FishbowlDC Interview

Say hello to Megan Hughes. She’s a Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg Television and comes comes from Cleveland.

Hughes tells us she and her family were really into sports growing up. Her father was a coach and she and her two brothers played soccer.

Hughes’s has always had an interest in television; while in high school, she served as a host for a cable access show, “Fairview Forum,” that covered the in’s and out’s of the local school system. After earning a masters in journalism from Northwestern University, her first professional job was as an on-air reporter at ATV (Aruba Television). That began a decade-long career in television news, including five years covering Washington politics. She’s also covered stories overseas including Thailand after the tsunami and along the DMZ in South Korea.

Let’s begin.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be?

Zima

How often do you Google yourself?

Never! Now, Bing on the other hand…

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)?

I honestly can’t remember ever raising my voice or swearing at a boss. I guess I’ve had a pretty great group of bosses. Or I have a really bad memory.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

She’s a close personal friend, but I really admire Lisa DesJardins from CNN Radio. She’ll stay up all night combing through the minutiae of the budget or reading the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, and manages to balance Capitol Hill doggedness and the highest level of integrity. I’d also give an H/T to Mike Allen for his thoughtful aggregating at ungodly hours. It is appreciated as much as my first cup of coffee — that’s a tremendous amount.

Do you have a favorite word?

My first favorite word is onomatopoeia. My second would be sizzle or splat.

What word or phrase do you overuse?

“I saw that on Twitter hours ago.”

Who would you rather have dinner with – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, ABC’s Diane Sawyer or NBC’s Tom Brokaw? Tell us why.

I’d have to go with Diane. She’s someone I’ve admired since I was hosting a cable access show in high school, and she’s been the definition of pioneer for women in this industry.

What is the most interesting conversation you’ve had while reporting a story and who was it with?

Wow, there have been a lot in 10 years of reporting. Most recently, I’d point to the conversations I had in advance of the Supreme Court hearing healthcare case. It was fascinating to see how it impacts different sectors. Cleveland Clinic’s CEO Toby Cosgrove really opened my eyes to the complexities of hospital budgeting. I had no idea how much money hospitals lose treating Medicaid patients.

What’s the name of your cell phone ring?

Timba.

It’s 3 a.m. and you get up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Do you check your BlackBerry?

Usually.

What word do you routinely misspell?

I misspell the last name of the Bloomberg colleague I must submit receipts to on an almost daily basis. It’s “Morisette.” Or “Morrissette.” To compensate for my frustration at an already tedious task, I take extra care to add a cheery “Thanks!!!” at the end of each email. Three exclamation points. Ron Morrisette probably thinks I’m a psychopath.

Find out what Hughes’ favorite chocolatey curse word is after the jump.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Say hello to Kytja Weir, a transportation reporter for the Washington Examiner. There’s an easy way to learn the correct pronunciation of her name. “It sounds like KEY-t-cha,” Weir told FBDC. “Or, an easy way to remember is to think of the word ‘keychain.’”

Weir, who has a masters in journalism from Columbia University, deserves a serious medal for her Metro coverage. In January 2011 she reported on Metro workers pooping and peeing inside the trains. A few months later she wrote about a health hazard caused by an excess of pigeon poop at Metro’s Four Mile Run bus garage in Arlington.

Weir moved to Washington D.C. and joined the Examiner in 2008 after a stint at The Boston Globe. Before that she worked for The Charlotte Observer for five years.

Despite never working a transportation beat before, she loves what she does at the Examiner, poop scoop and all. She previously covered education, crime and local government.

Let’s begin.

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be?

Store-brand root beer.

How often do you Google yourself?

All the time. It’s the easiest way to find my old stories for background context.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)

Let’s just say I have not always been as gracious as I should have been in accepting edits.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

My partner, Binyamin Appelbaum.

Do you have a favorite word?

Brouhaha.

You’re walking down a dark alley and you run into a group of people, all of whom you’ve insulted with your reporting. What do you do? What do you say? And do you activate your mace?

Gosh, there are more of you than I realized. Anything merit a correction?

