Today is the sixth anniversary of FishbowlDC. So we give you answers to our most frequently asked questions.

Do you guys have an office? No, we work out of cafes, our homes and/or an office for another job. Cafes can be less or more irritating depending on the day, time and who is there. The main office of Web Media Brands (the company that owns us) is a space located in midtown Manhattan that has a warehouse feel. Cubicles occupy most inches of the space. We visit on occasion. Mediabistro (the name that comprises all the blogs, the job board etc…) offers a slew of excellent classes (I took one taught by a Self Magazine editor. Was well worth the three hours).

Who owns you? As mentioned above, Web Media Brands. Mediabistro is the company Laurel Touby founded. She sold the company for $23 million in July 2007. She still plays a part in Web Media Brands and comes into the office at least a few times a week.

Do you all get along? Of course. Like peas in a pod. But we don’t reveal our sources – not even to each other. There is no way to do this job and not get along with your playmates in the Fishbowl. There’s also a clear bond that comes with reading scathing anonymous emails that at first (and still sometimes do) make you want to unleash a torrent of profanity because you can’t answer back. The Fishbowl is its own weird world where laughter and joking is essential.

Past editors:

2005 Garrett Graff (A common misconception is that Washingtonian‘s Editor created FishbowlDC. He did not, but he was its first editor. Touby came up with the idea for the blog.)

2006 – 2009 Patrick Gavin (He now works for Politico)

2009 Matt Dornic (Currently co-edits FishbowlDC and works for QGA), Christine Delargy (Works for CBS News). Kenny Day wrote briefly for FBDC during this time frame.

When I first came on board, Washingtonian Editor Graff so kindly offered his two cents about working for FishbowlDC. Later I wrote about his Scotch junket that he failed to mention in a story about Scotch (and that didn’t go over so swimmingly). Here’s what he “advised”:

Hey Betsy,

Congratulations, by the way, in inheriting Fishbowl. It’s one of the great gigs in Washington, I believe, if used correctly. My one piece of advice, which I’ve given to every successive FBDC editor since I left, is to remember that the blog is the definitive voice on DC media: Don’t give people anything they can get elsewhere. Keep your focus laser-like on Washington media.

Cheers,
Garrett

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ABC’s Rick Klein, Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas and Becca Glover, CBSNews.com’s Brian Montopoli, Kenny Day of MainJustice, Chris Bodenner from The Atlantic, “J.Do” Janet Donovan, Christine Delargy of CBS, National Journal’s Matt Cooper, Liz Glover and Politico’s Shira Toeplitz were a few of the media types spotted downing whiskey with the Tennessee congressional delegation at the home of Juleanna Glover last night.  Complete with a curbside bar, statues and swizzles sticks in the shape of Jack Daniels, valet parking and plenty of swag, Glover’s Kalorama manse was transformed into headquarters for the “Back Jack” campaign, the company’s push to make Jack Daniels’ birthday a national holiday.   We’re not sure if the campaign will be a success but it certainly succeeded in getting us drunk. 

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Obama” came in second, and “Obama-mania” was the second most popular phrase after “King of Pop.” Also topping the list of most popular words: H1N1, stimulus, vampire, 2.0, hadron (the object of study of CERN’s new atom smasher), health care and transparency.

(h/t Playbook)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Message from the proud papa:

It’s a boy! And a boy! Mason Platt Day (born 10:58; 5lb 15 oz) & Conrad VanCamp Day (born 11:03; 5lb 8 oz) can’t wait to meet you. Mom performed like a star!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Suspicious Package- WaPo‘s Tom Toles, Christina Sevilla of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Bloomberg’s Tim Burger, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Bryan Greene and LAT‘s Josh Meyer- performed at the Danish Embassy Friday night, across the street from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s house (she no-showed). The event was in advance of the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December and the band dedicated one of its last songs The Beatles’ “Come Together” to its cause.

