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How the Web Makes My Job as Columnist Harder

From: Michael Kinsley
To: Tim Egan, Michael Newman, Seth Stevenson, Sam Howe Verhovek, and Emily Yoffe Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 3:14 PM ET

Hi. I may be a little unhelpful this morning as I've been sidetracked by my column, which is about the Skip Gates episode. This kind of story is God's gift to columnists—offbeat, bizarre, full of comic detail, and yet touching on all sorts of important issues. Trouble is, all columnists are going to be tempted by it, and there may not be enough aperçus to go around. The Web both helps and hurts in such a situation. It helps in that you can check what all the bloggers and other columnists are saying to make sure that what strikes you as a brilliant insight isn't actually a tired cliché. It hurts in that the journey from fresh insight to tired cliché takes about half an hour rather than a couple of days.

It's interesting that both Tim and Sam chose the Dreamliner story. I would like to hear from the Web-only folks in D.C.: Did this story appear on your radar and, if so, how? Was it No. 1? I doubt it. This is a good example of the kind of thing that Drudge and the Daily Beast aren't going to care much about.

As for the California budget story, I suspect that this is one where the main advantage of the Web is the ability to get the Los Angeles Times. Sam, as an alum, how did the LAT do with this story? If they can't own it, it's really over for them.

And yet it has obvious implications for everyone. California managed to cut $26 billion from their budget. Other states will have to impose similar cuts—and the federal government will, too, over the next few years. And there's the political angle. Arnold's stock has plummeted in the past few years. Is it soaring today?

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How the Web Makes My Job as Columnist Harder

From: Michael Kinsley
To: Tim Egan, Michael Newman, Seth Stevenson, Sam Howe Verhovek, and Emily Yoffe Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 3:14 PM ET
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Tim Egan, the author of The Good Rain, reports for the New York Times from Seattle. Michael Kinsley is a columnist for the Washington Post and the founding editor of Slate. Michael Newman is Slate's politics editor. Seth Stevenson is a frequent contributor to Slate. He is the author of Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World. Sam Howe Verhovek, a former national reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, is writing a book about the first generation of jet airliners. Emily Yoffe is the author of What the Dog Did: Tales From a Formerly Reluctant Dog Owner. You can send your Human Guinea Pig suggestions or comments to .
Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty.
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