Predictable Social Dynamic Of The Day: Anthrax envy. “How come I didn’t get anthraxed?” one prominent [New York reporter] asked….”We were actually relieved when [Dan] Rather finally got his envelope [laced with anthrax] because we were feeling left out,” sniffed one misguided staffer at CBS. “It was like, ‘What, did bin Laden read the Nielsen ratings and just decide that we weren’t important enough to bother with?’ We felt we were running third – this time in the anthrax ratings.”
Journalists are pretty good at backbiting, but this might take the cake. Here’s a NYT reporter on the hoax anthrax letter received by fellow staffer Judith Miller, co-author of “Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War”: “The speculation is that the letter had been sent by either the book publicist or by one of her co-authors, Steve Engleberg or Bill Broad. I mean, it makes sense, right? One anthrax envelope and she was on ‘Today’ and ‘Larry King Live.'”