Landing a byline at a regional pub when you’re an out-of-towner takes some effort, but as long as you keep in mind the audience you’re writing for, editors are usually open-minded.

Take The Boston Globe Magazine, for example. Editor-in-chief Susanne Althoff asks freelancers to remember that the Globe magazine is, at root, a local magazine. “That doesn’t mean we’re not interested in national trend stories,” she said. “But it’s got to be a trend that’s of interest to readers in the Boston area, or in the greater Boston/New England area.”

Find out where to send your story ideas in How To Pitch: The Boston Globe Magazine.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Create a social media strategy and learn from the biggest names in social media in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Jen Brown (TODAY.com), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

The next time FNC’s Chris Wallace and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews are contestants on Power Player “Jeopardy,” hopefully producers will pit them against each other. Then we might be able to determine just which Chris is more appealing. In the meantime, we’ll improvise.

In the game show that aired Monday, Matthews played against CNN’s Lizzie O’Leary and former Obama White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Wallace’s round was broadcast Wednesday. He faced “Dr. Oz” host Mehmet Oz and “BBC World News America” host Katty Kay.

Based on coverage of both nights, Matthews bombed and Wallace crushed the competition. Following Matthews’ poor showing, NewsBusters recalled Matthews hypothesizing in 2008 how well former V.P. hopeful Sarah Palin would perform in the game (in short, he was calling her dumb). The NewsBusters story went viral. Flash to Wallace coverage: almost every story highlighted how well he did.

Jezebel Editor-in-Chief Jessica Coen called Matthews “entirely too slow” for the game show. His MSNBC colleague Willie Geist relentlessly mocked him for not seeming to grasp the answer-in-the-form-of-a-question rule of the game. “Did you see his face?!” Geist said the next morning.

For Wallace, the comments were nicer. “Congratulations to my friend Chris Wallace … for winning DC Jeopardy! tonight,” his colleague Juan Williams tweeted. “Go get ‘em, Chris!” FNC reporter Shannon Bream tweeted in support.

But Jeopardy is just a game, after all. We still need to settle the score between the two men: Who really is the better man?

Here we have Chris Matthews

Age: 66

Hair: Blonde. Gets unruly on long election nights. The mane looks crazier as the night wears on.

Education: College of the Holy Cross

Spouse: Kathleen Matthews, chief communications and public affairs officer for Marriott International

TV behavior: He’s the interrupter. He does it to the point where even his guests roll their eyes and look annoyed as they wait for him to finish diatribes. That said, reporters who go on his program also say they like him and insist that  he’s quite amiable off air.

Best on-air moment: An incredibly awkward interview during the 2004 Republican National Convention in which former Democratic Sen. Zell Miller (who was being questioned via satellite) told Matthews to “get out of my face” and said he wished he could “challenge” him to a “duel.”

Controversy: Matthews has been accused several times of being openly sexist, particularly in regards to Hillary Clinton, who he said didn’t become a U.S. Senator on merit, but because her husband “messed around.” And then there’s the time he “forgot” President Barack Obama “was black for an hour” during the 2010 State of the Union address.

Famous relative: His son Michael‘s father-in-law James Ormonde Staveley-O’Carroll was implicated in a $8.1 million international drug bust. Over 4,000 pounds of pot were found in transit on a boat from Jamaica to the U.S in early 2011. The boat belonged to Staveley-O’Carroll. Also, Matthews’ son Thomas has been cast to play in Aaron Sorkin‘s upcoming HBO drama “The Newsroom.”

Workload: Hour-long nightly news talk show “Hardball,” half-hour Sunday morning news panel show “The Chris Matthews Show”

Accomplishments: Failed run for the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania as a Democrat; he received 25 percent of the primary vote.

 

And here is Chris Wallace

Age: 64

Hair: Dark and kempt and rarely moves. Fox News must have better hairspray.

Education: Harvard College

Spouse: Lorraine Wallace, author of the cookbook Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Chicken and Mr. Sunday’s Soups.

TV Behavior: Folksy. Wallace, unlike Matthews, is annoying in an entirely different way. He’s the school marm, the enforcer of the rules and making sure guests don’t interrupt one another. They might as well hand him a ruler for the show. At least then all his enforcing might be entertaining.

Best on-air moment: A contentious 2006 interview with Bill Clinton in which the former president accused Wallace of asking questions that he wouldn’t “ask the other side [Republicans].”

Controversy: Wallace faced some sexist claims of his own. Last year he asked then presidential candidate Michele Bachmann if she was “a flake” (which he later apologized for). His colleague Greta Van Susteren asked if he would “ask the same question of a man.” And Wallace faced intense criticism for a lack of objectivity when he said if presidential candidate Ron Paul were to win the Iowa Caucuses in January, it would discredit them.

Famous relative: Son of the late CBS reporter Mike Wallace.

Workload: Hour-long Sunday news talk show “Fox News Sunday”

Accomplishments: A Peabody and three Emmy awards

When POTUS makes a lunch run, Washington pays attention. We got word yesterday that he grabbed grub at a local chain, Taylor Gourmet, for meetings at the White House. We first learned of this “news” from Politico‘s Donovan Slack, who was giving us pool reports throughout the day. We perked up when her dispatch came through at 12:05 p.m. ET with the subject line: “yes, they’re having hoagies.” This immediately began the conversation around Fishbowl Headquarters over whether they’re called “hoagies”, “grinders”, or “subs.” (The issue still isn’t resolved.)

POTUS picked up an “an assortment of sandwiches”, but we were not given the crucial details of what he ordered.  Some 20 minutes later, Slack picked up where she left off by sending her next report with a subject line that made us choke with laughter: “Sandwich Facts.” It’s your one stop shop for all things between two slices of bread. As it turns out, POTUS ordered a sandwich with “roast turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers and sharp provolone.”

