Washington Post writer criticizes his own outlet for spreading the Samuel Alito flag story.

Erik Wemple, a media critic, criticized The Washington Post for allowing The New York Times to break the story about an upside-down American flag in Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's front yard.

Alito stated that his wife was responsible for flying the flag in that position amid a dispute with a neighbor who put up a "f--- Trump" sign about 50 feet away from a children's bus stop. Despite the Times reporting on the story and linking upside-down flags to the Jan. 6 riots, the Post did not cover the scoop three years ago.

"Wemple wrote in an op-ed Wednesday that the Post's failure to act on a valuable exclusive was a "black eye" for the paper."

No one from the paper contacted Emily Baden, the neighbor involved in the argument with the Alitos, until after the Times published its May 16 story.

Wemple wrote that all indications suggest that The Post did not publish anything about the fracas, regardless of its focus or conclusion.

The Post's managing editor at the time of the scoop, Cameron Barr, expressed regret over not publishing the story. Barr stated that the neighborhood dispute would have been covered by the Post's Metro section, but Wemple found no evidence that Metro was consulted.

"Martin Baron, who was the executive editor at the time, responded to my inquiry about how things progressed by stating, "I have no idea how things proceeded. I was not aware of any discussions regarding that matter. I only became informed about them when The Post inquired about the story.""

"The Times' flag scoop and The Post's breakdown have made the story bigger, leaving The Post in the position of playing second fiddle on a story it should have owned from the start."

Baden dismissed the Alito family's explanation of the neighborhood argument as "absolutely ridiculous," stating that everyone knows it. Wemple argued that the Alitos were given undue deference.

Planet Chronicle Digital did not receive a response from The Washington Post when requesting a comment.

Planet Chronicle' Shannon Bream and Greg Norman contributed to this report.