The Washington City Paper used to be such a nice read. Now, not so much.

The City Paper is preparing a hit piece on investigative reporter Murray Waas, and you really need to hear the audio recordings of their interviews with him. I was blown away by how utterly rude and unprofessional (and crazed) the City Paper reporter was. It was beyond bizarre. Waas just kept responding politely and meekly to the reporter's questions - including the reporter's grilling of Waas for being a cancer survivor (apparently, surviving cancer is now a mark against your record, in addition to it being a suitable topic for public dissection against your wishes), while the reporter went off in a screaming rage about fuck-this and fuck-that. Seriously, it is one of the most unprofessional incidents I have ever witnessed in professional journalism, and that includes years of watching FOX News and reading the Washington Times. The City Paper's behavior in putting together this story was sickening.

It's sad. I used to love the City Paper.

(Full Disclosure, I guess: I went to graduate school with the current editor of the City Paper. He was always a nice guy, there's no ill will at all between us. Just figured I'd mention it anyway.)