Woodward, Bernstein, Libby: sister Sara's skyrocketing portfolio

This morning my prodigous 23-year-old journalist sister has an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the nation's most respected and prestigious newspaper along with The New York Times. In the essay, Sara responds to a ridiculous comment by the creator of HBO's "The Wire", a former Baltimore Sun reporter in the 1980s, that Americans don't care about the news anymore. She begs to differ, and as usual, makes a pretty airtight case, at least if you're talking about people with half a brain (you know--liberals, Duck fans).

A little over a week ago, Sara also had an op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle. This one was more personal, about her struggles through the college financial aid process as part of a piece about Harvard deciding to give more aid to middle-class students.

Part of me is as astonished seeing Sara pen these pieces for the nation's great newspapers--she's also written op ed articles for the Los Angles Times on Gen Y and the Christian Science Monitor on the rising pop cultural cache of Barack "B-Rock" Obama--as I am watching our postman currently deliver mail in 36-degree weather while wearing shorts. But even though she's barely old enough to buy alcohol, Sara has been at this for a long time now when you figure in the six or seven years of college and high school newspaper work.

As if her op-ed pieces weren't impressive enough, Sara was also promoted from her copy editing job to opinion editor at the newspaper where she works, the Los Angeles Daily Journal. I just hope in her ongoing path toward world domination, she remembers the little people who used to give her piggy back rides and make her favorite fettucini with sausage and cream sauce.

Comments

[Anothertake]

Simon actually said nothing of the sort. He raised the question rhetorically, but answered by arguing that it was in fact newspaper ownership that shortchanged the journalism itself in the years prior to the arrival of the internet. If Ms. Libby was responding to any argument otherwise, she had erected her own straw man.

[allan]

I didn't read Simon's article, but I liked Sara's piece (I can call her Sara because she's my niece). She said, "my career depends on people staying interested in the news." I fear, however, that interest in the news does not translate into analysis. For example, any big time newspaper editor who starts talking about American imperialism (which is blatant these days) is not going to keep his job very long. Whether it's sports, politics, or violence, people largely read the news for entertainment -- and that's the way the power elites want it.

[Sara]

Hey "Anothertake" -- if you want to criticize my writing (and by all means do, perhaps you should try washingtonpost.com, and not my brother's personal Web log.

[Allan]

I just read Sara's piece on college financial aid, and it was right on the money (so to speak). I especially enjoyed how she took her newly acquired political capital at USC, and laid in on the line. It was a gutsy move that could have backfired, but it worked. Nice. I also want to say that I'm impressed with the quality of her writing -- her articles are well crafted, which is nice to see at a time when so much journalistic writing is just plain sloppy.