Shocker: 13 Mainstream Media Journalists Have Now Gone To Work For Obama

Not that there’s anything specifically wrong with that. It’s happened in the past. Tony Snow went from a career at Fox News to work for the Bush administration. But the sheer numbers by which journalists are leaving their careers to work for Obama is telling.

The most recent addition to this growing list is Roberta Baskin:

Roberta Baskin, a veteran of CBS News, ABC News, PBS and Washington, DC’s ABC affiliate, with a stint at the Center for Public Integrity mixed in, “will join the Department of Health and Human Service’s office of inspector general as a senior communications adviser in mid-August,” Washington Post “Federal Eye” blogger Ed O’Keefe reported late Monday. Specifically, O’Keefe related, her job will be “to help drum up media attention for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team, an HHS-Justice Department task force aimed at combating Medicare and Medicaid fraud.”

Here’s a list of the other 12:

Warren Bass: Washington Post deputy editor (of the Outlook section) > adviser to United Nations Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice.
Daren Briscoe: Newsweek Washington correspondent > Deputy Associate Director of Public Affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Jay Carney: Time magazine Washington bureau chief > Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications for Vice President Joe Biden.

Linda Douglass: ABC News Washington correspondent (previously with CBS News) > senior strategist and senior campaign spokesperson on the road for the Obama campaign, now Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services and leading spokesman for Obama’s health reform.

Kate Albright-Hanna: CNN producer > director of “new media” (online video) for the Obama campaign, “content lead” for the Obama transition Web site.

Peter Gosselin: Los Angeles Times Washington correspondent > speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Sasha Johnson: CNN senior political producer > Press Secretary at the Department of Transportation.

Beverley Lumpkin: Justice Department correspondent for ABC News > Press Secretary at the Justice Department.

Aneesh Raman: CNN Middle East correspondent > worked in communications for the Obama campaign.

Vijay Ravindran: Chief Technology Officer for Catalist, a voter database provider which worked for the Obama campaign > Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President of the Washington Post Company.

Rick Weiss: Washington Post science reporter > communications director and senior policy strategist at the White House Office of Science and Technology.

Jill Zuckman: Chicago Tribune Washington correspondent > Director of Public Affairs for the Department of Transportation.