Let me pose a question to you: Which would you rather have? Bedbugs or cockroaches?
I know neither of these options are ideal, but it’s interesting to note that two left-leaning news outlets had no option in the matter because the choice was made for them.
While The New York Times reportedly had a bedbug problem on all floors of their newsroom, The Washington Post may have one-upped — or tied — them with a reported cockroach problem on their newsroom floor.
“We have a growing pest problem,” Post director of newsroom operations Jillian S. Jarrett wrote in memo to newsroom employees August 14, according to the Washingtonian. “We’ve gotten several reports of cockroaches in the newsroom. Facilities says that this is a newsroom problem and not happening on other floors.”
Sounds like something they're doing at The Post is attracting the hard-to-kill bugs. Could it be their writing?
Who knows?
The Post is said to spray their premises regularly to avoid situations like this but as Andrew Beaujon of the Washingtonian writes:
The memo reads, 'but we have to do more to keep the bugs at bay.' Among the anti-pest measures Jarrett recommends newsroom employees take: Make sure all food and dirty dishes are put away—and leave nothing “on or inside your desk,” Jarrett writes. Clean up after 'cakings'—the Post term for someone’s leaving party—which means disposing of crumbs and leftovers properly, as well as cleaning up utensils.
The director of the newsroom also told employees to use Clorox wipes and reminded them they have on-call cleaning services available to them if they need to be rescued from a cockroach invasion.
The Washington Post’s battle with these roaches has reportedly come to an end since the memo was sent but I’m sure there’d be no surprise if the unsightly insects returned to their old home in the future.