- By Anonymous - Slate Magazine

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Blog at Your Own Risk
The Nation on how the military restricts soldiers' Internet activities.
Kara Hadge
posted Sept. 2, 2008
Magicians for Christ
Mother Jones on proselytizing with illusions.
Noreen Malone
posted Aug. 29, 2008
Joe the Turncoat
New York on how Joe Lieberman came to align himself with Republicans.
Noreen Malone
posted Aug. 26, 2008
Obamarama
The press rolls out the red carpet for the DNC.
Kara Hadge
posted Aug. 22, 2008
Burma's Slow Burn
The New Yorker on the decades of struggle of the Burmese.
Kara Hadge
posted Aug. 19, 2008
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other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

By Anonymous
Posted Wednesday, July 10, 1996, at 3:30 AM ET

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

New Republic, July 15 & 22
(posted Friday, June 28)

The New Republic finds its Olympics angle this week. "Welcome to the Olympic Village" (like earlier pieces in Time, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times Magazine, to name but a few), reports that Atlanta is a city of contradictions--black and white, rich and poor, etc.--and while it may not live up to its motto, "the city too busy to hate," it has learned the value of racial accommodation. TNR also launches a new column, "The Hard Questions." Political thinkers Michael Sandel, Ronald Steel, Michael Walzer, and Jean Bethke Elshtain "will try to shed light on the thorny places where abstract political theory meets the realities of public policy." First thorny place: the GOP abortion plank. Michael Sandel's kickoff essay offers a familiar, but clear, explanation of the "instability" in Bob Dole's abortion position: If Dole believes abortion is murder, then he shouldn't tolerate pro-choice Republicans.

Economist, July 6
(posted Friday, July 5)

In the cover story and opening editorial, the magazine's free-marketeers are as cheery as you'd expect about Boris Yeltsin's victory. While noting that Yeltsin faces "a daunting pile of tasks," the magazine writes that his "success means that hopes for reform are still alive." (And so is Yeltsin himself, at least for the moment. The Economist frets, however, that "no one--and certainly no one reassuring--can be considered Mr. Yeltsin's heir-apparent.") This magazine also asks two questions that giddy American investors have been trying desperately to ignore: Is the stock market going to crash? And, if it does, would it wreck the economy? The answers are maybe (because stocks seem overvalued), and probably (because a crash would obliterate business investment).