The Washington City Paper has a pretty neat article this week about Washington Post education reporter David Nakamura’s behind the scenes dealings with DC Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration.

Turns out, to be a beat reporter you gotta be pretty friendly with those you cover to get the scoops. From the article:

“Just after the New Year, [the Loose Lips column] submitted a records request for all e-mails sent to Washington Post employees from high-level mayoral aides and communications staffers during 2007. Call it the Year of Scooping Effortlessly.”

Later

“About an hour after sending word of his politicking at the editorial board, Nakamura e-mailed [Fenty's communications director Carrie] Brooks again, this time asking for ‘an acceptable way for us to write a story that rules crew out’—indicating that he already had knowledge from the mayor’s office that Crew was out of the picture.”

The whole article is a good read and gives an interesting inside view of how journalists and their subjects co-exist in a city like DC.