In journalism, like most other fields, getting a foot in the door often has a whole lot to do with who you know. Whether it's an editorial assistant who can slip your resume to the top of the pile or a columnist for whom you used to fetch coffee (milk, no sugar) it's generally advantageous to have a friend or an ally in the journalistic world.

Of course, as today's Memo Pad points out ad nauseum, it also helps when your father is the owner of a large, successful magazine.

Writes WWD:

In other New Republic news, Ben Wasserstein, associate editor at New York magazine and son of its owner, investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, is leaving to become editor of The New Republic online. He replaces Adam B. Kushner. Wasserstein joined New York in 2005, 18 months after his father purchased the weekly, and was previously associate editor at the now-defunct Vitals. Said New York magazine editor in chief Adam Moss: "We're really sorry to see Ben go, but this is a great job for him. We're sure he'll do wonderfully there as he has done here. They're lucky to have him." (Of course, he is the son of Moss' boss.)

The above emphasis is ours, however the excessive references to Wasserstein's familial connections are brought to you courtesy of WWD, a publication that is, presumably, not owned by Bruce Wasserstein.