Advice to any conservative considering journalism

The ombudsman for the Washington Post wrote something that falls firmly in the "duh" category today: there aren't enough conservatives in the media, especially print journalism.

Even though she said the paper's coverage of the election was unbiased (*cough cough* BULLSHIT *cough cough*), Deborah Howell writes that "the conservatives I know here feel so outnumbered that they don’t even want to be quoted by name in a memo.”

Holeee smokes, we got ourselves a scoop here!

She goes on to say that those poor little conservatives should be the target of specific recruitment efforts to bring "balance" to the newsroom.

My response to this is pretty simple: shove your pandering crap, Deborah. Conservatives have better things to do than write obituaries and get spat on by your liberal brethren.

I was a print journalist and I am a conservative, and I have come to the conclusion that the two are, in this day and age, mutually exclusive. There are reasons for this, which I would pass along to anyone considering a future in the press:

• Differing mindsets. Liberals like to think, and Howell admits this in her column, that they can change the world. The problem with that is massive, but we'll keep it at the very basic level--they can't fix what they don't understand. Liberals, by their very nature, are naive and are driven by emotion. They don't want to fix ONE thing, they want to fix EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW. A more conservative approach, and a thought-out approach to issues, will make you as evil as Hitler (or Cheney).
  
• Arrogance. Don't kid yourself; members of the media really do think they're smarter than you and know what's right for not only you, but everyone. They are so certain of this that they have no compunction about attempting to manipulate events and opinions through their work. You, the conservative, will be so outnumbered and so disdained for your views that it will be an unbearable situation for you personally.
• It's an echo chamber. One of the reasons that journalists are so self-righteous, arrogant and certain they're right is because there's nobody there to tell them they're wrong. This, of course, is what Howell wants to see changed. But there's a problem; the situation is so far gone and print media has already nuked the fridge to the point it wouldn't matter if there was a token Republican in the newsroom. They'd just be treated like a leper and business as usual would continue as the conservative was shunned and given unimportant assignments. That way, they "couldn't cause any trouble."
  
• The pay sucks, the hours suck worse, the facilities are horrible and it's a dying industry. Pretty straightforward stuff here.
• Journalists tend to be nasty, narcissistic jerks. I used to be one.
  

So, if you've got the urge to go into the news biz, I would do a few things: educate yourself on a major issue. Learn ALL there is to know about it. Then find out what the media says. Odds are you'll find the person writing isn't very knowledgeable and their work skews left. Then, if you can, tour a newsroom. Act VERY excited about the prospect of joining up, act like you're politically involved (DON'T let them know you're conservative) and see what they have to say. You'll probably find they're snarky and cynical, not to mention really liberal.

Then go out and get drunk with your friends. You will have experienced the best of journalism without having to deal with all the crap that goes with it.