Who would you rather have dinner with – Examiner’s Paul Bedard, Michaele and Tareq Salahi or Dan Stessel? Tell us why.

Tough call. Would Michaele’s new love — that Journey guy — be invited, too? Could be entertaining to see them all together. Bedard would likely bring delicious donuts. But I’ll go with Stessel because then he couldn’t avoid my questions.

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When she’s not harassing her liberal counterpart Greg Sargent on Twitter, Jennifer Rubin helms the conservative “Right Turn” blog at WaPo. “I love mixing it up with liberals,” Rubin says of the Twitter wars she throws herself into with valiant force. “For too long too many of them have never been forcefully challenged,” she said. “They talk to and write for liberals and rarely get called on to defend their assumptions.”

Rubin joined WaPo in 2010, replacing Dave Weigel, who resigned under the weighty Journolist scandal and moved over to Slate. Before that she wrote for Commentary for several years. And before that she worked as a labor lawyer in California for 20 years. Rubin has a BA in history from UC Berkeley and a JD from Boalt Law School.

Throughout the Republican presidential primary Rubin faced criticism for showing signs that she might be in the tank for Mitt Romney. She doesn’t really deny it. “Oh pish-posh,” she said (yes, she said pish-posh). “I was simply ahead of the curve in spotting the fatal flaws in a series of challengers who would have crashed and burned in the general election.” Rubin said, however, that she actually would have preferred Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over Romney.

Let’s begin.

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be?

Jolt Cola

How often do you Google yourself?

Hardly ever.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)?

A previous editor: “You can’t call Maureen Dowd ‘a harpy.’” Seriously, I’m sure I was on the receiving end of worse but I’ve blocked it out.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

Don’t all journalists work? Well, Jake Tapper hands down. He’s smart and fair and tough.

Do you have a favorite word?

Scrumptious

You’re walking down a dark alley and you run into a group of people, all of whom you’ve insulted on your blog. What do you do? What do you say? And do you activate your mace?

I’d say a friendly ‘Hello.’ No mace!

Who would you rather have dinner with – WaPo’s Erik Wemple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi or Hilary Rosen? Tell us why.

Erik certainly!

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) or former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). Who do you choose? (Neither is not an option.)

Sorry, but the world will have to muddle through on its own.

What swear word do you use most often?

F*+k

You’ve just been told the big news: You get to have your own Sunday morning talk show. Who will be on your roundtable? (Pick four journalists or pundits types.)

Candy Crowley, PJ O’Rourke, John Bolton and AEI President Arthur Brooks.

Now for a really serious moment: What is your dream job, money and practicalities aside?

My ideal career would be to keep my current job and have a new “Crossfire” with James Carville.

Find out what Rubin pigs out on when no one’s looking…

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Say hello to Politico national political reporter Juana Summers. At least here in the Fishbowl you may know her best from our highlighting her comical news efforts on Politico‘s Livestream Show. With her signature smirk and black leather jacket, Juana, a Missouri School of Journalism grad, has emerged as one of our fan favorites on the show as she navigates directives from Exec. Editor Jim VandeHei and gracefully tackles otherworldly questions from Mike Allen. She says she enjoys the live show and not knowing what she’s going to be asked next. She also swears that Allen and the other higher-ups never tell her what to wear — “no formal instructions, I get to pick my own wardrobe,” she said in a morning phone interview. We can only imagine that getting fashion tips from Allen could be awkward, but a trip with him to the mall could be quite fun. Juana also gets to say what she pleases on the show. No script. “I’m trying to think of how to be as interesting as possible while still making sense on air,” she explained when we inquired what goes through her head as they’re firing questions at her. In the latest show, VandeHei kept badgering her about when she was going to have her story filed and who was going to edit it — how the hell should she know who will edit her piece, VandeHei? (Somehow we have become arch Juana defenders and take our role seriously. We hope she won’t pay dearly for choosing dinner with Politico‘s Tim Grieve as opposed to VandeHei.) In the summer of 2008, Juana was a web intern for WaPo, where she wrote headlines, cutlines and code for “Sacred Ground” the project documenting the Pentagon memorial for Sept. 11 victims. A Kansas City native, she came to Politico from the The Kansas City Star in November, 2010.

