Economist , March 21
(posted
Saturday, March 21)
The cover
editorial assesses Japan's current recession, which has so far been mitigated
by the country's great accrued wealth. Keys to ending the downturn: instilling
consumer and investor confidence, increasing public spending on "modern
infrastructure" (computers, telecoms), reducing government corruption, and
cutting corporate taxes. The editors think a full-bore crisis could be the best
thing for Japan's economy, giving it a fresh start. ... An article says Britain, reversing itself, now welcomes U.S.
intervention in the Northern Ireland peace process. Irish-Americans, no longer
naive backers of the terrorist Irish Republican Army, have come to support
compromise. President Clinton has condemned all violence and formed ties with
both Catholic and Protestant leaders. ... A story claims bacteria cause more ailments than scientists
had previously realized, including stomach ulcers, hardening of the arteries,
and some forms of arthritis. (A sidebar recommends cooking with lots of spices,
which can kill the little buggers.)
New
Republic , April 6
(posted
Friday, March 20)
A cover
story by longtime affirmative action opponent Nathan Glazer acknowledges that
racial preferences may be necessary. Why? 1) Diversity profits institutions by
introducing unfamiliar viewpoints, and 2) despite the civil rights movement,
blacks still lag far behind in key job qualifications (test scores, grades,
etc.). ... The editorial blasts the Vatican's recent apology to Jews.
The statement is too self-absolving, deflecting blame away from Catholics: It
should have expressed abject contrition. ... An article assesses the
plague of allegedly post-feminist TV shows. Ally McBeal , Veronica's
Closet , and Dharma and Greg all pretend to be models of "do-me
feminism," with sexually confident protagonists. But the heroines are actually
insecure, weak, and define themselves in terms of men.
New
York Times Magazine , March 22
(posted
Thursday, March 19)
A
fascinating story profiles the nonretarded 8-year-old daughter of two retarded
parents. She will soon be smarter than her mom and dad but is having trouble in
school--no one can help with homework, and she's picked up the slurring,
stilted speech patterns of her parents. Until recently, retarded adults were
routinely sterilized, even though they usually give birth to developmentally
normal kids. ... The cover story claims that Big Alcohol is just as
reprehensible as Big Tobacco and even more powerful. The difference: The
alcohol lobby can stress liquor's ancillary health benefits and proudly point
to the "Know When to Say When" ad campaign. Like the tobacco companies, the
alcohol industry panders to kids: Joe Camel has nothing on the Budweiser frogs
and lizards.
Time and Newsweek , March 23
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
Weeks after cover stories in
Rolling Stone and Spin , the newsweeklies catch up with the hit
animated TV show South Park . Newsweek 's cover story argues that
South Park successfully balances crudity (singing, dancing stool
samples) with inspired lunacy and sweetness (naive 9-year-olds). Time ,
which runs an inside feature, thinks the show has slacked off lately and
is running out of ideas.
Time 's cover story is pegged to the release of testimony in the Paula
Jones case. It sketches out a pattern of Clinton aides attempting to convince
multiple Clinton alleged paramours (Dolly Kyle Browning, Monica Lewinsky,
Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey) to keep silent. Time claims that
friends say Willey's "calm demeanor masks a surprising volatility ... one never
knows when she may decide to end [a] friendship over some perceived slight."
Newsweek 's main story focuses on Linda Tripp, who says the notorious
"talking points" looked to her like the work of Clinton adviser Bruce Lindsey.
A sidebar breaks news that Clinton donor Nathan Landow chartered a plane to fly
Willey to his estate. Willey claims Landow used her two-day stay at the estate
to badger her into saying "nothing happened" with Clinton.
U.S.
News & World Report , March 23
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
The
cover story exposes chicanery in the death business. Funeral
homes lie to the bereaved and grossly overcharge for caskets and services.
U.S. News offers tips to cut costs (don't die), and covers a growing
movement: do-it-yourself embalming and burial. ... A profile of Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan claims he will soon
inherit News Corp. Lachlan rides motorcycles, sports big tattoos, and has yet
to demonstrate his father's financial genius. His one major venture--an
Australian rugby league--lost News Corp. at least $300 million. ... A
photo essay looks at life in prison. The pictures are
fascinating, though there aren't enough of them.
