Begrudging respect? Or respectfully begrudging? It’s weird, man.
The PJ Media climate is hard to describe, because we’re a team with a shared mission, agenda, ideology, and goals — yet we’re all graded and appraised individually. Let me explain.
I’ve only been writing here for five months, so I haven’t had time to develop blood feuds with any of my colleagues… yet. (We’ll see how it goes.) But so far, I like everyone. Some of ‘em I’ve been fans of for a long time; others impressed me right away with their ingenuity and insight. So at first, I was perfectly content to share the PJ Media marquee with so many smoking guns.
That was good enough.
But psychologically, we always move the goalposts, don’t we?
You see, PJ Media is open and transparent with its writers about how many views our articles receive. And at the end of each month, we’re all ranked in popularity — from most monthly views to least. The scorecard is black and white: there’s no way to spin it.
And it goes out to everyone.
Now, it’s no longer good enough for me just to post articles here. You kidding me?! I want to be #1!
But so does everyone else.
It’s a smart strategy by our Corporate Overlords because it incentivizes us to keep up with the Joneses (or the Margolises, the Tafts, the Greens, the Andersons, the Kruisers, the Spencers, the Queens, the Martins, the Bolyards — you get the picture).
So far, I’ve done fairly well in the rankings. Last month, a few of my articles went viral and I finished as the #2 writer. I thought that was pretty good. (But if you think I’m content wearing silver and lounging around in the Ed McMahon role, you’re outa your mind.)
I come from the PR world, which means I’ve done an awful lot of ghostwriting on behalf of clients. Other than tactical planning, most of PR is ghostwriting. (This makes sense since PR is the art of strategic communication, and if clients were capable of doing that on their own, they wouldn’t hire me.) Not to toot my own horn, but beep-beep: I’ve written some clever stuff — Fox News even ran a nice op-ed about my experience as an unwed pregnant mom! (We should offer a prize if y’all can guess which celeb it was.) It helped pay the bills, but it was always kind of sucky because it meant my work was more valuable when someone else’s name was on it.
That’s rough on the ol’ ego.
So here at PJ Media, I’ve been enjoying the novelty of writing under my OWN name again. My ego’s grateful for your attention.
Actually, it would probably be better for my career if I were the least popular writer here. Because if everyone else was way bigger and more famous than me, then I’d be able to poach off their fans: Sure, you might’ve come here for Lincoln Brown, Bryan Jung, Catherine Salgado, Rick Moran, Ben Bartee, or Athena Thorne, but while you’re over here, come check ME out!
It would be like owning the cheapest home in an ultra-expensive, luxury neighborhood: Sure, your house is crappy and everyone laughs at you, but your proximity to all those rich guys raises your property value. Suddenly, your broken-down dump is sitting pretty on Zillow.
All of PJ’s writers and editors communicate behind the scenes, too. That’s probably the most fun for me, camaraderie-wise — everyone’s candid and direct with their opinions and “hot takes” on breaking news. Even if they don’t write an article about it, I really enjoy hearing their interpretations.
Some of our guys/gals have excellent sources. They’re super-smart people.
The stories you read are all selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. If I wanna write about something, I have to give everyone on the PJ Media team a heads-up to avoid duplicate work. The competition can get fierce because there’s a correlation between getting lots of views — ca-ching! — and choosing the hottest, most compelling story. Not all topics generate the same interest. (Which is another complaint of mine: you people should click on ALL my stuff. Stop being so picky!)
Related: The Secrets of ABC News: Did They Pay $15 Million to Hide Something Even Worse?
My only other gripe is that too many of my colleagues are using the “borderline-alcoholic” gimmick. (Hiccup.) I wanted that to be my gimmick! I’ve been destroying my liver for 30 flippin’ years, and now it’s all for naught: VodkaPundit and the rest beat me to the punch.
Obviously, the only mature way to settle this is via a “Raider of the Lost Ark”-style drinking competition, a la Marion Ravenwood against that fat dude in Nepal.
(Although, technically, didn’t the fat guy drink more shots than her? He did two; she only did one.)
So there you have it: your behind-the-scenes peak at PJ Media. All the drama and all the excitement. 2024 was a helluva ride, but now that I’m getting to know my colleagues a little better, I assure you: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
2025 is gonna be legendary.
After all, my colleagues wouldn’t have it any other way.
