20060728 KDDC Blogger Ana Marie Cox makes good

Blogger Ana Marie Cox makes good

July 28^th, 2006

Poynter Online calls to our attention that Ana Marie Cox has been named the new Washington editor of Time.com.

David Weigel, writing on Wonkette, also carries a post.

See the Time.com press release at the bottom of this post…

For those not familiar with Ms. Cox, please enjoy her bio, as posted on her blog, “Ana Marie Cox:”

ANA MARIE COX had a long, disastrous career in mainstream media before being forced into the shallow waters of the blogosphere. While an editor at Mother Jones, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The American Prospect, her poor people skills made her unpopular, while her sarcasm drove people away. Internet journalism, with its higher tolerance for misfits, provided an early home—she is a survivor of Suck.com, Feedmag.com and Inside.com. She was discovered at a drugstore by Nick Denton, who made her Wonkette. She is now a columnist for TIME and time.com and is at work on her next book, an anthropological study of young conservatives. Her husband Chris Lehmann is remarkably well-liked and an editor at CQ Weekly.

Admittedly, the path that Ms. Cox has traveled is not the most traditional; perhaps this is why I admire her accomplishments. She has tons of talent, enormous chutzpah and I rather like the non-traditional approach.

That is certainly not to say that I like everything that she writes nor do I wish to emulate some of her approaches, but the writer has a certain class and charisma, and I certainly welcome her refreshing approach.

As far as her writing on Wonkette, I never understood her gratuitous use of expletives. I felt that it detracted from her writing and was, well – unnecessary.

Whatever.

I’m not sure when I started reading Wonkette… I do recall the web site’s instant celebrity status after Ms. Cox outed Jessica Cutler, better known as "Washingtonienne.”

If you will recall, it was Jessica Cutler, who cut a wide swath of entertainment on Capitol Hill, all the while, working as a staff assistant to Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio.

Cutting a wide swath of entertainment is certainly not a new phenomenon in Washington, DC, but Ms. Cutler’s unique approach was to blog about her exploits and conquests.

Look up “Blog Interrupted” by April Witt, published Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page W12 on washingtonpost.com. Or, for more fun than you can stand, go to: “The procrastinations of Kelly Ann Collins and friends.”

Hmmm.

To be sure, not everyone appreciated Ms. Cox’s style. Which simply made for more amusement. Michelle Malkin certainly took issue with her in her piece: “The Skanks on Capital Hill.” Although I understand, if not even agree with everything Ms. Malkin said; all Ms. Malkin did was legitimize “Wonkette,” which is not quite what I think that Ms. Malkin had in mind.

In politics and journalism, some things are best left ignored. I’ve never, for a moment felt that moral underpinnings of American were going to be undermined by Ms. Cox.

All this said, we will have to see what she does with Time.com. I’ve never included Ms. Cox on my list of must-read conservative writers, to say the least. When one considers Ms. Cox’s politics, it is not a wonder that Al Jazeera didn’t hire her.

Then again, Time magazine is barely on my list of reading material either. I get the same news from the Daily Kos – and it is much more colorful on Kos.

Meanwhile, Matthew Sheffield at NewsBusters has this to say…

Time Mag Elevates Liberal Blogger to Editor Post

Posted by Matthew Sheffield on July 27, 2006 - 14:55.

Time magazine's online operation announced today that it has promoted former liberal blogger Ana Marie Cox to be its Washington editor. Previously, she was the founder of the airhead politics blog Wonkette. Before that, she worked for the liberal magazine Washington Monthly.

Thus far, Time's online stable includes not one conservative blogger. At present the self-described politically neutral magazine employs Joshua Marshall, Andrew Sullivan, Cox, and its White House correspondent Mike Allen, not one of whom is a conservative much less a Republican. So how is it that Time can get away with this?

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Time Inc. news release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday July 27, 2006

ANA MARIE COX NAMED WASHINGTON EDITOR, TIME.COM

NEW YORK-Ana Marie Cox has been named Washington Editor of TIME.com, it was announced today by Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME. Her appointment is effective July 31, 2006.

Cox joined TIME in March 2006, as a contributing writer. In her new role she will be coordinating TIME.com's political coverage as well as continuing to create features and essays for both the print and online editions.

Prior to her experience at TIME, Cox was the founding editor of the political blog Wonkette.

"Ana Marie is a sharp and witty observer of the Washington scene and has the ability to spot political angles in surprising places," says Stengel. "In her new role, she'll bring her great web instincts to covering the hot topics of the day."

Cox is also the author of the novel Dog Days, a political satire of Washington, D.C.

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Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

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