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be? If I’m on the clock, just Diet Coke.  If I’m off the clock, Jack and Diet Coke.

How often do you Google yourself? I’ve got self-Google Alerts set up, though I don’t check them as often as I should.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? Back in college, I was told I should give up on political journalism and just “go back to my sorority house.” You see how well I followed that advice.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Jill Abramson from the NYT. I had the opportunity to meet her in ’08. I really respect how she climbed the ranks of a traditionally male driven institution.

Do you have a favorite word? Oscillate. I like the way it sounds.

Who would you rather have dinner with – Fake Jim VandeHei, The Real Jim VandeHei or Politico Pro’s Tim Grieve. Tell us why. And no, all together is NOT an option. As I’ve had dinner with the real Jim VandeHei, I’ll take Tim Grieve. Fake Jim’s love for/obsession with Drudge is a deal breaker.

What’s your funniest TV blooper moment? Being asked during POLITICO Live about the “Santorum campaign bus” and the food we’re provided on the trail.  I purchase my diet of Chicken Nuggets and Egg McMuffins myself and have become quite talented at driving while eating.

What swear word do you use most often? Fuck.

Now for a really serious moment: What is your dream job, money and practicalities aside? If I knew that, it’d take all the fun out of life. But seriously, I’ve got the campaign bug. Love what I’m doing and hope to be doing something similar in four years. Apparently, living out of a suitcase suits me.

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said to a politician (or vice versa)? I’ve been asked by more than one politician if I’m old enough to be covering their events.

Find out who yelled at Juana on the campaign trail and why…

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Say hello to TWT Columnist Marybeth Hicks. Metaphorically, you can find her at the intersection of politics and parenting. Literally, you can find her on the opinion page and in book stores.

Hicks lives in East Lansing, Mich., and is the author of three books, most recently “Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left’s Assault on Our Families, Faith and Freedom.” She also pens a weekly column which she started in 2004 focusing on politics and culture and their impact on the American family.

Before writing for TWT, Hicks, a graduate of Michigan State University, worked as a writer in the Reagan White House and in corporate communications. But family life reeled her in. She wanted to work from  home “among the four most important machines in a woman’s life… a laptop, a slow cooker, a washer and a dryer.”

She compares the process of writing her latest book to popping out a baby. “It took about nine months, was painful especially at the end, and a few weeks after it comes out, you stop staring at it all the time and start wishing you could sleep through the night,” she told FBDC. The research put her in uncharted territory, she said, leading her to read up on things like “heteronormativity in Disney movies.” (Google it. We did.)

Hicks is a mother of four. Her daughter Kate Hicks is an editor at TownHall.com.

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be? A gin and tonic. And never diet tonic. That stuff is disgusting. Extra lime.

How often do you Google yourself? Hardly ever anymore. Early on I used to check to see if my column was getting any traction, but stopped once my daughters were looking over my shoulder and I discovered my name had been trolled and put on a porn site. Cost me hundreds to get it removed! These days it sends me to radical leftist blogs where I’m routinely called an idiot. Tell me something I don’t know.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? Very early in my career, I was reminded by a boss not to have too much fun at work. In retrospect, that was clearly a nice way of telling me to quiet down. At the time I was confused.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Probably Peggy Noonan. I don’t always agree with her. She was pretty gaga over Obama early on, which annoyed me. But that woman could write about sawdust and her sentences would be lovely and lyrical and use alliteration. Her prose rolled through thoughts like a cloud of literary perfection. It would only be a sawdust essay, but it would be a thing of beauty and I would be jealous. As usual.

Do you have a favorite word? Finished. As in, “I am finished with yet another column. Time for a gin and tonic.” Deadlines haunt me.

Who would you rather have dinner with – Salon’s Joan Walsh, WaPo‘s Kathleen Parker or NYT‘s Maureen Dowd. Tell us why. Really? You’re going to make me look like a mean girl in the Fishbowl interview? Because the honest answer is Jonah Goldberg. But if I must, Kathleen Parker, so I can tell her how much I loved her old stuff, back when she was a conservative, and ask if it was a bigger sellout to endorse President Obama or co-host with [Eliot] Spitzer. See, that just makes me seem mean and I’m not.

