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Time and Newsweek, July 15
(posted Tuesday, July 9)
Entering the summer hard-news drought, Time goes for an "inside story" scoop, and Newsweek conjures up another trend. Time's cover story, "Yanks to the Rescue," reports that four American political consultants, including an associate of Clinton adviser Dick Morris, secretly engineered Boris Yeltsin's re-election campaign. The consultants, who reported to Yeltsin's daughter ("the real behind-the-scenes boss of the campaign"), persuaded the president to rely on their focus groups and "go negative" against the Communists. This week's Time also takes sides in the growing debate about economic growth and the Federal Reserve Board. "How Fast Should We Grow?" Its answer: "faster." Time pooh-poohs the Fed's notion that anything more than 2.5 percent GNP growth will spark inflation.
Newsweek's cover story informs readers that "Nice is in." The magazine profiles sweet-tempered talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell, who has "singlehandedly sav[ed] daytime TV from itself." Newsweek argues that O'Donnell's rise signals a new Hollywood decency: Hootie has vanquished Snoop; Jay is pounding Dave; and Bill Cosby is making a comeback (big scoop: an article by Geraldo Rivera on why he is abandoning trash TV).
Newsweek and Time discover the same Olympics story this week. "Is Atlanta Ready Yet?" questions Newsweek; "Is the City Ready?" asks Time.
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The New Yorker, July 15
(posted Tuesday, July 9)
Film critic David Denby, an admitted New York liberal intellectual, joins the kids-and-culture war with a passionate essay about how American television, music, and movies are corrupting his two sons. He denounces the "bullying, conformist shabbiness" of pop culture, praises the V-chip, and concludes that even the best-intentioned parents can't protect their children from the onslaught of nihilistic garbage spewed out by entertainment conglomerates. Also, Blood Sport author James Stewart looks at (and analyzes) one of Jim McDougal's Whitewater loans, then speculates that the newly convicted McDougal may turn on his old allies Bill and Hillary Clinton. Michael Kelly investigates the black-church fires and echoes the conclusions reached by USA Today and the Washington Post: There is no conspiracy; the arsonists tend to be "loners and losers and copycats acting largely on drunken impulse." |
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U.S. News & World Report, July 15 & 22
(posted Tuesday, July 9)
U.S. News does the Olympics this week with "The Only Guide You'll Ever Need!" We wish they'd told us this before, rather than after, every other magazine's Olympics cover. In a closing editorial David Gergen concludes daringly that American politics are uncivil and Washington needs more bipartisanship. It's the only David Gergen column you'll ever need. |
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The Nation, July 15 & 22
(posted Monday, July 1)
The Nation fires a good old-fashioned left-wing broadside against globalization--and the corporate/political/media elite that propagandizes it. The seven-article special issue--guest-edited by lefty doomsayers John Cavanagh and Jerry (Jeremiah?) Mander--contends that globalization has massively increased economic inequality and environmental degradation; propagated a sterile, Disneyfied "monoculture"; shattered social welfare systems in Europe and North America; re-established colonialism ("with trade rules instead of gunboats"); and given supragovernmental power to transnational corporations. These evils continue, contributors argue, because the world's rich and powerful benefit from them. |
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Weekly Standard, July 8 and 15
(posted Monday, July 1)
After two weeks of pummeling Bob Dole, the Standard returns to its favorite target: the Clintons. Its "Gala Clinton-Bashing Issue!" overflows with glee and bile. David Brooks flogs Hillary Clinton's narcissism; Noemie Emery scoffs at her supposed resemblance to Eleanor Roosevelt; John Podhoretz whacks Clintonites for their hypocritical ethics; and Fred Barnes analyzes what it will take for Filegate to become a serious scandal (more zealous press coverage, criticism by Democrats, and an administration turncoat). Speaking of turncoats, the Standard reviews Up From Conservatism, the new book by left-wing media darling Michael Lind, who is loathed by the neo-cons for his very public abandonment of their cause. David Brooks pans the book and brands Lind an egotist and a conspiracist. |
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New Republic, July 29
(posted Friday, July 12)
This week's TNR promises "The New Middle East," which turns out to look a lot like TNR's version of the old Middle East. There's a frightening account of Muslim fundamentalists' war against journalists in Algeria. A profile of Warren Christopher chronicles how the decent, low-key secretary of state failed at his great mission: getting Assad to the negotiating table. The most interesting Middle East discussion actually appears on the letters page, where the editors spar with a Muslim critic over whether Mohammed broke a treaty in 630 A.D. It's fascinating. Honest. |
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Economist, July 13
(posted Friday, July 12)
The Economist, like the New Republic, takes one of its favorite hobbyhorses, proclaims something new, and offers something comfortingly familiar. For years, the British weekly has been predicting that Japan's unique and irritating economic and political habits will fade, and that it will become more like western societies. A 15-page survey on Japan this week concludes that the nation may soon undergo enormous (and necessary) political and economic transformations: "This will be Japan's 'third opening,' and it will finish the job." A true, multiparty democracy may develop; deregulation and international competition may free the economy; and China's imperial ambition may spark Japan's re-emergence as a military power. In the opening editorial and cover story, the magazine describes the Americanization of European business. Unsurprisingly, the Economist sheds no tears for the death of Europe's "civilized," stagnant capitalism, and celebrates the aggressive, shareholder-driven, profit-maximizing American model. |
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