The Apotheosis of Taylor Swift

A 35-year-old named Bryan West is USA Today’s new Taylor Swift reporter, taking a freshly-formed perch that might have been, for a brief time, the most coveted in history. West is a journalist from Arizona and, inevitably, a tremendous fan of the most popular artist in the world. “I would say this position’s no different than being a sports journalist who’s a fan of the home team,” West told Variety. “I just came from Phoenix, and all of the anchors there were wearing Diamondbacks gear; they want the Diamondbacks to win. I’m just a fan of Taylor and I have followed her her whole career, but I also have that journalistic background: going to Northwestern, winning awards, working in newsrooms across the nation.” This is true only on a technicality; local anchors can cheer for the home teams all they want, but beat reporters are forbidden from wearing team paraphernalia in the press box. I cannot cover Yankee games in my ratty Hideki Matsui t-shirt. Sports journalists and columnists can profess their fandoms in the biographies they share publicly, but they are expected, on behalf of their readers, to aggressively hold the team to account. One of the Athletic’s Yankee beat reporters grew up in the Bronx rooting for the Yankees. He does not use his position to produce propaganda on behalf of the franchise.