If, in apt deference to the growing number of grey patches in my beard, a plucky, young, ink-stained buck were to ask me if I had any advice for conservatives who wish to work within the bowels of our mainstream media, I think I would say, simply, “Get a prenup.”
From a distance, this idea sounds rather absurd — like a union filled with graphic designers, or an op-ed department that abhors debate — but, at this stage, it is probably sensible nevertheless. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but whatever this is seems both deliberate and predictable. Kevin Williamson wrote one piece for the Atlantic before he was canned for comments he’d made years before he started there. Ronna McDaniel made a single appearance on Meet the Press, and was then fired for reasons that had been just as true the week before. Shane Gillis was ejected from Saturday Night Live before he’d spoken a word on air. Adam Rubenstein lasted longer at the New York Times than those three, but he did not survive his first run-in with the mob. To avoid that list growing longer, those who worry that they are eligible for the same treatment ought to start raising the stakes.
Comments