Zoe Barnes (10 June 1986-5 November 2013) was an American journalist who wrote for the Washington Herald. She was well-known for her large stories about political changes in the White House, including the leaking of Donald Blythe's education reform bill and Michael Kern's possible anti-Semitism.
Biography[]
Zoe Barnes was born on 10 June 1986 in Chicago, Illinois. Barnes studied at the University of Chicago before becoming a journalist, and she worked for the Washington Herald newspaper in Washington DC. Barnes was ambitious, and she was upset about her inability to cover serious news stories, instead being forced to cover metropolitan news and not national news. However, in January 2013 she met congressman Frank Underwood from South Carolina, allowing for her to get a serious chance at becoming a real journalist. They formed an alliance, with Underwood using Barnes to publish stories that could depose his enemies in the White House while Barnes would become a famous journalist. Her articles led to Minister of Education Donald Blythe and proposed Secretary of State Michael Kern resigning, and she was interviewed on CNN and other news networks. However, she had to deny her boss Tom Hammerschmidt's offer of making her White House correspondent in the place of Janine Skorsky, who was moved to the Midwest. Hammerschmidt was already reluctant to promote her for her news appearances, but Herald owner Margaret Tilden told Hammerschmidt to promote her. She denied the offer at Underwood's suggestion, as their relation would change and he would no longer be able to get his stories to her, as she would be with all of the other politicians. Hammerschmidt had her fired, but he made the mistake of calling her a "cunt", which she recorded. Hammerschmidt was fired by Tilden afterwards for his lack of vision about the progressive times (which related to his misogynist insult), and Barnes later worked with the web newspaper Slugline alongside her former enemy Janine.