Certain codes of ethics prevent journalists from swooning over the politicians, policy makers and celebrities they rub shoulders with while reporting the news. While on the clock, journalists are expected to act in a professional manner when sitting across from public figures and are strongly encouraged not to throw their panties on stage when attending a Barack Obama event.
But nothing short of an embargo order will keep journalists from blabbing their mouths off about the famous people they run into on the job. That’s why name dropping is another thing journalists like.
When meeting with a world leader or one of the Jonas brothers, journalists put on their best poker face, act nonchalant and giving the impression that they do these sorts of interviews on a daily basis. But as soon the tape recorder is off and the interview is over, the first thing the journalist is doing is calling up a friend on the BlackBerry saying, “Oh, guess who I just met?”
After such incidents, it’s not uncommon for the following two weeks for such journalists to begin 75 percent of their conversations with the story of their encounter. “It’s like when I was talking to Pelosi….”
Journalists like name dropping in front of their peers, family and especially to college friends who have their own office and don’t share desk space with someone who smells like ketchup.
And while name dropping, journalists tend to forgo certain details about their encounter with the rich and famous such as it lasting less than two minutes, it was them and three dozen other journalists and they were so nervous they forgot to raise their hand during the press conference and had to resort to waiting two hours after the event to ask a softball question.
Journalists can go two ways when it comes to name dropping. The first is to squeal like a schoolgirl and blab about the run in with the speaker of the house to every reporter, editor, paper carrier and the guy taking orders in the drive-thru.
The other option is to play it cool. When asked by a co-worker what is new, a journalist will say, just loud enough for the entire newsroom to hear, that he or she just finished an interview with someone important then immediately proceed to brush it off something as something mundane, never mind the fact that he or she blasted the news all over Facebook, Twitter and the bathroom stalls at work.
Whether it’s the leader of the free world (see above) or the owner of the local Dairy Queen, journalists have a habit of getting star struck while on the job. And telling bragging to their friends and family about it is the best part.
Photo: Reporter and friend Victor Calderón posing with none other than President Clinton.
