Time , Aug. 31, 1998
(posted
Friday, Aug. 21, 1998)
A special
issue, published four days early, is a 14 article blitzkrieg of Clinton
coverage. The lead story recounts the tense White House countdown to testimony,
speculates on how Hillary felt during the ordeal (betrayed, then stalwart), and
dissects the legal equivocations in The Speech. Time 's exclusive: While
Clinton's testimony "generally matched" Lewinsky's, he flatly refused to answer
explicit questions about sex before the grand jury and "did not acknowledge
engaging in [oral sex] with Lewinsky." ... Another story says that
turning over the infamous blue dress to Kenneth Starr was never part of
Monica's immunity package. By design, Monica's lawyers never had the dress
tested to determine its "smoking gun" potential. After Monica got immunity, her
team tossed the dress to Starr as a freebie anyway. ... Another article
says that scandal-weary Americans will seek a "straight-shooting" president in
2000. But is Al Gore the one for the job? Can he weather the Clinton scandal?
He's jammed between a rock (disloyalty) and a hard place (loyalty). And don't
forget all his dubious fund-raising phone calls--they may still lead to an
independent counsel investigation.
New
York Times Magazine , Aug. 23, 1998
(posted
Thursday, Aug. 20, 1998)
The cover
piece profiles J. Craig Venter, a hotshot multimillionaire biologist who hopes
to map the entire human genome before the U.S. government does. Completing this
"Holy Grail" of genetics could hasten cures for cancer, hepatitis, and even
HIV-related diseases. Venter claims he can map the genome faster and more
cheaply than the feds, but critics worry that he could raise the cost of
medical research by patenting DNA sequences that would otherwise be in the
public domain. ... An article marvels at the army of screenwriters
required for every Hollywood film: Armageddon , for example, employed
eight different screenwriters. Each auxiliary writer is a specialist: One adds
humor, another adds plot structure, a third adds dialogue that will appeal to
women or minorities. The voice of the original writers goes missing in action.
... A short article/diagram says tobacco is not all bad. New
tobacco-based medicines, which rely on splicing human genes into tobacco
plants, are on the way. Bad news for cigarette fiends: The medicines--which
include antibiotics, blood substitutes, and cancer drugs--will be extracted
from the plant, not smoked.
Time and Newsweek , Aug. 24
(posted
Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998)
Similar issues from top to
bottom, starting with large cover packages on President Clinton's testimony.
Newsweek touts its poll, which confirms the conventional wisdom that
Clinton should admit, apologize, and move on. Newsweek 's literary
metaphor: the prez as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, ricocheting between "solid and
squalid, supersmart and superdumb." Time 's cover piece recaps the Clinton-Starr dogfight and opines that
"the damage has been done" to the presidency and to the country. A sidebar derides the "it wasn't sex" semantic escape Clinton is
reportedly considering. (The newsweeklies' bad luck: Clinton's Monday testimony
means the mags will be outdated by the time they hit newsstands.)
In the Africa bombings
manhunt, both magazines zero in on Osama Bin Laden, the technosavvy,
multimillionaire Saudi exile living in Afghanistan. They think it's unlikely
the United States can capture him, and even if we do, it's not clear that he
can be prosecuted. (Here is Time 's version.) A tough-talk piece by
Madeleine Albright in Newsweek makes the case for expanding the budget
for international affairs.
Both
magazines cover the Glamour - Cosmopolitan shake-up: 70-year-old
Glamour Editor Ruth Whitney was axed last week in favor of 41-year-old
Cosmo Editor Bonnie Fuller. Newsweek 's longer piece likens this
to swapping Katharine Hepburn for Madonna: Whitney was revered for her
practicality, whereas Fuller exudes buzz. (Here is Time 's shorter version.)
The
New Yorker , Aug. 24 and 31
(posted
Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998)
A double
issue on "Private Lives": Much dirty laundry is aired. A piece on Saul Bellow
says his novel Herzog was inspired by his wife's affair with his best
friend. ... The youngest daughter of famed aviators Charles and Anne
chronicles her life as another Lindbergh baby. The kidnapping and murder of her
older brother was rarely discussed, but "pretenders" claiming to be the missing
baby frequently showed up at the family's doorstep. ... A writer
describes his six absurd years in psychoanalysis. His 80-year-old analyst
rarely bothered to listen to his patient's problems. Instead, he liked to
discuss "Hannah Arendt's sex life" and other literary gossip. When he wasn't
gossiping, the analyst tended to fall asleep.
Weekly Standard , Aug. 24
(posted
Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998)
The
cover
editorial urges Congress and Ken Starr not to ignore Clinton's other crimes
if he confesses to an affair with Monica Lewinsky. He still perjured himself in
the Paula Jones deposition and may well have obstructed justice. A related
piece says the scandal has paralyzed daily life in the administration: Nothing
gets done in the "Potemkin White House." The administration's recent daily
initiatives are merely cosmetic. Staffers, meanwhile, are trying to pretend
Flytrap does not exist.
Economist , Aug. 15
(posted
Saturday, Aug. 15, 1998)
The
cover editorial on terrorism says Middle East radicals
hate the United States because of America's peacekeeping efforts in the region.
Compared to other Western nations, the United States is extremely hard on Iran
and Iraq, which draws the ire of terrorists. A related piece forecasts scary "new terrorism," including
biological or poison gas attacks within the United States and "cyber-attacks"
that could crash the world's financial and communications systems ... A
piece laments the "woes" of Madeleine Albright, whose opinions on Iraq, Israel,
and even her pet eastern Europe are ignored by Congress, the White House, and
other policymakers. She seems to have "less leverage at the White House than
Israel's lobbyists."
More Flytrap
...
--Kate
Galbraith
