Yea, you read that right. The myth.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Dave Weigel is human, with thoughts, emotions, and feelings, like most of the rest of us.

Let me explain. Until yesterday, Dave Weigel was the Washington Post blogger covering the conservative movement. One caveat: he’s not all that conservative. Does that make him a bad blogger? A poor journalist? No. Does it mean he might not have been the best person for the job? Maybe. But that’s missing the larger point here.

The point is that our media is fundamentally flawed. Journalism in the 21st century is facing overwhelming forces, and yesterday’s fiasco at the Washington Post only underscores the futility of trying to fight them. The idea of objective journalism is a myth, for three reasons:

1. News moves faster than people.
2. “Unbiased journalism” is no longer a unique selling point, nor one that consumers are willing to pay for.
3. Journalists have opinions, and hiding them only misleads the public, preventing them from properly interpreting the news they read, hear, and watch.

Read more »

AKA The Washington Post. This morning a number of articles caught my eye. Instead of posting them all through successive Twitter posts, I figured I’d list them here for you to check out if you’re interested. Even now, the newspaper provides value for me. It doesn’t come anywhere near the essential role that the Internet plays in my news-gathering, info-centric life, but I still enjoy picking it up and flipping through the pages in the morning, sometimes there’s some hidden gems to be found that don’t make it onto Twitter.

• “Web sites let online lives outlast the dearly departed” – This one caught my eye just because I’ve heard of this before. It’s a unique form of “social” media (in the most indirect sense, I suppose) that uses technology to fulfill a role that was previously complex, often messy, and never enjoyable. This doesn’t necessarily make the process any easier emotionally for those losing loved ones, but it should make it easier in a logistical sense.
• “D.C. auto show gets higher profile this year” – This interests me just because I like cars. Also, it’ll be interesting to see how much media coverage this gets when it starts on Wednesday. Will it actually be as big of a deal as the Post says it will be, because of the auto bailouts? Or will it be mostly overlooked, as the D.C. auto show often is? I might try to go by on Saturday if I have time.
• “The Internet war” – This editorial lays out the situation right now between the U.S. and China re: Internet freedom. I think this is a great, great thing and I hope the Obama administration continues to pursue it heavily. The open nature of the Internet in the United States has, in my opinion, brought us closer to a full democracy (an almost unattainable concept, really) than anything in history. China is obviously not a democracy, but open Internet could be a step in the right direction for it’s still-repressed over 1.3 billion citizens.
• Horoscopes - I’ll be honest I’ve always gotten a kick out of horoscopes; I’m not really a believer, but they’re fun, anyway. Today’s print horoscope (for some reason they are different online, so no link for this one), seemed especially fitting for today: “You have so much work to do and no clue how you’re going to be able to accomplish it all. The answer is in using your support system. That’s what it’s there for, and loved ones will be eager to help.” Some context–today I ‘ve been to the Social Media Club DC breakfast, had five class (one block), one meeting with the AU Web Communications Manager, one meeting with a professor, written two blog entries, and I have an eco-sense meeting this evening. All while tweeting (naturally). But it’s been a fantastic day.

That’s all for now, folks.

The Washington Post had a great little article today titled “Homework and persistence can open up a world of internships”. It’s very true.

A few key quotes (links are mine):

Finding and landing an internship is a lot like finding a job; it requires a lot of research, persistence and networking. “The earlier you start, the better — the more choices you have,” said Mary Ryan, president of the Washington Internship Institute, which runs area internship programs for smaller universities.

Students, start at your college or university career center to identify resources and key dates. “If you’re on the career services director’s radar,” you’re at the forefront when opportunities open up, said Yazad Dalal…

Looking for internships in DC creates sort of a love/hate relationship between the student and the process. One one hand, there are a lot of internships to be found here in the District. Every single department of the government has them, along with every nonprofit, lawyer, lobbyist, public relations agency and financial firm in town. But it is competitive, make no mistake.

Last Spring I applied for over 40 internships. I heard back from three of them. That’s about the kind of response rate you can expect, generally (unless you’re just really lucky). Thankfully, all the internships I have landed have been absolutely amazing, but I’m probably considered one of the lucky ones.

But the article is right, too–just keep working hard and hunting them down, and you’ll get it. It’s really more a matter of effort than luck. For what it’s worth, I’ve posted the resources The Washington Post referenced in their article below (since they didn’t bother linking to them on their online version of the article), as well as a few resources I personally recommend (which I think are better, too). Good luck internship-hunting!

Seriously, Mr. Press Secretary, just stop it. It’s not helping your cause at all–not one bit.

The reason for this sudden post this morning is simple: I’ve come to the sudden–perhaps far too late–realization that the press is genuinely pissed off with the Obama administration. They aren’t upset about the policies (indeed, most journalists lean left, and probably support most of them wholeheartedly), they don’t mind Obama himself (he’s a likeable enough fellow), and I’m sure the work environment down there for the White House press corps is stressful, but pretty hospitable. It ain’t exactly physical labor for minimum wage. But they aren’t happy with his communications team. And given what I’m hearing, I think that’s actually pretty reasonable. It appears Obama is doing a good job controlling his agenda, but his team really isn’t doing a great job communicating it (kind of important, there, guys).

Dana Milbank–who, honestly, I can’t stand, but sometimes makes some relevant points–wrote some shockingly insightful words in his “Washington Sketch” column in this morning’s Washington Post. A select quote from the column:

The Democrats’ failed struggle to hold onto Ted Kennedy’s seat in the liberal state showed how badly the party’s brand had been damaged over the past year. But as the White House press corps challenged President Obama’s press secretary on Tuesday afternoon about the unanticipated loss, Gibbs answered with his usual mix of wisecracks and insults.

Emphasis is mine. That’s not the kind of impression you want to be making on the press. It’s just not. It reminds me of some of the more contentious conflicts in “The West Wing” between CJ Cregg and the fictional Bartlet White House press corps. It usually ends with her getting really upset, the press being outraged, and her working to correct the mistake later on in the episode.

Milbank continues to refer to Gibbs with language like “glib Gibbs gibes”, “the smart-alecky press secretary”, “combative”, and more. Not exactly how I would want to appear in the Washington Post.

There’s no question Robert Gibbs is an outstanding political mind here in Washington. My question–echoed by many others, I believe–is: is he too political? Does he need to chillax a bit? Should he cool it down and give the White House press corps a little more of the respect they undoubtedly deserve?

I think the answer to all those questions is yes. Calm down, Mr. Gibbs. You hear it from Republicans all the time: this isn’t the campaign anymore. Now you can hear it from me, a hardcore Democrat–this isn’t the campaign anymore.