News Website Seeks Reporter Like House of Cards’ Zoe Barnes
What qualities make for a good political reporter in Washington? According to a new job listing from the website Rare, which is owned by Cox Media Group, the “right candidate is an intrepid reporter who knows the way around Capitol Hill but may know a thing or two about the underbelly of our political process.” Or, as the site puts it, “You should be less Paula Zahn, more Zoe Barnes.”
Paula Zahn, for those too young to remember, is a legacy journalist who spent years working for ABC, CBS, Fox News and CNN, covering 9/11 and the Iraq War, among other major stories before leaving the breaking news business in 2007. Zoe Barnes is the fictional reporter from Netflix’s House of Cards who gets information by sleeping with her sources.
See the full job description below:
Notably, the listing does not make mention of Rare’s history as a right-leaning website, instead saying that it is looking for someone who “has no left-right agenda and is beholden only to good juicy stories that will be of interest to our readers inside AND outside the Beltway.”
When Rare first launched in 2013, it described itself as “The destination for conservative news, opinion, blogs and original content” and used the tagline “Red is the Center.” Since then, it has moved away from its conservative identity, embracing the slogan, “America’s News Feed.”
Here’s how some real-life reporters have reacted to the job listing:
Job post seeks "less Paula Zahn, more Zoe Barnes" b/c reporters should strive to be more like an offensive depiction http://t.co/2Qrqmqffxr
— Ginger Gibson (@GingerGibson) August 24, 2015
@jmsummers @GingerGibson "What we're really looking for is a supremely unethical reporter"
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 24, 2015
News website Rare looking for its own "Zoe Barnes" (fictional reporter who sleeps with her sources) https://t.co/dC6JCPOx1E
— Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) August 24, 2015
this is a REAL reporter job description and it’s disgusting https://t.co/TroPOy1IMn pic.twitter.com/TYr2uhMvCp
— Rebecca Nelson (@rebeccarnelson) August 24, 2015
Wanted: Journalist. Must be willing to sleep with sources and get thrown under the bus…
http://t.co/epBFwuIG5Y
— Nick Harmsen (@nickharmsen) August 24, 2015
This job description proves why 'House of Cards' is terrible for journalism. http://t.co/U1fHZ8jokl pic.twitter.com/2mcvOSRWtd
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) August 24, 2015
WaPo reports: @Rare now seeking female reporter to push in front of train. https://t.co/HNxDAtIofa
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) August 24, 2015
Let’s just hope whoever ends up in this position does not need to take the Metro to work.
[h/t Mashable]
[Photo via screengrab]
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