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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."