You’d think that if the leader of the free world made a lunch run, he’d come back with something a LITTLE more impressive than a turkey sub. POTUS paid for the pack of sandwiches at a cost of $62.79.

In this episode of “Cubes,” we tour the worldwide headquarters of IPG Mediabrands, the media holding company responsible for $34 billion in global revenue from advertising agencies such as Universal McCann. IPG’s work includes the Geico Gecko and Volkswagen’s pint-sized Darth Vader.

The IPG headquarters is home to a cutting edge media lab full of “Minority Report”-esque marketing technology, and the office includes a high-tech workspace dubbed “the desk of the future” and a skyway stretching 10 stories above the street that was once used by the Gimbels department story, the building’s previous tenant.

For more mediabistroTV videos, check out our YouTube channel, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

HuffPost Food, not to be confused with HuffPost‘s Italian, French, UK, Canada, divorce, black, Latino, high school, travel, college or gay sections, has a video clip featuring Washington’s most spirited politically opposing couple, James Carville and Mary Matalin.

But as you can see, they can agree on one thing: the Maker’s Mark cocktail.

Watch here.

Few things in life sound more deliciously appealing than getting primped and preened for a professional photo shoot with “Real Housewives of D.C.’s” uber stylist Paul Wharton at the helm. As many readers know, Wharton has his own show on Sunday’s called Paul Wharton Style, in which he downs a lot of booze and gets his eyebrows plucked among other activities.

There are a few male journalists we’d love to see Wharton get his hands on: Roll Call’s John Stanton, Politico‘s Jonathan Martin, ABC7′s Stephen Tschida and TWT Columnist Joe Curl to name a few. Of course, Slate‘s Dave Weigel may have a ball with this. A beach blonde Weigel could be intriguing. But if Paul burns up his scalp, do not take him to Whitman-Walker Clinic.

What your $250 gets you:
Fashion Hair Styling.
Professional Make-up Application.
Wardrobe Styling Advice.
Easy to Download Digital Files.
2 Distinct Looks
Photo Retouching Available.

It’s all in the details: Get a two look photo shoot with hair, make-up and wardrobe styling all for $250. Presented by Paul Wharton and his team of experts! Photographer Drew Xeron When: Saturday June 9, 2012 Where: Studio 52 DC 52 O Street NW # 204 Washington, DC 20001 Time: Once you’ve made your reservation (click Paypal link), we will contact you to set up your call time.
Important note: Bring 2-3 wardrobe options and come with face clean and hair clean and ready to be styled.

Reasons to do it: Paul states in his enticing announcement, “As you’ve now heard, the Beautiful You! Photo Shoots by Paul Wharton and his team are the best way for you to get up the up to date, professional  shots you need for your career or just for yourself. Take part in a fabulous day of being pampered as you become the star in front of the lights, camera and action.”

Sign me up! Write info@paulwhartonstyle.com for more information.

Yesterday afternoon WaPo Opinion Media writer Erik Wemple reported on TWT and UPI Columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave‘s questionable attribution habits. In other words, he doesn’t attribute necessarily, he gathers bits and pieces from the vast number of news sources he reads daily.

The best part of the story are the excuses de Borchgrave offers Wemple. Our favorite: “As I recall, it came from my Pakistani associate Ammar Turabi and from the Pakistani English-language papers I read daily. I assume the AP, which I seldom read online, picked it up originally from Pakistani news sources.” The AP disputes this, saying the interview was given directly to the AP, not other sources of which de Borchgrave speaks.

This whole thing could wind up being a fun parlor game to play with friends. For example, read this TWT story from April and Google the last graph. “It would take a military jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, 14 years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills.” Results of the exact same sentence show up on a variety of sites two years earlier. That must have been an easy cut and paste for de Borchgrave.

So far, TWT Editor Ed Kelley isn’t talking. Speaking of Kelley, another great line from de Borchgrave: “I don’t have an editor.”

Sighting: TWT columnist and Drudge’s Charlie Hurt was seen outside 7th Hill Pizza near Eastern Market Wednesday enjoying a pie with wild mushrooms and basil. From the smile on his face and upper body stretch, looks like he had a good meal. A note of utter unimportance: Take note of Hurt’s freshly cut locks. He hardly looks like himself, so much so we thought it might be his brother, Rep. Robert Hurt, a member of Congress from Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. See a picture of him at right.

C-SPAN’s Communications Director Howard Mortman remarks on Google’s self-driving car making an appearance on Capitol Hill this morning: “The Google-self driving car gets a taste of life in the red-hot DC media fishbowl on Cap Hill.”

The Google self-driving car is parked right outside 400 N. Cap. St., which houses C-SPAN and Fox News. The picture below is from a half hour ago.

 

This week The Daily Caller‘s Publisher Neil Patel played a prank on Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson by circulating an email to staff with a conked out Carlson. The email included the following orders and accompanying picture:

“Brian Danza and Chris Bedford have volunteered to build a bar for our new party room.  Tucker will be assisting them on the project and will be reporting to Danza for this purpose.  Tucker sometimes falls asleep on the job so please help Danza and Chris by giving Tucker a little kick if you see it happening again.  Thanks.”

When told of the picture, Carlson fully admitted to easily being able to fall asleep in public. Carlson referred to Patel as his “evil business partner” and remarked, “I sleep like a golden retriever, often and in public, so the shot could have been taken anywhere. I don’t care.”

Got an office prank you’d like to share with us? Write us at FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com or to me at Betsy@mediabistro.com.