I Think I'm Going to Be in the RedEye.

I was interviewed yesterday by Maegan Carberry for an article on Chicago Bloggers. She told me it will run, mostly likely, on Tuesday, "Unless the Michael Jackson verdict comes in," she said. "Then we'll bump you. No offense."

None taken. I'm not willing to go to the lengths Jackson has gone in order to seize headlines*, so I'll go ahead and concede now.

I don't think the RedEye is distributed out here in Suburban Heck, so if anyone is in the city on Tuesday, would you mind picking up a copy for me? Carberry said it was going to be the cover story, so you may see a big photo of me or Wendy McClure looking out at you from inside that red metal box on the corner. Or Michael Jackson, as one never really knows. On second thought, if the headline under my face reads "World's Biggest Asshole!", I don't think I really want a copy, so don't trouble yourself on my account.

I called my dad to tell him I was being interviewed by the Trib again. He said, "I think you need to work in publishing. Do you think they'll give you a job at the Tribune now that they've interviewed you twice?"

"I'm not a journalist, Dad," I said. "I don't have a degree or any sort of background in newspaper writing. I don't think the Tribune wants me. Although I do know of a woman who had her...who had a journal, sort of a diary...that she put on the internet, and a publisher bought it. When I'm through being jealous of her, maybe I'll try to figure out how she did that."

My dad laughed. "Yeah," he said, "you need to get your hits up and link to a lot of people to drive traffic to your blog. Make sure you look through your stats to see where your hits are coming from, and..."

"Holy crap," I said to Steve later, "I didn't even know he knew I had a blog. Do you think he's reading it?"

"How do you think he likes your anal sex lectures?" Steve asked.

I do not want to know. I just - Gah! I don't want to know!

It just underscores my lack of ability in becoming a journalist, though, because really, I only take the anal sex thing so far. I don't talk about it with regard to myself, for instance.

But remember how I was obssessed by that Jane Magazine reporter getting a pap smear from Dr. W. David Hager just so she could write about it? I mentioned that I would have to ask ace reporter Maureen Ryan how far she would go to write an article.

Upon thinking about it, I decided that one reporter would not be a wide enough pool to draw any conclusions from. So I ended up asking everybody who has ever interviewed me, sending them an e-mail asking them how far they would take their dedication to their craft.

Here are the people who received e-mails from me:

Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune and Mary Ellen Slater of the Washington Post, neither of whom have interviewed me, but we did have coffee together, so I'm counting it.

Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun-Times

Mark Saxenmeyer, FOX Chicago

And of course, I asked Carberry yesterday, when I had her face to face.

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully, "I think....I would do it. If I thought I was serving the greater good. Yes, I would. I definitely would."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

She would do it!!!

The next response I got was from Eric Zorn, who squirmed around the answer for a while, qualified it, then said:

It's hard to imagine the circumstances, but I never say never as long as we're talking about not breaking the law, staying safe and always remaining above board (we [Chicago Tribune]don't do undercover reporting, so the Jane sting is out).

Two for two!

Nobody else has responded yet, presumably because they are busy filling out the paperwork on their restraining orders, but the next time someone complains about the media, remember how readily they're willing to take one for the team and tell them to think twice.

Update!
From Paige Wiser:

Leigh Anne, I'm a big fan of your blog! I wish I could come up with some
fancy answer for your question, but all I have is this:

No.

I hope it helps!

Paige

So far the Sun-Times says no no no, the Tribune says yes yes yes.
Which begs the question: The Chicago Tribune - Totally dedicated or just trampy?

__________________________
*Speaking of headlines, doesn't it seem like the revelation of Deep Throat's identity was sort of anti-climactic? Sure, it made the headlines and the blog rounds, but there was a sort of melancholy tone to it, a kind of: "Well, it was this ex-FBI guy. No, we've never heard of him, either. We were sort of hoping it was Elvis, but it wasn't. So, yeah. Deep Throat. Is the Michael Jackson verdict in yet?"