What’s your funniest TV blooper moment (or radio or print interview moment)? Well, while promoting Kool-Aid, [ex-Human Events journo] Jason Mattera told me during a radio interview that he wished I was his mom. Then he implied that for a mom, I was hot. That was awkward. I changed the subject.

What swear word do you use most often? You’re trying to ruin my Catholic mom image, aren’t you? Okay, well, it depends. The “s” word when I drop or break things; stronger language as the situation warrants. But I’m Irish, so once I vent, it’s over and we’re having a beer.

Read about Hicks’ edamame problem after the jump…

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Say hello to The Daily Caller‘s Matt Lewis. He is a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. He is also editor of ‘The Quotable Rogue: The Ideals of Sarah Palin In Her Own Words.’ More often than not, you can find the unquestionably friendly reporter with dimples on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Howard Kurtz on Sunday. His colleagues find him “helpful and knowledgeable” around the office. We asked his boss, Tucker Carlson, what kind of human being Lewis is. He replied, “Matt is a great guy: low-key, hard working, relentless honest and decent.” Previously, Matt was a columnist for the now defunct Politics Daily, and before that, he was a blogger for Townhall.com. Matt grew up in Frederick County, Md., and graduated from Shepherd College (now University) in Shepherdstown, WV. Like any blogger, he can fall prey to the occasional bad mood. “If you’re a blogger, your mood is contingent on whether you have written anything good lately,” he tells me in a phone conversation this afternoon. “If too much time elapses and I haven’t written anything I’m proud of, I start to get a little testy, which is totally not good.” He does see his glass half full: “Any day as a writer beats working at a fast food restaurant.” This is a fate he escaped narrowly just after college when he worked briefly at a Roy Rogers in Frederick, Md. He was earning $30,000 a year in  management program. “I was utterly miserable doing it,” he said. “I ended up quitting. I’ve come to learn, whether it s a relationship or a job, you usually know within the first day whether or not it’s going to work. It took me a couple of months to figure it out, but I finally did pull the plug on that.” Moving on to other topics, I wondered about Lewis’s thoughts on the hoodie. “I actually like hoodies and I wear them all the time,” he said. “I was going to tape an episode of bloggingheads the other night. I literally had to take off a hoodie and put on another shirt because I was afraid people were going to think I was mocking it. They’re very comfortable. It’s a brilliant invention.” Lewis wasn’t always a reporter. He started off doing campaigns. He initially thought his calling was to be a political operative. In 1998 he managed a campaign for a male candidate running for the Maryland State Senate. He became the youngest and the first Hispanic Republican ever elected to the Maryland State Senate. “That’s the part I love, the passion, the romance of being a kind of revolution and beating the machine,” he said. But the more entrenched he got into politics, he began to see that at the professional level “they suck the excitement out of it. You know the type…the douchebag type,” he said, explaining that he started his own blog in 2004 and began writing for Human Events. His first paying writing job was for Townhall.com, where he worked for two years. “It took me an evolution to find myself and find my calling.”

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be? Too personal. Next question.

How often do you Google yourself? I Googled myself twice while answering these questions. But this is because I am paranoid and needy – not because I’m narcissistic – there’s a difference.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? I’ve found it’s best not to directly confront editors. Instead, it’s best to sneak into their offices and move things around on their desks until they slowly go insane.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Kirsten Powers has been doing terrific work of late. Her columns on important issues like sex trafficking and liberal hypocrisy regarding misogyny have been both eloquent and heroic.

Do you have a favorite word? Milieu.

Who would you rather have dinner with – Salon’s Joan Walsh, WaPo’s Ezra Klein or Maureen Dowd. Tell us why. Maureen Dowd. She can be funny. She has a flirty quality about her that’s utterly likeable. And I’m willing to bet that, off the clock at least, she’s capable of dropping the partisan BS for an evening. (Call me, MoDo!)

