“I’m From Rolling Stone” To Applicants: There May Be Some Crying In Journalism

Ben Fong-Torres, the former Rolling Stone editor who was enshrined in Almost Famous, weighs in on the I’m From Rolling Stone intern pool and their journalism-light backgrounds:

These are the best and brightest out of 2,000 applicants? Of course not. I learned, from an insider on the show, that writing samples and photos weren’t all that were required from applicants. They were asked such questions as: “What was the last thing that made you cry?”

Sound like “The Bachelorette”? You’re catching on.

The insider, who spoke off the record, told me that MTV cast the show, as many reality shows do, “looking for interesting-looking, interesting-behaving young people. Some were picked because they were good writers. At the same time, we wouldn’t cast a normal-looking person. They wanted people who popped.”

Which is why we’re sure that the show’s producers are thrilled that Krishtine De Leon let this pearl of wisdom drop in a Web chat yesterday:

“If I have to be that Hurricane Katrina to expose all the decay going on beneath America’s schizophrenic consciousness, so be it.”

Did you hear a pop? We did, too. Or it could just be our brains melting.

He was from Rolling Stone — he can tell you what it’s really like [San Francisco Chronicle] Earlier: Idolator’s I’m From Rolling Stone coverage