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WaPo spanked on Gitmo story

By Mark Obbie

Was the entire Washington Post staff at a retreat over the weekend? Or simply asleep? What else would explain why it failed to fight back after getting scooped on Saturday by William Glaberson's front-pager in the Times reporting that 9/11-conspiracy charges were imminent against half a dozen Guantanamo detainees. The Post had nothing on Sunday or Monday, while Glaberson follows up today with another scoop: that the government has decided to seek the death penalty against the defendants, whom the story names. It's the names that the AP was forced to credit to the Times in a story that the Post, remarkably and humiliatingly, posted this morning on its Web site. Glaberson's scoops come the old-fashioned way. He's been covering the Gitmo-justice beat for months. But what's the Post's excuse for getting smacked down twice on the same story, and with so much warning that the next punch was coming?At least the Journal figured out a way to answer the Times' Saturday story with some finesse. In a front-pager datelined Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (subscription), Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin tops a story that clearly had already been in the works with the government's decision to try the alleged 9/11 conspirators (and no, he didn't have to credit the Times). The guts of his story is a detailed look at the run-up to today's news: the struggle between military prosecutors and the White House for years over a prosecution strategy. That's a struggle that Bravin is covering as it plays out at the Supreme Court. Kudos to him and the Journal for the enterprise to pursue the story at Gitmo, and to color it in with an interesting profile of lead prosecutor Col. Lawrence Morris.Correction: I erred in portraying the Journal as following the Times. In fact, Bravin broke the story naming the six defendants on Saturday (no link available) on Dow Jones Newswire.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).