What’s your funniest TV blooper moment? Fortunately, most of my bloopers have occurred off camera. But I once narrowly averted appearing on NBC’s “Today” show as a medical expert (when an intern escorted me from the MSNBC green room to the wrong set).

What swear word do you use most often? Without a doubt, the f-bomb. But now that I have a little boy, my wife is trying to break me of that f-ing habit.

Now for a really serious moment: What is your dream job, money and practicalities aside? I’ve always wanted to pretend to be an architect.

When you pig out what do you eat? Dark chocolate.

What is your absolute favorite item of clothing in your closet? We want the fabric, the brand, the store and the price if possible. If it’s a certain kind of underwear we don’t want to know about it. Two words: Sweater vest. Or else… I do have a pair of cowboy boots I got in Austin that I’m pretty proud of. (Pictured here.)

Pick one: Kim, Khloe, or Kourtney? Kourtney.

Have you ever had a tarot card reading? Never.

Have you ever had a near-death experience? I’ve had several close calls: There was the time I caught a gas can on fire. There was the other time when I was riding my lawn mower up a steep hill (with the blade engaged) and it popped a wheelie. And there was the time the lifeguards had to pull me out of the water at Ocean City, Md.

Find out Lewis’s relation to the always suave “Uncle Rico” after the jump…

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Today we bring you a special edition of The FishbowlDC Interview. Say hello to C-SPAN’s now former CEO Brian Lamb. He recent stepped down to be Executive Chairman of the C-SPAN board. When we spoke with him the other day, he sounded completely at ease with the shift, saying it was time to move on and let others, namely Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain, step up. “I have had it planned for sometime,” he told me in a phone interview. “It’s time to pass it on to two people who can lead this place for the foreseeable future. I feel great about it. I don’t feel the least bit emotional about it. I had my run. I’m still going to see the people everyday. This is a natural evolution after 35 years.” He was more jangled about the FishbowlDC interview. Which, as everyone who has done it knows, is a cake walk. Lamb is actually something of a lamb. His profanity (at least what he’ll admit to) consists of “gosh darn” and he pigs out on chocolate frozen yogurt. Look for Lamb on Q & A, which he will continue to host. In the meantime, read on.

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be? I would be sparkling flavored water.

How often do you Google yourself? I don’t.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? Uh man….you mean I’m not going to get a raise?

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Oh, boy, I don’t know that I have one. I really don’t. I better not go there.

What swear word do you use most often? Gosh darn.

You’ve just been told the big news: You get to have your own Sunday morning talk show. Who will be on your roundtable? (Pick four journalists or pundits types.) I would pick Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and Mona Charen. Wow, it’s so dangerous to do this. I’d have Doug Brinkley, a historian at Rice University and Richard Norton Smith, a professor at George Mason University.

Now for a really serious moment: What is your dream job, money and practicalities aside? Probably being a concert violinist. It will be a dream job until I am gone.

When you pig out what do you eat? Frozen yogurt. Chocolate.

What is your absolute favorite item of clothing in your closet? We want the fabric, the brand, the store and the price if possible. If it’s a certain kind of underwear we don’t want to know about it. A blue suit. That’s all I have in my closet.

Pick one: Kim, Khloe, or Kourtney? I wouldn’t know a Kardashian if she walked through the door.

Have you ever had a tarot card reading? No.

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Say hello to Roll Call‘s HOH columnists Neda Semnani and Warren Rojas. These two nearly stressed me out completely when yesterday Warren wrote and asked, “This is all off-the-record right?” Oh, that’s really funny Warren! I asked if he was joking while audibly cursing him out. He replied, “Indubitably.” While we’ve known these two Capitol Hill troublemakers for awhile and see them often at events, we had no idea how filthy-mouthed Warren is. Neda, formerly a disaster management specialist among other things, is an angel. No one has ever answered the “last meal” question to the depth that they have – we may have to borrow some of these culinary delights. I asked them both to tell me about the other’s  strengths and weaknesses. They have a special rapport that’s quite touching. She: “Warren is amazing to work with: a hilarious badass writer, who never ever apologizes for the story. He gets me and the column. It is a once in a lifetime partnership. I learn how to be a good reporter from him. Also, he feeds me and plies me with booze, so that helps.” He: “As for working with Neda, I’ve had the privilege of toiling alongside some truly outstanding reporters throughout my career. And Neda is one of the finest. She has one of the most acutely tuned bullshit detectors I’ve ever encountered. Yet she’s far from jaded and never dismissive. Her knowledge of the the people and personalities that color the Congressional landscape is astounding. And I know we’re really on to something when her inner crusader comes roaring out.” Enjoy!