Adoring fans included Dick Keil, Anu Rangappa, Juleanna Glover, Kiki Ryan, Brian Walsh, Doug Heye, Mark Paustenbach, Sasha Issenberg, Wendy Gordon, Jill Collins, Lauren Vicary, Kenny Day, Adam Zagorin and Allan Lengel, among others. The after-party continued at the Darlington House on Dupont Circle… there we were joined by Matthew Cooper, Polson Kanneth and Amy Holmes, to name a few.

More photos after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good news for FishbowlDC’s resident twanalyst, Kenny Day. A new “Facebook Lite” version of the social network that is aimed at Twitter’s territory may offer Day a chance to double-double his enjoyment by adding Facebook followers to his daily counts.

Discovery announced plans to raise $500M through a notes offering…hopefully it’s enough dough to turn “Shark Week” into a “Shark Month” next year.

Sad Ads…Market research firm IDC says global online advertising spending fell 5% to $13.9 billion during the second quarter of 2009.

Get more on these stories and lots more local techie treats by signing up for Potomac Tech Wire’s daily email or by visiting my pals at www.potomactechwire.com.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

FBDC would like to welcome Kenny Day to the bowl! Kenny’s been an occasional guest blogger, but is ready to take the plunge. Welcome him with a scoop, tip or just a hello here.

Happy Birthday to BBC’s Andrew Jones! What we know and what we’re reading this Thursday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | MAGAZINES | WEST WING REPORTAGE | REVOLVING DOOR | JOBS

NEWSPAPERS

AP: The New York Times Co. said Thursday its second-quarter profit climbed nearly 85 percent, as it cut costs aggressively to deal with a worsening decline in advertising. Its stock jumped in premarket trading.

Things got a little tense at a Metro press conference yesterday when Metro’s general manager had some criticism of WaPo‘s coverage. Get the scoop from WUSA here.

TV

Who is America’s most trusted newscasted? Brian Williams? No. Charlie Gibson? No. Katie Couric? No. According to a Time poll, it is actually Jon Stewart.

“Birthers” are back in the news. TVNewser: CNN is separating itself from the radio commentary of one of its lead hosts, Lou Dobbs, who seemed to support the validity of thinking President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. A CNN spokesperson says: “On CNN, Lou is an independent reporter who covers stories that people are talking about.”

More on how cable’s been covering this story on TVNewser.

And The Daily Show‘s take on birthers- Stewart to Dobbs, “Do you even watch CNN?”

CNN’s “Black in America 2″ went live in Times Square last evening.

MAGAZINES

Time’s cover story is a special report, “The Final Days of Bush and Cheney.”

WEST WING REPORTAGE

Politico‘s Playbook fills us in on what White House spokesman Reid Cherlin got for his birthday- “Burton serenaded him with the Stevie Wonder version of ‘Happy Birthday’… Pfeiffer shined his shoes… Nick Shapiro added two of Reid’s fave movies to his Netflix queue. We made great progress on health care reform.”

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser, Politico

REVOLVING DOOR and JOBS after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Lovesick”, Alex Wellen‘s new novel, was the reason. Quigley’s Pharmacy was the venue. Love Potion #9 flowed freely. And custom-crafted pill bottles (full of M&M’s) provided sweet remedy.

Attendees included Alex & Kris Wellen, Wolf Blitzer, Edie Emery, Jake Perry, Nancy Trejos, Mark Preston, Jay Newton-Small, Shirley Hung, Christina Sevilla, Lee Brenner, Marc Adelman, Annie Gowen, Rebecca Sinderbrand, Juleanna Glover, Courtney Kube, Mark Paustenbach, Sena Fitzmaurice and Andy Mirsky.

Noticeably absent: Huey Lewis & The News. (#lovesick & @alexwellen)

This post was written by a FBDC guest blogger Kenny Day. Pics also by Day.

More photos after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning, Washington. What DC museum is featured above? Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning, Washington. What DC street is featured above? Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning, Washington. What DC cafeteria is featured above? Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning, Washington. What DC restaurant is featured above? Think you know? Email us and give us your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.