New Kid on the Beat

(Good thing her last name isn’t Smith. This is the Tuesday issue of the NYP.)

Alex Wagner starts her White House reporting gig at Politics Daily this week. She even jumped right in and appeared on Sunday’s online all-women “Woman UP” show hosted by Editor-in-Chief Melinda Henneberger.

On Monday, Henneberger explained, Politics Daily’s Lynn Sweet (D.C. Bureau Chief of Chicago Sun-Times who writes PD’s Daily Flotus column) “showed her around and made the other kids promise to play nice.”

Wagner’s past: She was Executive Director of Not on Our Watch, a global advocacy and grant making organization focused on stopping gross violations of human rights. The organization is led by the actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. (“The guys were my bosses,” she says. “Clooney and I did a trip to the Darfur border (along with Ann Curry from NBC and Nick Kristof from the NYT) and Damon and I did a trip to the Zimbabwe border – both last year.”) She was Editor in Chief of The Fader magazine in New York City, where she won several awards for the magazine’s coverage of burgeoning cultural movements in Brazil, China and South Africa. The magazine is devoted to promoting new musical artists. She spent four years at the magazine. Before The Fader, she was the cultural correspondent for the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC.

She once worked for a lifestyle magazine called Bikini.

Wagner has appeared on CNN, the BBC, MTV and VH-I and has been featured in the NYT, WSJ and WaPo.

As for her first week, she remarked to FishbowlDC: “Reporting from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue might possibly match Burma, Sudan and Zimbabwe in terms of sheer chaos and intensity. Only the sandwich options are a lot better.”

To watch her in a video on The Fader, go here.

<img alt="RM.jpg" src="/fishbowlDC/files/original/RM.jpg" width="288" height="371" class="alignleft" hspace="3" vspace="3"/The Weekly Standard’s/Daily Caller’s Matt Labash is as readable in Volume II of his budding advice column as he was in Volume I. I’m already hooked on Ann Landers Gone Wild.

In this episode of “Ask Matt” he discusses his regret (if you can call it that) for calling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow the “sexiest man alive.” Actually, he says, after introspection, he’s “eternally enthusiastic about lesbians.”

Read the column here.

What’s tougher than being the new kid on the block? How about being a new journo on the beat?

That’s why FBDC is offering fresh-to-the-scene journos a chance to crash network in “New Kid on the Beat.” Each week we’ll streamline the ‘meet and greet’ process for a DC media newbie by introducing them to our readers.

Stephanie Green, The Washington Times

Beat: Style Reporter covering the First Lady, Fashion, and Special Events

Start Date: December 2008

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

Career Highlights: Former market editor to Capitol File Magazine and style reporter for The Alexandria Times

First entree into journalism: Editor of high school newsletter

First entree into world of style: Fashion model in teens, New York and Europe

Favorite First Lady and why: Dolley Madison. She was the original Washingtonienne… sexy, funny, and a hostess par excellence.

Dream Interviews: Anne Boleyn, Louis XIV, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Degas

Something that my colleagues wouldn’t know is: Geneaology is a hobby of mine. I have discovered all my ancestors who bravely fought in the American Revolution. I have a maniac obsession with early American history.

Favorite Carbonated Beverage: San Pellegrino

Industry Idols: Anna Wintour, Helen Thomas, Veronica Guerin

Know a freshman or transplant journo who deserves a career kick start? Submit their contact info and position and we’ll handle the rest. Think of us as your digital welcome wagon.