If you were a combined carbonated beverage, which would you be?

WR: Scotch and soda.

NS: Champagne in a can.

How often do you Google yourself?

WR: Every few (Hold, please) … (Okay, back now) seconds.

NS: My Google alert does it for me.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)?

WR: I would perpetually badger one unabashedly aloof publisher about never, ever reading  a single word that I had written (still convinced they never did).

NS: Well, I am pretty sure I told one boss when I was old enough to know better that she was the worst person I had ever met, but maybe I just wish I did

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

WR: I’m currently most enamored with the StoryCorps reports featured on NPR. They do an amazing job of giving voice to the underserved, the invisible or the just plain forgotten. And they do it in such a vivid and  compelling way that I don’t dare turn the dial, no matter what the source material.

NS: Warren, because he loves to alliterate near me.

Do you have a favorite word?

WR: Indubitably

NS: It’s a tie between anthropomorphic and synecdoche.

You’re walking down a dark alley and you run into a group of people, all of whom you’ve insulted in HOH. What do you do? What do you say? And do you activate your mace?

WR: Our readership is too highly evolved to resort to wanton violence. If anything, the offended might shoot me a sideways glance, let loose an audible “harrumph” or submit a cryptic New Yorker cartoon meant to impugn my manhood.

NS: I will smile and just hope the whole generic brown girl thing I got going works in my favor.

Who would you rather have dinner with – Roll Calls’s Mike Mills, Michaele and Tareq Salahi or Nelson Lewis? Tell us why.

WR:  Given his proclivity for bombast and identity theft, I’d have to go with Lewis. Confidence is high he’d spin a ton of entertaining yarns (all bullshit, of course). And one would hope that at the end of the night he sticks somebody/anybody else with the bill.

NS: Nelson Lewis, because his name makes me think of Nelson Mandela, Carl Lewis and Lewis & Clark, which give us three conversation topics right there.

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. Warren, you will spend a romantic evening with either Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) or Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). Who will it be? And Neda, you will spend a romantic evening with either Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) or former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). Who do you choose? (Neither is not an option.)

WR: The good news is that to preserve the human race, I would gladly knock the bottom out of Sheila and Rosa—simultaneously even (if time were of the essence). The bad news is I’ve already tried playing the “going out with a bang” card, so the missus would immediately see right through this apocalyptic three-way.

NS: Well, now this is a bit of a Sophie’s choice, isn’t it? Maybe Sen. Graham, because I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t yell at me if ate off his plate.

See what forms of profanity each prefers after the jump…

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Say hello to Christo Doyle, Managing Executive Producer for the Discovery Channel. He is an Emmy award-winning, 12-year veteran of Discovery Communications and has served as Executive Producer on Monster Garage, Miami Ink and Dirty Jobs. Christo now runs East Coast Production while also executive producing numerous Discovery Channel series, including Gold Rush. He can be seen each week as host of the Gold Rush Aftershow. Christo was formerly executive producer of  Spielberg/Dreamworks/Discovery Channel series “The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero.” Before joining Discovery, Christo worked in production roles at ESPN and NBC Sports. He has a BA in political science from the University of Vermont.

Pssst…the season finale of Gold Rush is tonight at 9 p.m. Tune in, and read on.

What word do you routinely misspell? Gold Rush. I often write Gold Tush because the “r” is near the “t”.

What word or phrase do you overuse? Where is the cool shit in this show?

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be? Coca-Cola

How often do you Google yourself? Haven’t in a while but I will right now.

