Raju Narisetti, one of two managing editors of the Washington Post, recently tweeted:

Thought encounter of the day: “Would be good if our schools are fully funded and DoD has to hold a bake sale to buy its next fighter jet.”

Narisetti’s twitter bio reads “Managing Editor, The Washington Post. Any perceived opinions are accidental and links are not endorsements. I am never speaking for The Post.” And though it is a personal account, tweets by WaPo editors have been enough of an issue in the past as to have brought about a change in social media guidelines for their news room, as was noted by Andy Alexander back in 2009:

As tweets on Twitter, they’re pretty innocuous.
“We can incur all sorts of federal deficits for wars and what not,” read a recent one. “But we have to promise not to increase it by $1 for healthcare reform? Sad.”
Then, from this week: “Sen Byrd (91) in hospital after he falls from ‘standing up too quickly.” How about term limits. Or retirement age. Or commonsense to prevail.”
What makes these tweets significant is that they were written by Raju Narisetti, one of The Post’s top editors. As one of two managing editors, he’s responsible for The Post’s features content and oversees its Web site. But he also sits in on news meetings and occasionally gets involved in “hard” news.
Narisetti said today he now realizes that his tweets, although intended for a private audience of about 90 friends and associates, were unwise.
They were “personal” observations, he said. “But I also realize that… seeing that the managing editor of The Post is weighing in on this, it’s a clear perception problem.”
He has closed his Twitter account.
In today’s hyper-sensitive political environment, Narisetti’s tweets could be seen as one of The Post’s top editors taking sides on the question of whether a health-care reform plan must be budget neutral. On Byrd, his comments could be construed as favoring term limits or mandatory retirement for aging lawmakers. Many readers already view The Post with suspicion and believe that the personal views of its reporters and editors influence the coverage. The tweets could provide ammunition.
Narisetti’s decision to stop posting coincides with today’s release of new Post newsroom guidelines for using Facebook, Twitter and other online social networks.