The
New Yorker , March 23
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
A
horrifying article describes the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, a guerrilla
force of kidnapped children. Leader Joseph Kony--vicious, crazed, and
charismatic--has captured and indoctrinated 12,000 Ugandan kids. In Kony's
"Lord of the Flies world," the children become brutal, heartless
killers. Sudan's government is supporting Kony in order to destabilize Uganda's
government, which is backing Sudanese rebels. ... The requisite Linda
Tripp profile (see Newsweek above) says she is obsessed with marital
infidelity--her father was an adulterer--and has been embittered toward men
since her divorce. She's also a gossipy busybody. ... The opening
"Comment" claims that Rupert Murdoch's quashing of former Hong Kong Gov. Chris
Patten's memoirs could prevent a Murdoch takeover of the Wall Street
Journal . Murdoch covets the newspaper, but Journal readers would not
tolerate it in the hands of a man who is so willing to suppress news for
financial gain. ... Also, a rave for Primary Colors , "the
smartest movie ever made about American politics." Primary Colors
rejects the smarmy populist demagoguery of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington .
Instead, it shows how politics is about choosing between imperfect, morally
compromising options.
Vanity Fair , April 1998
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
Vanity
Fair 's massive Hollywood 1998 issue has all the glamour and sycophancy
you'd expect. Photo spread highlights: Boy-toy Matt Damon in a white sailor
suit and cap, Sigourney Weaver reclining in head-to-toe mesh, Kate Winslet
underwater, and a surprisingly plump Danny DeVito dressed as Alfred Hitchcock.
... An article on the graying of Hollywood says boomer studio execs no
longer know which stars to bank on: Mad City (John Travolta, Dustin
Hoffman) and Sphere (Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson)
tanked, but teen flicks Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last
Summer hit pay dirt. The piece also mentions that Steven Spielberg was in a
deep funk after Amistad got jilted for Oscar noms. ... The
issue digs up gossip from Hollywood's ancient history: A silent-film siren says
Buster Keaton was "sexy," but Charlie Chaplin didn't know how to seduce
women.
Atlantic Monthly , April 1998
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
In the
cover story, evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson makes the case that human
morality is "empirical" law that evolved biologically, not "transcendental" law
that exists separate from human history. Wilson argues that natural selection
created gene pools with certain moral traits, and these traits became the basis
for our societal standards. ... An article attempts to explain William
Shawn, the late, lamented, longtime editor of The New Yorker . The
painfully shy Shawn once declined an honorary degree from Yale because of his
fear of crowds. He published just one piece in The New Yorker under his
own byline: " 'The Catastrophe,' about the destruction of New York by a meteor
while the rest of the world went about its business as usual."
Esquire , April 1998
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
David
Brock's apology, reported more than a week ago, hits newsstands. The
once-conservative journalist atones for his 1993 American Spectator
article on Bill Clinton's sexcapades, which mentioned a harassment victim named
"Paula." Regretful for igniting the Paula Jones scandal, Brock admits the
Spectator article was spurred by an "open political agenda." (For other
possible Brock apologies, see "So Sorry" in
Slate
.) ... A story wonders if ESPN's SportsCenter
can stay fresh and irreverent. SportsCenter gained fans by tweaking the
sports establishment--now it is the sports establishment.
ESPN:
The Magazine , March 23
(posted
Tuesday, March 17)
Speaking
of ESPN, ESPN: The Magazine , the much ballyhooed challenge to Sports
Illustrated , makes its debut. ESPN goes with larger pages but far
shorter articles than its rival. The effect: Sports news for Attention Deficit
Disorder victims: lots of bite-sized items on very busy pages, lots of photo
portraits of sports stars, none of SI 's in-depth features. ...
Hoping to launch with a bang, ESPN breaks the news that the scoring
record broken (in controversial fashion) by University of Connecticut
basketball player Nykesha Sales may in fact still stand. Videotape shows that
Sales was wrongly credited with two points in a previous U. Conn. game--she
needs another two points to break the record for real.
--Seth
Stevenson
