Mark Leibovich is the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine. He is the author of “This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — Plus Plenty of Valet Parking — in America’s Gilded Capital,” a book that serves as a primary source on Washington culture.
Here, he dishes on D.C. and the reporters who cover it.
What do D.C. reporters read first in the morning?
Their email, Mike Allen’s “Playbook” tipsheet (in Politico).
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What’s the most persistent water-cooler topic?
Why didn’t the last user replace the water tank?
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Who is the most honest person in town?
C-SPAN impresario Brian Lamb.
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What compliment on your book do you treasure most?
“It made me think about things differently. And I laughed.”
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Anyone stop talking to you after the book was published?
I’m sure there have been, but it’s hard to prove a negative.
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What’s the political reporter’s best conversational icebreaker?
“Is there wireless? Where’s the food?”
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Worst?
“What are you working on?”
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Hottest dinner invitation?
The one I said I would attend but that ended up being canceled.
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Best party giver?
Our neighbors, Sean and Tamara.
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Most respected journalist?
Peter Baker (New York Times), Dan Balz (Washington Post), Candy Crowley (CNN).
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The most respected source?
Eyes, ears.
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The source that is hardest to get?
Audio, video.
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The most persistent subject of press-corps gossip? Envy? Fury?
Gossip: “So-and-so has ‘had work.’ ”
Envy: “So-and-so is supposedly making $XXX,000.”
Fury: “I had that, but it was cut for space.”
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What makes a good flak?
Willingness to be honest, even at the expense of his or her boss/patron (happens rarely).
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What is on everyone’s everyday essential reading list?
Nothing. “Essential” has never been more subjective.
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What is the biggest game change during the Obama administration?
Advent of clichés like “game change.”
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What is the press corps’ most consistent complaint?
Clueless editors, arrogant gatekeepers, malfunctioning technology.
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Who is the most accessible administration source?
Can’t say.
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The scoop you most regret missing?
Watergate (although I was 8).
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What difference has Twitter made in the way the D.C. press corps works?
Enormous, arguably more than any other social media tool ever (including blogs, Facebook, Instagram). It is now literally possible to be your own news service, in real time, and I’m guessing we will in the next decade see the first Twitter-only news organization. It will be huge.
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What’s the worst-kept secret among the D.C. press corps?
That reporters are not objective. They are biased.
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The best-kept secret?
That this bias is usually not ideological, but geared more toward simplistic, black-and-white notions and explanations.