Economist , Sept. 19
(posted
Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998)
For the
second straight week, the cover editorial urges President Clinton to resign. He
may survive impeachment proceedings, but he will be so distracted by the fight
as to be unable to lead the country. The honorable thing to do is hand the
reins to President Gore. An accompanying essay predicts that this scandal will
cause several changes in the future, among them, a reduction in the power of
the independent counsel and more restraint on the part of the press. (See
"International Papers" for what France has to say on independent
counsels.) ... A story says that eating breakfast helps kids do well in
school. A study in Baltimore and Philadelphia showed that kids who ate a free
school breakfast each morning got higher grades and were better behaved than
their nonbreakfast-eating peers.
New
York Times Magazine , Sept. 20
(posted
Friday, Sept. 18, 1998)
A special
issue on television. The lead essay claims that television has always been the
same--game shows, kid shows, sitcoms, dramas--and always will be. The
difference will be specialization: gay game shows, Asian-American sitcoms, etc.
... A story says that NBC got rooked when it renewed E.R. for $13
million an episode. Left hitless when Seinfeld ended and CBS stole
football, the network was forced to pay $286 million a year for the medical
drama, "more than twice" what it "had totaled in profits the previous year."
... A hilarious section lets celebrities describe the TV shows they
would most want to produce. Garry Shandling offers Bill and Bill , a
"half-hour semi-erotic situation comedy" in which the romantic leads are a
postal worker and his talking pet dog. Conan O'Brien suggests Mr. President,
Private Eye : "President Jack Camden is the elected leader of the free
world. He's also a crime buff, and whenever his official duties take him within
50 feet of a jewel theft, murder or art forgery, Camden can't help turning
amateur sleuth." ... Also, various celebs pen odes to their favorite TV
shows--Robert Pinsky on The Simpsons , Richard Ford on Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood , Deepak Chopra on The X-Files.
New
Republic , Oct. 5
(posted
Friday, Sept. 18, 1998)
The two
cover articles belittle the Starr report--one on legal grounds, the other on
literary grounds. The first story argues that Starr has found no grounds for
impeachment, only "technical violations of criminal law that have no obvious
connection to the president's official duties, which was precisely the vision
[of impeachment] that the Framers [of the Constitution] rejected." The piece
refutes all Starr's 11 supposedly impeachable offenses. The second essay
wittily assesses the literary value of the report, comparing it with classic
novels of adultery such as Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina . Starr
offers unnecessarily colorful detail: "Instead of prosecuting a case, his
narrative enacts a drama, and makes sympathetically banal what might have been
merely illegal."
Vanity Fair , October 1998
(posted
Thursday, Sept. 17, 1998)
VF
excerpts two new books about Michael Jordan. Passages from Jordan's new
autobiography emphasize his profound respect for the game of basketball, his
coaches, and the star players who came before him. Excerpts from David
Halberstam's Michael Jordan: The Making of a Legend chronicle Jordan's
rise from a talented but unknown high schooler to the best college player in
the country. Central theme: Jordan's love and respect for Dean Smith, the
legendary coach who shaped him at the University of North Carolina. ...
An essay mocks authors Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis for their obsession
with fashion models (both are releasing new books about models). A male
fascination with female models indicates 1) adolescence or 2) homosexuality.
The article notes that Easton Ellis is gay and makes veiled remarks about
McInerney's sexuality. ... Top Five on VF 's list of the "New
Establishment: The Top 50 Leaders of the Information Age" include Bill Gates,
Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, Sumner Redstone, Ted Turner.
Esquire , October 1998
(posted
Thursday, Sept. 17, 1998)
Well
timed for the bear market, Esquire publishes a doom and gloom issue. The
cover essay compares our present economy to the bubble of the 1920s. It
predicts a brutal worldwide depression, leading to totalitarianism and world
war. History will view us as it views Jazz Agers: superficial, greedy, and
oblivious.
Time , Newsweek , and U.S. News & World Report , Sept.
21
(posted
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1998)
Starr all
around. All three mags excerpt the report at length (not edited for bawdy
language, but with parental warnings). Time 's coverage seems most pro-Clinton: "[T]here is reason to recoil at
some of Starr's tactics; he included far more sexual detail than was necessary
to prove his point, and at times ignored or discounted evidence that
contradicts his case." Newsweek runs an essay from George Stephanopoulos
claiming that Clinton will never resign and will fight to the finish, but
"won't be revered as our leader." Both U.S.
News and Newsweek advise on how to explain the seamy details to your
kids (be honest yet elliptical; whatever you do, don't talk about the cigar).
Both Time and Newsweek analyze the Constitution's
section on impeachment, focusing on the ambiguous phrase "high crimes and
misdemeanors." They conclude this means whatever Congress wants it to mean.
The
New Yorker , Sept. 21
(posted
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1998)
An essay
partially blames all-news TV stations for Flytrap. Channels such as CNN and
MSNBC have an incentive to create must-see news stories that drive up ratings.
People keep up with "event" stories (O.J., Di, Monica) or risk becoming social
outcasts, unable to talk about what everyone is talking about. ... A
story argues that pain is all in the mind and that we should treat, not
dismiss, patients with unexplained chronic ailments. There needn't be a
physical injury for the brain to send pain signals, and that pain is as real to
the sufferer as it would be if she'd hit her thumb with a hammer. Doctors are
seeking superstrong, nonaddictive painkillers and may have found them in
substances extracted from certain snails and frogs. (Full disclosure: The
article is by
Slate
medical columnist Atul Gawande.) ... A
special fashion section includes a profile of the late British-American
designer Charles James, a look at high fashion in Moscow (once denim, now
foreign couture--that is, until the ruble crashed), and a review of a new Coco
Chanel biography.
Weekly Standard , Sept. 21
(posted
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1998)
The
Standard drools over the Starr report and calls for a lightning
impeachment process. The editorial argues that "Bill Clinton is asking Congress
to judge acceptable a president revealed to the world as a lout and liar and
criminal. Congress must refuse the request and remove him." How excited is the
Standard ? An article predicts Al Gore's presidential advisers and
Cabinet. ... A funny piece reports from an academic conference on
pornography. Tweedy professors and porn starlets mingle at presentations such
as "Cum Shots: History, Theory, and Research." (Isn't this also a chapter
heading in the Starr report?)
The
Nation , Sept. 28
(posted
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1998)
The
Nation remains above the Starr fray, barely acknowledging Washington
goings-on. Instead, the cover
piece is a long essay by Indian novelist Arundhati Roy mourning India's
acquisition of the nuclear bomb. She complains that India has it backward: The
country resists Westernization in the cultural realm (literature, fashion,
film) but joins the West in nuclear proliferation.
More Flytrap
...
--Seth
Stevenson
