If you’ve ever had a day when you were frustrated with the news being reported from Washington, DC — and unless you’re one of those blissfully off-the-map types living in a hut on an exotic beach somewhere — then you’re normal.
The problem is that in the news business, there is a model for cranking out a daily broadcast: Politician/expert A says X, therefore you must find Politician/expert B to say -(X). For each “up” there must be a “down.” And so on. “Stories” will “break” and then the press corps is off and running to catch the highlights of the day. “Bears on a ball” is how it’s been described, which is to say it’s hard to get a grip on any moving story.
That may be true and as a result, nuance and context can get forgotten, but for journalists like Andrea Seabrook. She doesn’t want to follow the news cycle; she wants to lead it.
Andrea worked with Bob at NPR. He’s said that she was a terrible editorial assistant. You can watch this video to find out why.
Now after a decade of covering Capitol Hill for NPR, Andrea has launched her own media outlet called DecodeDC and the mission is to tell those stories that she’s always wanted to tell: how Washington works (or doesn’t). The daily grind being a beat reporter for a network can make that too difficult, so she’s taken the brave leap to do it on her own…. and we all shall be very grateful. There are three episodes available now on her site and one is more interesting than the other: “House of Misprepresentatives” (Congress looks little like the electorate it’s been elected to represent, skewing old, white, male, and very rich), “Mind Control” (how language is used to denegrate the opposite party – and how Republicans tend to be best trained in business school to excel at the tactic), and “Political Staging” (EVERYTHING in politics is staged, down to how to shake hands).
Andrea is raising funds for Decode DC and we’re happy to say she met her Kickstarter goal two days early, but there is still time to help out (until 6pm this evening). If nothing else, you must admire her independence. Here, we’ll be cheering her on….and listening.
-Ariana