As Folkenflik noted in his story, there’s a famous tale of then-St. Petersburg Times top editor and executive Gene Patterson insisting the paper put his DUI arrest on the front page of the paper to show the Times would cover the news — regardless of who was involved. As a former staffer myself at the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, I can tell you that the Patterson-DUI story remains legendary, and not the least bit surprising.

That’s how it’s supposed to work, as opposed to Lewis reportedly trying to squash coverage.

If a publisher can’t keep their grubby little fingers out of the newsroom, they’re useless. Sounds like WaPo will be headed down the drain if Bezos doesn’t fire Lewis immediately.