Metropolitan Diary Editor Steamed At WFMU
We all had a good chuckle when WFMU managed to weasel a fake item into the New York Times's oldster-pleasing Metropolitan Diary. Unsurprisingly, MetDi editor Michael Pollak didn't find the situation so funny. He sent WFMU intern Andrea Silenzi, who'd vouched for the item's veracity, a mean email, in which he told her that the Times would print her name and that of Wesleyan's radio station (which he'd confused with WFMU.) But according to a tipster who caught the show (listenable here) last night, that wasn't where Pollak's rage ended.
It turns out their intern—who sent in the fake story and lied to the Times fact-checker about it—got a threatening call from Metro Diary editor Michael Pollak. Pollak threatened, more or less, to sabotage her Fulbright application. (She's a college senior.) He also called her "arrogant" because there's lots of stuff about her on the Internet (!), and pointed out that the Metropolitan Diary is the one bright spot in the sad lives of many elderly people....
Well, it's good to know that Michael is so committed to Metropolitan Diary's truthfulness. Seriously, that guy never misses a beat. GET IT? NEVER MISSES A BEAT? THAT PHRASE THEY ALWAYS USE IN METROPOLITAN DIARY?