Newsies For Hire

A recent article in the American Journalism Review, "Is There Life After Newspapers?," posed a question to laid-off journalists: What are you up to now? Listed among the new professions were yoga studio owner and substitute teacher. Politico didn't make the list.

But a New York Times story out this week lists several former journalism bigwigs who have accepted jobs with top Democrats. There's a Time magazine Washington bureau chief turned Biden communications director, as well as a former L.A. Times managing editor turned high-ranking Kerry aide.

The premise of the article is that the new career moves are fueling a debate on favoritism -- a well-worn claim that reporters and editors are a left-leaning bunch who popped champaign bottles on Election Night 08 and now are cashing in. My take?

1) It's probably true that a plurality of journalists voted for Obama this year and side with Joe Democrat in your average election. Slate, by no means a politically middle-of-the-road publication, did a survey that found almost every staff member supported the Illinois senator.

2) It's also true most journalists keep personal politics out of their professional judgment -- some going as far as to abstain from voting.

3) News organization layoffs mean that journalists have to go somewhere. Perhaps the most common career move is to public relations. For the dwindling cadre of Washington reporters and editors, those communication jobs are found in politics. Do we blame them for not wanting to uproot their families?

4) There's nothing unethical about a journalist going into the field they covered. Unless, that is, they continue to write about politics even after interviewing for a political job, or are asked to influence coverage at their old publication. As usual, disclosure is key.

5) In some cases, there's not even the perception of bias. Dr. Sanjay Gupta as surgeon genreal? As the Times piece notes, the CNN medical correspondent reported on health records of the presidential candidates last year. But he's certainly no Keith Olbermann.

Which may be just the point. There'd likely be little outrage if Olbermann or Chris Matthews took positions in the Obama White House, if only because the anchors are so forthcoming about their political identifications. There's wasn't an uproar -- mostly affirmation -- when Tony Snow made the move from FOX News to the White House.

As the Times article says, the people making the career switch in these cases are "for the most part, more traditional journalists from organizations that strive to approach the news with objectivity."

But let's make sure we separate the issues at hand. Yes, there can be awkward moments and talk of conspiracy when a journalist joins the political payroll -- which could be more common now that a Democrat is in the White House. Yet I'd argue that this is more a story about job security than ideological payback.