Back in the day, the the crowning achievement of a political reporter’s life was a bylined column in one of the big daily newspapers. Today, that’s a steppingstone. Now, the crowning achievement is starting up your own news organization—possibly under the broad aegis of another organization, possibly fully independently.
And so Ezra Klein is leaving the Washington Post after five years to start his own news organization. He’s not yet 30, but don’t let that fool you. He’s still in the sweet spot for starting his own news outlet. Bertie Forbes was 37 when he started Forbes. Jann Wenner was 21 when he started Rolling Stone. The Wallaces were 33 when they started Reader’s Digest.
I wish my fellow Irvine native the best in his new venture. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with now that he’s free to start up any kind of publication he wants.