It sounds like a punch line to a bad political joke -- "Joe The Plumber" has been hired to be a war reporter. In Israel.
Yet that's what a web-site called PajamasTV, headed by Knoxville's UT law professor Glenn Reynolds, just did. Hired him. Gonna pay him to be a war correspondent.
If need for reporters exists, why not hire any of the thousands of experienced writers and reporters who've lost their jobs in the last year? I guess PJTV and Reynolds think the entire barrel is rotten - or maybe JtP was the only person who would take the job. Is it because the job is only for 10 days?
Who knew the jokes of the 2008 election would just keep on giving in 2009 too?
The commenters at MetaFilter score points on the topic:
"Don't get me wrong-- I think that pajamas media is pretty much only proving how shallow the right-wing online journalism talent pool is, but I actually can't blame JtP for making the most out of his 15 minutes of fame. Opportunities are tough to come by, especially for a guy like Joe, and ridiculous as his various schemes appear (ads for the DTV switchover, his newsletter, his album, etc.), I can totally understand wanting to make as best a living as he can by grabbing the opportunities that come by in front of him. I really don't view the term "opportunist" as an epithet. The guy sees opportunities and he takes them. Granted, if he'd been a bit better about that in the past, he'd be a master plumber, rather than an apprentice, and PJMedia should think more about who will produce good-quality content for them, but you go with the right-wing journalists you have, not the ones you wish you had."
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"I look forward to hearing their ideas for sending other pundits into combat zones."
Meanwhile, the commenters at Michelle Malkin's ultra-conservative site cheer their man on:
"I would believe him before 97% of the rest of the media."
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"He will probably be safer in Israel than here - at least after the Big O day, the 20th…"
It's only 10 days of work we're talking here, people. It's really just a way to drum up publicity for ... D'oh!!!!
Great, I get laid off and this clown takes a "journalist job." The industry is dead
ReplyDeleteYou know, if he wanted to cover a war we have a couple of our own he could have signed up for ... just sayin' ....
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