‘Blow me’: How not to tweet a work rival

BE CAREFUL what you write on social media. A single tweet has landed a reporter in very hot water. So far, however, he’s managed to avoid apologising.

‘Blow me’: How not to tweet a work rival

A REPORTER in the United States has been reprimanded for tweeting a euphemism for oral sex to a female features writer, who had lobbed a more restrained criticism at him via Twitter.

Alan Feuer, a reporter at the New York Times metro desk, was rebuked by his editor over his “blow me” tweet to the New York Post’s Jane Ridley after lighthearted banter between the broadsheet and tabloid rivals took a sour turn.

Mr Feuer was yet to issue any public apology via Twitter, or anywhere else, at the time of writing.

@JaneRidleyNY @bgzimmer @lisa_b_davidson have you ever used a wanky word like blow me?

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) September 28, 2015

The controversy started after Mr Feuer wrote a piece about a story the Port had previous reported on, about a meltdown at the Daily News.

Ms Ridley, a veteran feature writer for the Post, chided Feuer for using the word “empyrean” — apparently misusing it — in his report, which compared Times journalists’ writing style in relation to its tabloid rivals.

The Post, Capital New York and others had been breaking stories about the Daily News meltdown for months, while Mr Feuer’s story came out on Sunday.

In comparing coverage of New York City’s biggest three daily papers, Mr Feuer professed to not know what the Post’s editorial mission was, but wrote that the Times’ style, in contrast, was “empyrean.”

One Twitter responder pointed out that he seems to have misunderstood the definition of “empyrean,” which means heavenly. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the highest heaven or heavenly sphere in ancient and medieval cosmology usually consisting of fire or light (or) b : the true and ultimate heavenly paradise.”

Ms Ridley chimed in on Twitter, “Speaking as a tabloid vet, I am proud to have never used such a wanky word as “empyrean” in my copy.”

@alanfeuer @bgzimmer @lisa_b_davidson Speaking as a tabloid vet, I am proud to have never used such a wanky word as "empyrean" in my copy.

— Jane Ridley (@JaneRidleyNY) September 28, 2015

Mr Feuer hit back: “have you ever used a wanky word like blow me”.

“Couldn’t you, as an NYT writer, be more creative with your word use than ‘blow me?’” Ms Ridley responded.

Metro editor Wendell Jamieson blasted his reporter.

“It is not appropriate for anyone, least of all a Times reporter,” Mr Jamieson said. “I chewed him out. And he apologised.”

But Mr Feuer still seemed unrepentant on Twitter and, responding to Ms Ridley’s question as to whether he could have found a more appropriate response, tweeted, “nope that pretty much says what I was going for.”

@JaneRidleyNY @bgzimmer @lisa_b_davidson nope that pretty much says what i was going for.

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) September 28, 2015

He did, however, conceded that “blow me” is, in fact, two words.

@media_ink @JaneRidleyNY @bgzimmer @lisa_b_davidson caught red-handed. blow me is indeed two words. #copydesk

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) September 29, 2015

“I wouldn’t use a phrase like that on a public forum ​like Twitter. I hope the whole thing blows over soon,” Ms Ridley told Media Ink.

The Times also corrected a factual mistake in Ms Feuer’s story, in which he said the Daily News circulation had peaked at over a million. In reality, in 1947 it had peaked at 2.4 million, making it the largest circulation paper in the United States at that time.

As of the latest Alliance for Audited Media statement through June 15, the Daily News is now in fourth place among the city dailies with a circulation of only 307,078. The troubled tabloid is selling only 132,347 copies on newsstands.