Paint It, Black

After being employed for over 30 years by the Star Tribune, reporter Eric Black recently accepted a buyout to finally leave. He's taken a job with a liberal advocacy web site called the Minnesota Monitor and has been acclaimed for bringing some journalistic integrity and credibility to the blogosphere. In his own words:

My quest for the next period of my writing life is to seek the sweet spot between traditional journalism and blogging that gets the best combination of the reporting and verification discipline of the old with the energy, immediacy, honesty and candor of the new.

And how does he kick off his "quest" for the sweet spot of journalism? With a hard-hitting report, based on anonymous sources, that US Attorney for Minnesota Rachel Paulose was treated rudely at an office retirement party:

When it was his turn to address the group, Sekus deflected the compliments that had been sent his way and said that those who deserved the praise were the former supervisors who had resigned their posts, because their actions had required courage.

At that, the room erupted with loud, sustained applause that could not be taken as anything other than solidarity with Paulose's internal critics and appreciation for the sacrifice they had made to protest against her -- clearly a spontaneous release of the tensions within the office. According to a witness, the ovation was so loud that it had to represent the applause of 90 percent or more of those in the room.

The awkwardness was further intensified by the presence of at least five federal judges, since those judges preside over the trials handled by the U.S. attorney's office.

Paulose was present throughout and could not have left without calling attention to herself. One of the eyewitnesses said she had a glazed look during the ovation.

Ohhh snap! Or, in the style guidelines of the Minnesota Monitor, she's been p3wnd!

Breathless accounts of anonymous sources rumor mongering in order to tarnish the reputation of someone they have a personal grudge against? That's Eric Black's quest? No wonder the Star Tribune let him go, they already have that sweet spot covered.

UPDATE: Mitch Berg has more:

I have an anonymous witness that says that Black's anonymous witness had a glazed look on her face.