I love journalists. I love women. I love women journalists.
I generally prefer to be interviewed by young attractive female journalists.
Easily infatuated, I tend to spill my guts to them try to give the best
stories possible.
Luke Ford's Hall of Fame For Female Journalists:
Rachel
Abramowitz
Anita
Busch
Claudia
Eller
Nikki
Finke
Sue
Fishkoff
Mary
Hart
Kelly
Hartog
Marlise
Kast
Eve
Kessler
Amy
Klein
Lisa
Lenkiewicz
Heather
Mac Donald
Alana
Newhouse
Emmanuelle Richard
Alisa
Valdes-Rodriguez
Sue
Schmidt
Deborah Schoeneman
Catherine
Seipp
Patti
Shea
Jill
Stewart
Andrea
Thompson
Sharon
Waxman
Suzy
Wetlaufer
Lauren
Winner
Lori Robertson writes for American
Journalism Review's May 2002 issue:
It was a cozy reporter-source relationship in the extreme, a clear
conflict of interest and a deliciously scandalous affair that produced
gasps and gossiping among journalists. The editor--not just a lowly
reporter--but the top editor of the Harvard Business Review had become
romantically involved with the married former General Electric chairman,
Jack Welch, after she interviewed him for a story.
Now, Suzy Wetlaufer did what journalism ethicists say you should do
under such circumstances--she told her boss about the liaison before
the story was published. But for a number of staffers, the revelation
came too late, and her leadership was questioned. Wetlaufer's sex life
became news in the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story in early
March, and in other news outlets; she asked to be removed from her editorship;
and Jane Welch--Jack's wife, who had called Wetlaufer to ask how the
editor could write objectively about her husband given the affair –
filed for divorce.
In 1977, Laura Foreman was ousted from her eight-month-old New York
Times reporting job when it came to light that she had an ongoing intimate
relationship with Pennsylvania state Sen. Henry J. "Buddy" Cianfrani,
whom she had previously covered for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In 1999, South Florida's Sun-Sentinel revealed that the father of tennis
star Alexandra Stevenson was basketball great Julius Erving. Alexandra's
mother, Samantha Stevenson, was a freelance sportswriter who had kept
the father's identity and her 1980 love affair with the then-Philadelphia
76er a secret. Had the news not involved Dr. J and had Alexandra Stevenson
not just advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon, there might not have
been such a flurry of news coverage, culminating in an interview with
mother and daughter by (of course) Barbara Walters. Samantha Stevenson
ducked Walters' question about journalistic conflict of interest. A
number of women sportswriters lamented that her actions put all of them
– who had fought against stereotypes that it was sex and not news that
they were after--in a bad light.
5/13/02
You're not alone, Suzy Wetlaufer.
Like the dethroned Harvard Business Review editor, 62 percent of Americans
have had an office romance, a new survey says. Even more surprising, 41
percent had sex on the job - with half of them doing it on a desk and
16 percent in the boss' office.
The survey, conducted by Elle magazine and MSNBC, analyzed the replies
of 31,000 people who answered an Internet questionnaire. It found that
of the 62 percent who had an office romance, 42 percent were married or
in a relationship. Half the women and 20 percent of the men had a romance
with a superior.
9/13/06
Courtney
Lowery, 26, writes:
... I too have seen glimpses of how hard it can be as a woman in journalism.
I've been hit on by sources, told "attagirl" by one of my reporters,
and just this week had a freelancer sign off in an email with "thanks
darlin.'"
Courtney, I am a young woman going into Journalism, and wanted you to
know that your accomplishments and the work of others like you are what
motivate me to stay focused and not be discouraged by the challenging
road that pursuing this path can be.
Going into this field is especially daunting as a female, and its inspiring
to see that others who share my values and ambitions have made it- and
at a young age. Thank you for being a role model to those of us who are
up and coming in the industry. And your mag is awesome -- I might even
apply for an internship in the near future.
Courtney, I was inspired by your article to question another journalist
-- Lexie Karlson, the Penthouse Pet of the Month for July 2006. She wrote
for the Arizona Republic and Stuff magazine.
She says she does not get offended when men hit on her.
Lexie: "My two year old watches me model. When I say, 'Mommy has
to go off to work,' he says, 'Model!' and pushes up his shirt. And he
poses."
Lexie laughs. "I try to create an environment where he knows that
it is very natural and he won't be embarrassed by it. In my house, I have
my covers on the wall. Not that they're explicit. I've never done anything
hardcore. I do censor out if there are boobies. I just want to raise him
in a world where it's very natural and a job like anything else.
"I'd rather him be able to survive in the world than to keep him
sheltered from everything. People are judgmental but they're going to
be that no matter what."
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