Revolving Door from Journalism to Team Obama Now Up to a Dozen

With the revelation that Newsweek Washington bureau reporter Daren Briscoe will start a new job on Monday as Deputy Associate Director of Public Affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, my list of journalists who have jumped to the Obama administration - plus one who traveled through the revolving door from helping the Obama campaign into a news media slot - is up to a dozen:

Three each revolved through CNN and the Washington Post; two through ABC News; and one each via the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Time magazine.

Complete list below.

[UPDATE, August 4, 2009: "Baskin Becomes 13th MSM Journalist to Spin Through Revolving Door for Obama [1]"]

[UPDATE, February 3, 2010: "Washington Post's Thomson the 14th Journalist to Join Obama Administration [2]"]

The American Spectator's Philip Klein [3] reported Monday night:

Daren Briscoe, a Newsweek correspondent who was embedded with Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, has taken a job with the Obama administration, according to an email sent to a listserv of his classmates at the Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

The email, written by Time reporter and fellow Columbia grad Jay Newton-Small, said Briscoe would be serving as deputy associate director of public affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy as of Monday. "Despite his multiple basketball games with our commander-in-chief, he always brought a skeptical eye to his work and in conversations about the candidate," Newton-Small wrote the email.

As an embedded reporter, his byline rarely appeared, but back in July of 2007 he didn't display much of a "skeptical eye" toward Obama, as recounted in the July 11, 2007 Brent Bozell column [4]:

Reporters Richard Wolffe and Daren Briscoe apply all the usual goo to the Obama cause. "Many of Obama's supporters are enthralled by the content of his character - by his earnest desire to heal the nation's political divisions and to restore America's reputation in the world." Many are also "excited by the color of his skin" and the "chance to turn the page" on American racism, Wolffe and Briscoe add, but blacks are wary that whites might go soft and self-satisfied and think the "playing field is leveled." Here's another sappy line: "On the campaign trail, Obama doesn't seek sympathy: he evokes hope."

Newsweek's online bio [5], which may be taken down soon, reports Briscoe joined the magazine's Washington bureau in 2004 after three years with the Los Angeles Times.

My list of twelve who have spun through the revolving door between journalism and the Obama campaign and/or Obama administration. (Unless otherwise linked, in my early May post you can learn more about those involved in each job switch: "Third CNN Staffer Joins Obama's Team, As Does ABC Vet; Revolving Door Up to Ten [6]"):

Warren Bass: Washington Post deputy editor (of the Outlook section) > adviser to United Nations Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice.

Daren Briscoe: Newsweek Washington correspondent > Deputy Associate Director of Public Affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Jay Carney: Time magazine Washington bureau chief > Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications for Vice President Joe Biden.

Linda Douglass: ABC News Washington correspondent (previously with CBS News) > senior strategist and senior campaign spokesperson on the road for the Obama campaign, now Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services and leading spokesman for Obama's health reform.

Kate Albright-Hanna: CNN producer > director of "new media" (online video) for the Obama campaign, "content lead" for the Obama transition Web site.

Peter Gosselin: Los Angeles Times Washington correspondent > speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Sasha Johnson: CNN senior political producer > Press Secretary at the Department of Transportation.

Beverley Lumpkin: Justice Department correspondent for ABC News > Press Secretary at the Justice Department.

Aneesh Raman: CNN Middle East correspondent > worked in communications for the Obama campaign.

Vijay Ravindran [7]: Chief Technology Officer for Catalist, a voter database provider which worked for the Obama campaign > Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President of the Washington Post Company.

Rick Weiss: Washington Post science reporter > communications director and senior policy strategist at the White House Office of Science and Technology.

Jill Zuckman: Chicago Tribune Washington correspondent > Director of Public Affairs for the Department of Transportation.

-- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center