The New Nepotism: Turning Your Birthright Into a Media Career
Ayla Brown, the American Idol-singing daughter of Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, just landed a job as a CBS Early Show contributor. Old nepotism: Inheriting your parent's political seat. New nepotism: Parlaying it into a media career.
Back when Bristol Palin first wandered into the abstinence advocacy fray, The New Republic's Michelle Cottle asked, "Remember when political kids used to be content inheriting Senate seats?" How about when "entitlement" meant being entitled to anything other than fame? Ayla belongs to a growing sorority of politicians' fameball daughters (Meghan McCain is the founding member, Jenna Bush-Hager its newest) but she's also part of a growing "child of" racket taking over media. We're not talking about the children of entertainers (that's been proven a hundred times over) but the children of anyone with any level of name recognition whatsoever.
The age of the "media personality" is reinventing nepotism, with a microphone where the silver spoon once was. This is how Ivanka Trump became an expert on the economy, Luke Russert became a radio and cable news staple, Kelly Osbourne became a household name, the Geldof girls became models, and Jenna Bush became a Today Show correspondent. Everyone has a personality; the ones who succeed at the business of being themselves are those with memorable backrounds, familiar faces, and names recognizable enough that we'll remember them long enough to search for them on Twitter. [AP, TNR, image via AP]