10 Journos You Don't Want to Fight on Twitter

We're not sure what we did for entertainment before we could watch what probably should be journalists' private feuds unfold in public on Twitter. For all the talk about teens who have no social-networking shame, there are a few grownups in the media who haven't seemed to learn the lesson either. Some days, our Washington Twitter lists look more like a Beltway Fight Club than they do a group of media elites. Not that we're complaining. We do need something to watch between episodes of Veep and Scandal reruns, and the journalists on our list below don't disappoint. Fair warning though—if you take some of them on, you doing so at your own risk. Honorable mentions: The Daily Caller's Jim Treacher, Conservative radio host Dana Loesch, WaPo's Greg Sargent, the DNC's communications director, Brad Woodhouse, and NRSC's Brad Dayspring. If you don't think Dayspring can fight, read this story published last night in which he was referred to as a "rabid dog." Here it is, FishbowlDC's 10 Journalists You Don't Want to Fight on Twitter: Jennifer Rubin 10. WaPo's Rubin is a prize-fighter with many Twitter bouts to her name. Most impressive was when @JRubinBlogger went to war with @JRubinBIogger and won, getting a parody account shut-down against the odds. What's that about dishing it out but not being able to take it? Watching lefty media meltdown re Obama media spying is like a kid finding out Babe Ruth was a drunk.. Sorry to disillusion but long overdue — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 20, 2013 @zekejmiller got that, media... He doesn't give a fig about 1st Amendment — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 16, 2013 @mzhemingway because media "critics" are among most biased liberals in journalism — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 8, 2013 We asked Rubin for her thoughts about picking fights on Twitter, but haven't heard back. John Nolte 9. Strong man that he is, Breitbart's Nolte is fighting with all of you these days. At once. A sampling: Media didn't break IRS, AP, Libya, or Verizon stories -- too busy investigating Todd Akin's issues with The WomanParts. — John Nolte(@NolteNC) June 6, 2013 So I'm holding my BB gun and this chipmunk hops right towards me and up the stairs, one stair away. Metaphor for Obama & media? — John Nolte(@NolteNC) June 6, 2013 Obama media minions now know what it felt like when Jim Jones brought out the Kool-Aid: Disillusioned but still obedient. — John Nolte(@NolteNC) June 6, 2013 See the rest of our fighters... Tommy Christopher 8. FishbowlDC has a well-chronicled archive of Mediaite's White House Correspondent Christopher's Twitter shenanigans (and shenanigans in general). Here's just one example, a shootout with Townhall.com's Katie Pavlich over gun control. @katiepavlich no, YOU need stupid control, NO BACKSIES! — Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) April 18, 2013 Well played, Christopher. Well played. Sometimes—looking at just DC media—Twitter does resemble an elementary school playground. We checked in with Daily Caller's Jeff Poor to see what he thought of his own dustups with Christopher. "I forgot he even existed," Poor said. Fighting words. We did ask Christopher for his thoughts, too, but so far he's not playing. Glenn Thrush 7. There's got to be a 12-step program for Twitter fighters who've coined their own terms for how much it throws off their work schedule. If you know of one, we'll pass it on to Politico's Thrush. Great to have qualified professionals such as @noltenc to determine the parameters of objective journalism- and what topics are off-limits — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) May 21, 2013 please block, boycott, blacklist, blue-ball and otherwise scram @redsteeze Point out @glennthrush is cheering on David Plouffe..Get blocked — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) June 3, 2013 Noteworthy: One of Thrush's "procrasti-fighting" partners is none other than Nolte, #9 on our list. Jake Tapper 6. Tapper, CNN's host of "The Lead," is an equal opportunity Twitter fighter. If the rule is don't fight down, no one's told him. He'll argue with complete strangers and honestly, there's something a little admirable about that. We asked Tapper how he felt about making FishbowlDC's list, and we got a swift email back from CNN spokeswoman Megan Grant politely suggesting that we talk with her first for "all things Jake." For the record, they declined to comment. Some of Tapper's finest moments over the last few days: @danahoule not true and also -- not ironic. