Meet Rick Klein. He Tweets from the hospital room when his child is born and covers politics and hosts Top Line for ABC News. In addition to that, Mr. Klein was recently promoted to Senior Washington News Editor for ABC “World News.”
Rick was kind enough to spend a few minutes with us to answer 5 questions for a FamousDC interview.
1. You left the print world of the Boston Globe to pursue opportunities online with ABC News. With respect to the digital revolution, where do you see the media industry going over the next five years?
Everywhere and anywhere. The term I’ve used for myself is “platform agnostic.” We have to be in the business of gathering and distilling information, and then disseminating it in ways that people want to consume it. That sounds easier than it is. But I do think we have to – and will – keep up with the consumption end of the equation. Five years ago, I’d never blogged or Tweeted, and I don’t think I was even familiar with the concepts. So five years from now? Surely we’ll be beamed right into your thought bubbles.
2. You went to Princeton. Which scene is preppier, eating clubs or the Georgetown Waterfront?
It’s actually not even close: Georgetown. Princeton’s eating clubs smell significantly worse than they sound. And Georgetown – I don’t know, I feel like I’m on vacation every time I venture into that neighborhood. There’s an enduring myth about the Georgetown cocktail party circuit. Maybe it’s that I’m on the wrong circuit, or I just need richer friends, but I think I’ve been to two cocktail parties in Georgetown in the six years I’ve lived in DC.
3. Ana Marie Cox is a frequent guest on your program, Top Line, but you’ve never challenged her to an on-air arm-wrestling battle. Could you take her?
From the very little I know about competitive arm-wrestling, you should never bet against the person who has more tattoos. For the record, I have zero.
4. As the insider’s insider – you’re in the middle of everything political inside-the-beltway, can you explain why they put bike lanes in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue?
What’s more inside than between lanes of on-rushing traffic? I should say, as someone who has never so much as pedaled on something that isn’t stationary anywhere inside the District, I have the utmost admiration for those who brave the perils of city life and bike around the city. Until they’re competing for precious road space with my car.
5. Your offices are located right around the corner from the Mayflower. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?
This is teed up for an Eliot Spitzer joke … but actually I’m more interested in the crowd of folks who clog the sidewalk along DeSales Street whenever the Capitals play a home game. The buses for the visitors pull in along the side entrance, right across the street from our bureau. There’s a dedicated band of hockey fans/unscrupulous memorabilia dealers who know every person and their unpronounceable names as they try to duck into the Mayflower. I can only assume that it’s the same people every game, and sometimes I imagine trying to join them just for the experience. But then I think they must have a complex leadership hierarchy and there’s no way I can penetrate that clique. So I keep walking to the Metro.
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