As we divvied up yesterday's newspaper, Steve handed me the front section with a cover story about Apple's evasion of US taxes using a complicated, legal, money laundering scheme through Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Caribbean.
Steve thought that it was weird that we are getting stories critiquing Apple's tax and labor practices only now, after the death of Steve Jobs. Did Jobs have connections that suppressed the stories? I mocked him for looking for an international conspiracy. No, he said, the Steve Job's cult of personality repressed the story. I said that Apple's shady tax schemes is such a juicy topic that it is in the interest of every reporter to dig this up, regardless of the Jobs personality. These exposés are a huge career coup.
Maybe there is something to Steve's theory though. This weekend's White House Correspondent's Dinner was a delightful ménage a trois between government, journalism, and George Clooney. Even the bloggers who were supposed to act as a check on these guys are now in on the action. Bloggers got invites and a shoutout by the president.