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 7, 2013 @arunchaud oh I see, so a serious respectful discussion of diplomacy is the same thing as just random smears. Got it. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 7, 2013 @phillygirl1441 @ggreenwald @theleadcnn the #fail, sad to say, is yours — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 6, 2013 Emily Miller 5. Why you guys even try to fight with someone writing a book titled "Emily Gets Her Gun ... But Obama Wants to Take Yours," is beyond us. We just wrote about TWT's Miller's clash with Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski and Politico's Alex Burns a week ago. We even got dragged in: Hey @fishbowldc, These male reporters @aburnspolitico @buzzfeedandrewdefend Weiner treatment of @susancrabtree and me. @realdonaldtrump — Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) May 24, 2013 Just an FYI, if you decide not to heed our warning and take Miller on, her legion of 36,000, mostly rabid followers are likely to join in and bash you. Repeatedly. John Podhoretz 4. So many fights to pick from! Like Tapper, Commentary's Podhoretz (whom we affectionately refer to as "Podwhore") sometimes likes to take on the little guys, but it was just a few days ago he was calling Jeffrey Goldberg a fool. Other examples of note: @buzzfeedben Even more notable: the total horseshit nature of every word of that story — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 28, 2013 @buzzfeedben Even more notable: the total horseshit nature of every word of that story — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 28, 2013 @historianmjs go write your pointless dissertation, because God knows the world needs another one — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 19, 2013 We couldn't stomach reading more of his feed to find more, but we did notice he likes to tweet about movies a lot. So, we've got a spoiler alert for him: Our 10 Biggest Journalist/Assholes on Twitter list will probably have his name on it. Rebecca Schoenkopf 3. This is the Wonkette Publisher's second appearance on a FishbowlDC list, and that's something since this is only our second list. Why is she here this time? We can't even mention her name without getting Twitter death threats, so she's a contender. She even argues with people who aren't listening: Erick Erickson's big hard truths are making my vagina hurt. But he has blocked me, because WHO'S THE PUSSY? — Rebecca Schoenkopf (@commiegirl1) May 30, 2013 And just in case you think anyone is safe, here she is telling off Experian (also in the category of not listening to her) over her poor financial management skills: Fuck you, Experian credit report. Car loan paid off, student loan paid off, no late pays, I have $4k in cards on $16k avail, and I'm a C? — Rebecca Schoenkopf (@commiegirl1) May 31, 2013 Matthew Boyle 2. Breitbart News' Boyle makes our list for the time he got into a Twitter smack-down with Ashley Judd over a story he wrote. Honestly, we're most impressed that he gets people way above his pay-grade to respond to him (Judd has since deleted her replies), but we have to wonder about your fighting skills if you resort to cheap shots over typos most of us have made at one point or another: @jarrettstepman @alexpappasdc @ashleyjudd Ashley, was your excellence in grammar something that helped get you into Harvard? — Matthew Boyle (@mboyle1) March 2, 2013 Richard Grenell 1. In the words of Slate's Dave Weigel: "In a typical week, Richard Grenell might have tweeted 100 times and started 100 arguments." Take, for example, this epic battle with Jake Tapper. What we like, though, is that Grenell is the Mike Tyson of Twitter—when he fights, he FIGHTS. We're always worried his opponents might just lose an ear. He tells FishbowlDC, though, he thinks debate is good for us and that even in the fray, he's not above it. "I learn from all types so when I'm wrong (which is often), tell me. #MediaElitesHaveThinSkin." He isn't a journalist. He's desperate to be accepted by the DC elites @noltenc: shut up. MT @buzzfeedandrew Bush Library opens about a week — Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) April 25, 2013 I tweet about your reporting. Don't take it personally. makes you seem young @buzzfeedandrew Richard, it's sad you are such a bitter person. — Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) April 25, 2013 Austin Price contributed to this report.

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10 Journos You Don't Want to Fight on Twitter

Justin McLachlan

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Justin McLachlan