What is your favorite reality program and why? “Hard Knocks” on HBO. I am a meathead.

Do you have a favorite word? Vacation

What was your New Year’s resolution for 2012?  If you say it here, it’s on the record, and we’ll hold you to it! Be a better friend. In 2011 I didn’t make enough time for people.

You’ve worked with many talented producers, including Steven Spielberg.  Which TV producer(s) would you rather have dinner with – Mark Burnett (“Survivor,”) Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon (“Homeland” and “24,”) or Tina Fey (“30 Rock?”) Tell us why. Mark Burnett. I was a closet Survivor fan and still am. It broke new ground.

If the head of your network came to you and said you could add a roving reporter to the “Gold Rush” after show, who would you hire, and why? Zach Galifianakis or Dave Chappelle. I am not funny, nor do I really belong on TV. They do.

What’s the name of your cell phone ring? The “Monday Night Football” theme

It’s 3 a.m. and you get up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Do you check your BlackBerry or iPhone? I want to but I resist because I know how pathetic that would be.

What swear word do you use most often? It is a phrase. Acronym is GFY.

If you weren’t a producer at Discovery Channel, what would you be? I like to think I could be an architect.

When you pig out what do you eat? Bacon Blue Burger and Crispy Fries

If you could influence the world of unscripted television in one way right now what would it be? No faking anything.

When did you last cry and why? I actually shed a tear when I was watching the final cut of Discovery’s “The Rising” (a six-hour special on the rebuilding of ground zero.)  Mostly because I was done.

What TV show is your guilty pleasure? Eastbound and Down. It makes me dumber but I like it.

What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken? When I was 25 I traveled with two friends for three months. We went places we never thought we would get back to – Greek Islands, Turkey, Israel, Kenya.

What is your absolute favorite item of clothing in your closet? We want the fabric, the brand, the store and the price if possible. Nike Air Force Ones. Preferably brand new.

Pick one: Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg or Elizabeth Hasselbeck? What am I doing with them???

Do you read your astrology? Never. It’s BS.

Have you ever had a near-death experience?… (also read about his five concussions and when he last lost his temper…)

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Say hello to CNN.com’s Managing Editor Meredith Artley. Today we’ve abandoned the traditional Fishbowl interview for a relatively more serious peek into a major network’s online world. Artley was in town recently for a journalism conference. We met up with her at Founding Farmers to drink bacon martinis and yak about a range of topics that included how journos ingest their news these days, which news sites are must reads and whether it’s goofy or chic for couples to sit on the same side of a booth in this country (she thinks it’s making a comeback).

How long have you been at CNN? Two years and change.

What was your first job in journalism? Intern at Cox Broadcasting on North Capitol!

Living in Atlanta. Blessing or a curse? I love it here. The people, parks and pace are all great. Atlanta has this real funky, creative side that I never heard about til I moved here.

What is something fun and something tedious about your job? Email.

What’s your New Year’s resolution for CNN.com? We have a lot of content pulsing through our site every day. We don’t need more, we need to make what we have as good as it can possibly be. So a big theme of the year, as the whole CNN Digital team knows from our staff huddles, is that we are focusing on craftsmanship of every piece of journalism we do. It’s all about the storytelling.

I understand that Opinion is one of the fastest growing sections on your site.  For a network that prides itself in staying center, do you find it odd that your readers are gravitating toward that section? I don’t find it odd that audiences are flocking to intelligent perspectives on some of the hottest topics of the day.  Our opinion section is not only one of our fastest-growing sections, but it’s our most social in terms of shares and retweets. And that’s saying a lot, since CNN has more followers and friends than any news org out there.

There’s been a recent debate in online media circles about the censorship of comment sections.  Where do you stand on the issue and how do you address inappropriate commenters on your site? Open it up, baby. It’s a community moderated world. We trust our audiences, and we use every piece of technology we can to give a space for our smart commenters to tell the trolls to buzz off. We fight the good fight to create a fast-flowing discussion on nearly every piece of content we generate. We often join in those conversations as CNN staff. And every day, the best of those comments become content in their own right, via our daily “Overheard” column.

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