPLOYEE." You'd need a hook, you'd need a puzzle to solve. So, like, you could ask, is this common? If so why - because they don't care about the rules, because they know the rules don't matter, because they don't have time to eat somewhere else, because they're jerks who like rubbing it int he faces of those who can't eat on the train? I would say given the potential consequences of showing a Metro employee eating on the train, you probably would not just use a candid photo in your story here - you'd probably use stock imagery, or blur the person's face, or do something that would not make that person the focus.

The calculus changes if the Metro employee is, say, someone famous. Let's say it's an ex-TV star now working for Metro, who's spotted eating on the train. Then you'd probably say that a photo with a caption is enough for newsworthiness. Someone being or having been famous opens them up to more scrutiny and more public interest. Then it's mostly just a weird news story, in that case - not really news news.

And so on.

source: I used to be a reporter in DC.

You seem to believe the answer is a matter of opinion and should be debated every time. I'm sorry, that's ridiculous.

Well yes - news judgment is a matter of opinion. There are some stories you obviously do or don't cover. And others where editors and reporters would debate whether to cover them.

Do you not get that? I would think it would be obvious. You have judgment and discretion. It's part of what you are valued for as a reporter or an editor.

Don’t lots of people first decide who is doing what? Then based on that, you decide if you want to report it. And how you’re going to report it.