Ugh — Moving to the dark side

The following courtesy of Politiker.com

The latest addition to what has become an extensive list of former newspaper reporters who now work for the people they once covered in Jim O’Neil, who reported on the Middlesex County Prosecutor while for the Star-Ledger, has taken a job as a public information aide to Bruce Kaplan, the Middlesex County Prosecutor.

O’Neil’s colleague, Diane Walsh, who covered Middlesex County government and politics for the Star-Ledger, is now the communications director to Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield).  Bramnick is actively seeking the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor on a ticket with Christopher Christie.

Jeff Whelan, the Star-Ledger reporter who covered Christie at the U.S. Attorney’s office until late last year, will head the opposition research team for Gov. Jon Corzine’s re-election campaign.

Others: Deborah Howlett covered the Governor’s office for the Star-Ledger before becoming Corzine’s communications director; Tom Hester, Jr., now the Assembly communications Director, covered the statehouse for the Associated Press; Matt Reilly, the former deputy chief of the Star-Ledger statehouse bureau, is now the communications director for the Senate Democrats; Greg Volpe, a Gannett New Jersey statehouse reporter, is now on the Assembly Republican communications staff; and Senate Republican communications director Andrew Pratt covered the New Jersey statehouse for Bloomberg.

To say the least, people need jobs. Still, it gives me an odd feeling to see so many people so easily slide from being reporters to being PR pitchmen and women for the people they used to cover.  What do you think?