- By David Plotz - Slate Magazine

HOME / other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

By David PlotzPosted Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1996, at 3:30 AM ET

Time and Newsweek, Nov. 25
(posted Monday, Nov. 18)
Who says you can't tell them apart? Both newsmags mysteriously focus on death this week, but Newsweek's cover story is about dying well, whereas Time's is about dying late. Newsweek's "Teaching Us How to Die" excerpts the final testament of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He counsels the dying to transcend their illness and think of others. The magazine rhapsodizes about the Chicago prelate's forthright acceptance of mortality and bemoans the medicalization of death. Instead of facing death honestly (which can bring great comfort, Newsweek asserts), too many of the dying try to defeat it technologically.
Which brings us to Time. Its cover story--"Can We Stay Young?"--hypes medical research that could triple human life spans. Both Newsweek and The New Yorker published recent and somewhat equivocal features on the same subject: Time is more enthusiastic, touting the wonders of telomerase, a protein that may stop cell aging, and other treatments. Time's conclusion: We may not be able to triple life spans now, but we'll soon be able to add another 50 years. (Perhaps it's time to appoint that Social Security Commission, after all.)
Both magazines whack the Army's handling of the Aberdeen sexual-assault scandal, and wonder if it will finally bring an end to the rape-and-harassment culture of the military. Also, Titanic-mania: Newsweek marvels at the Titanic movie, miniseries, novel, kids' book, and cookbook, while Time hints that the $120 million film could be a big-budget disaster. Also in Time, Deputy Secretary of State (and former Time columnist) Strobe Talbott writes an essay cheerleading the administration's Russia policy.

U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 25
(posted Monday, Nov. 18)
The cover story explains "Why Microsoft Isn't So Bad." It is a work of unadulterated genius. Really. In fact, the article reads like a company press release. Randall Stross, author of a new book about Microsoft, argues that its competitors--that means you, Netscape--use the same tough tactics as Microsoft, but get a free ride from the media and the feds. The cover package includes a dissenting view from a Sun Microsystems executive. "Bad Microsoft" hasn't disappeared, he warns. (SLATE's treatment of the Stross book this week is more skeptical.) Also, a very long, very late feature on downsizing: It concludes that Kodak layoffs in Rochester hurt the city and the firm.

The New Yorker, Nov. 25
(posted Monday, Nov. 18)
Sony's much-chronicled Hollywood adventure is chronicled again in laborious detail. After buying Columbia and affiliated studios in 1989, Sony lost billions because of lousy decisions by American studio heads. Now Sony has wised up, sacked the offending executives, and is trying to get out of the movie business. The moral of the story: "Fears of a Japanese cultural invasion of Hollywood ... can be laid to rest." (The most surprising part of the article: It was not written by Ken Auletta. James Stewart is the author.) A review of affirmative-action books condemns both liberal and conservative positions: The future, writes the reviewer, is corporate affirmative action, which will survive because it gives companies competitive advantage. Also, Anthony Lane muses on Shakespearean films (he likes them). Great headline: "Tights! Camera! Action!"

Weekly Standard, Nov. 25
(posted Monday, Nov. 18)
In the cover book review, P.J. O'Rourke expresses his disapproval of Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorby's new autobiography is self-serving and ill-written, and proves him a charlatan and a Communist apologist, O'Rourke reveals. Also, the staff editorial condemns campaign-reform proposals as unconstitutional restrictions on free speech. (It notes that campaign spending, as a percentage of national wealth, has not risen for a generation.) In another non-groundbreaking conservative sally, an article argues that Malthus was wrong: The world has grown more prosperous as it has grown more populous, and famines are caused by politics, not lack of food.

New Republic, Dec. 2
(posted Friday, Nov. 15)
The first issue by new editor Michael Kelly, TNR's two-article cover package ("The Hangover") forecasts stormy weather for Clinton. One story enumerates the looming scandals: It wonders, with barely disguised glee, if any of them will blow up (Paula Jones sounds particularly promising). The other lists looming foreign-policy disasters--Bosnia, Russia, China, Iraq, Israel--and cautions Clinton that he can defer tough decisions no longer. (It echoes the Standard's line that George Mitchell would be a lousy secretary of state.) And Kelly also inaugurates his term as the "TRB" columnist: He argues that Clinton's loathsome, mendacious, unprincipled behavior has rescued liberalism from the loopy left.

Economist, Nov. 16
(posted Friday, Nov. 15)
The cover editorial tries to make sense of the Zaire mess. After berating the United States for foot-dragging, the editors admit that there is no simple way to feed the hungry, punish the wicked, and end anarchy. Their advice: Aid refugees now; resettle Hutu peasants in Rwanda, if possible; and try to disperse the Hutu army. An accompanying article suggests that the United States doesn't care about Hutu refugees because its only interest is propping up Rwanda's Tutsi government. Also, why cable television is in big trouble (the answer: direct-broadcast satellites). And an editorial and a feature that dismiss as bunk the overpopulation worries stirred at this week's world food summit. Better food policy--including use of biotechnology--will feed everyone just fine, thank you.

New York Times Magazine, Nov. 17
(posted Wednesday, Nov. 13)
The cover story profiles NBA superagent David Falk, the mastermind behind Michael Jordan Inc. According to the Times, Falk reinvented basketball marketing by proving that a black man playing a team sport could be a global superstar. Now Falk's stable of NBA hotshots--Jordan, Juwan Howard, Alonzo Mourning, Allen Iverson, etc.--have made him the Michael Ovitz of roundball (appearing at a store near you: Michael Jordan perfume). Also, the magazine analyzes popular radio shrink Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who makes a fortune by telling people that their problems are their own damn fault: "She may well represent the end of therapy as we know it." And, the genealogy of the TWA Flight 800 "friendly fire" theory: Blame the Internet.

The Nation, Nov. 25
(posted Monday, Nov. 11)
Some old-fashioned feminism. The cover story by Erica Jong bashes Hillary-bashing. According to Jong, the first lady is a victim of misogyny, forced to adopt a pose of public sweetness, prettiness, and submission. "Hillary Rodham Clinton looks more to me like Joan of Arc every day. She is burned as a witch week in and week out so that her husband can rise in the polls." Hmm. An article regrets the Clintonization of Britain's Labor Party. And The Nation dismisses the election with a shrug, calling it "a downsized election for downsized political times."

Vanity Fair, December 1996
(posted Thursday, Nov. 7)
A bad issue for moguls. Michael Ovitz takes a beating in a story about his tenure at Disney: The ex-superagent can't read a balance sheet, wastes his time on marginal projects, and is losing the confidence of boss Michael Eisner. Another article shreds Sony Music head Tommy Mottola Jr. (a k a Mr. Mariah Carey) for his thuggish business practices. And a long excerpt from a book about Rupert Murdoch dubs the tycoon the "Sun King" and recounts his abusive, predatory behavior. The author, former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil, acknowledges that Murdoch is a brilliant publisher and a devoted family man. George Clooney adorns the cover: He is, VF assures us, an adorable frat boy.

-- Compiled by David Plotz and the editors of SLATE.