Romenesko

Portland, Ore.: You and other reporters frequently make appearances on TV and radio to offer the latest journalistic perspective. How do these arrangements work? Does the broadcaster pay you or The Washington Post for the appearance? Personally, what do you think of these appearances? Are they fun, or do they distract from your real job?
Peter Baker: A good question. We are paid for a few of these appearances, but not much and not for most of them. Mostly we tend to do them, I think, because that's the world we live in -- the days when a newspaper reporter just wrote a story are, sadly, over. It's a "multi-platform" media world these days, to use the current buzz word, and to remain relevant we have to play on all the platforms. It helps the Post "brand." ...Personally, I like these chats; I think they're fun and I enjoy the back and forth with readers. Most of the rest of the multimedia stuff, though, honestly isn't as interesting. I'd rather just focus on reporting and writing a story. But to paraphrase Secretary Rumsfeld, we have to take the media world we have, not the one we want.