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explainer: Answers to your questions about the news.

Why Do Reporters Ride Around in Limousines?

Bruce Gottlieb
Posted Friday, Oct. 16, 1998, at 9:36 PM ET

The previous Explainer item mentions Michael Isikoff, a Newsweek reporter, making a phone call from the back of a limousine. Is it common for journalists to be found in limos?

No, it is not common, but it is no longer rare. Except for a very few TV stars, journalists are not paid enough to afford their own limos, and are not supplied one by their employers. However, limousine services are used fairly promiscuously by TV networks to shuttle talk show guests to and from the studio. And the ever-expanding number of talk shows means that there is likely to be a journalist or two in a limo or two (or at least a Lincoln Town Car) on the streets of Washington, D.C., at most moments of the day. It is not unheard of for journalists who find themselves in such circumstances to feel the need to make a phone call.

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Bruce Gottlieb is a law student and a former Slate staff writer.
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