Ally Werner, a senior communication studies major, had an internship on Capitol Hill this past summer. And Werner was front and center for Paul Ryan’s viral selfie of Grand Old Party interns.
Paul Ryan and Ally Werner (in blue, right)
The selfie above was taken during a lecture that Paul Ryan was giving to all of the GOP interns. As soon as the photo was released on Paul Ryan’s personal Instagram account, many media outlets used it as an opportunity to point out the lack of diversity within the group of interns.
Werner was an unpaid intern for congressman, Rodney Frelinghuysen, over a four-week period this summer. During this time, Capitol Hill had a lecture series for all of their interns to listen to various people from the House of Representatives. Werner was told that Paul Ryan had an opening in his schedule and was going to be speaking to all GOP interns.
Werner arrived an hour and a half prior to the event to have a seat in the front during the lecture. Werner said Paul Ryan took the time to thank them for all their hard work, especially since all the interns were unpaid. He ended his lecture by asking the interns to take a selfie to impress his followers with a picture of all the interns he got the opportunity to speak with.
The Friday after the event, Werner was at a Gwen Stefani concert when she received the news that the photo with her face front and center went viral. One of Werner’s sorority sisters sent her a link to the Buzzfeed article.
Paul Ryan’s Famous Selfie @speakerryan
Several media outlets followed Buzzfeed, releasing hundreds of articles criticizing the photo. Different sources were making similar claims about how the picture was “white washed”.
GQ released a humorous article and named all of the interns in the photo, claiming they had an “exclusive roster of the GOP interns.” This list renamed each individual with “typical white people names”, said Werner. She was renamed as Blair Callahan along with all the other interns. GQ went as far with the joke as giving interns names such as, “Daddy’s Little Girl” and “Fry McMillionaire”. Werner took the joke lightly, but is still asking the question “what about my face gave me the name Blair Callahan?”
The Democrat interns soon responded to the GOP selfie with their own.
Werner spoke about the issue of lack of diversity as a problem among all federal government interns. Although, Werner said her congressman has had several different cultures and races as his personal intern in the past. Werner recognizes that there is a need for more diversity within federal government interns and hopes to see change in the future.
Overall, Werner said she enjoyed being a part of the whole experience. She took interest in watching media agenda setting, especially after learning about the subject in her communication courses, and now has an interesting first-hand experience that she won’t forget any time soon.