Sexist Job Ad For Journalist Wants A “Zoe Barnes” Type; Yes, As In From “House Of Cards”

Sigh.

Today’s unpleasant reminder that sexism is everywhere comes from the Washington Post, who are calling out a job ad seeking a political journalist that is “less Paula Zahn, more Zoe Barnes.”

The ad comes from online publication Rare, "where mainstream Americans flock ... for the news of the day," apparently.

Now, Paula Zahn is a broadcast journalist who has worked for ABC News, CBS News, Fox News and CNN in the United States. Zoe Barnes is the fictional character played by Kate Mara in House of Cards who instantly begins sleeping with Kevin Spacey’s political kingmaker Frank Underwood to get scoops/ industry cred. She is also, generally, very bad at her job, despite her controversial connections.

It’s worth noting House of Cards is a trashy television program seeking to entertain way more than it is attempting to accurately depict the goings-on behind closed doors in Washington. (That is, unless President Obama is legit a two-time murderer.)

In the context of the show, Zoe is hardly held up as a bastion of journalistic integrity. (That honour instead goes to Constance Zimmer’s character, Janine Skorsky.) Kate Mara is a fun - if glum - femme fatale in the program and her twisted relationship with Spacey is pretty engrossing.

This ad was posted in the real world, however. Kevin Spacey has not killed anyone in the real world. Kate Mara is not actually using her feminine wiles to secure scoops on Capitol Hill. The makers of House of Cards are not trying to educate the viewer on what journalism should be, unlike, say, the team behind The Newsroom (though that has issues all of its own).

That's why it’s so troubling any real-world publication would want a young journalist - male or female - to emulate Zoe’s intel-gathering strategies. (They're too salacious to recount here.) Surely the standard should be higher than "the worst people in the world"?

“This person must be self-motivated, self-directed and thrive on digging up extra information and being first to break a story,” the ad reads.

GIANT, FLAMING WALL OF FIRE SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT CROSS IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN HOUSE OF CARDS.

Train-dodging abilities are a must too.