Completing a full spin through the revolving door, Linda Douglass, a
long-time CBS and ABC correspondent before jumping aboard the Obama
campaign in 2008 - followed by HHS and White House positions promoting
ObamaCare - has re-joined The Atlantic [1] as a Vice President who "will
concentrate on company strategy and communications," the Washington
Post's Howard Kurtz reported online Thursday morning [2].
Before joining the Obama campaign as senior strategist and senior
campaign spokesperson on the road, Douglass toiled for National
Journal [3], part of Atlantic Media which also owns The
Hotline [4]. Her first stint in the new administration was as Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human
Services, followed by Communications Director for the White House's
Health Reform Office, a slot she left in April.
Atlantic Chairman David Bradley recognizes the conflict between her
political agenda and being a journalist, but he told Kurtz "she's too
big an editorial talent for us to keep her out of the editorial
product."
From Kurtz's June 10 post:
While her political tenure "troubles me not at all" for the corporate part of the job, Bradley says, he sees a "blinking red light" when she gets involved with the journalistic side, especially as it involves the president or health care. But, adds Bradley, "she's too big an editorial talent for us to keep her out of the editorial product."
Douglass, who left the ABC News
Washington bureau in 2006 after spending much of the 1990s with CBS
News, will advance the opinions of, amongst others, Andrew Sullivan,
author of The Atlantic's "The Daily Dish [5]" blog. On last Friday's Real time
with Bill Maher, Sullivan applauded author Joe McGinniss for renting the
house next to Sarah Palin's, proclaiming he's just trying "to find out
who this farce and phony actually is."
> From April: "Her
ObamaCare Mission Achieved, ABC/CBS Veteran Linda Douglass Departs
White House [6]."
> My complete list of Obama-news media revolvers [7], updated
just a few days ago, which now stands at 15.
- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at
the Media Research Center. Click
here [8] to follow him on Twitter.