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the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Walter Shapiro and Jodi Kantor

the breakfast table
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from: Walter Shapiro

After the Flood

Posted Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999, at 2:26 PM ET

Dear Jodi,

I feel a little like a contestant on an old-time game show like "Supermarket Sweep," staggering to the check-out counter with boxes of Cheerios and cellophane-wrapped Porterhouse steaks dropping off the top of my overstuffed grocery cart. So many newspapers, so little time.

Jodi, it seems like months ago that we started these exchanges musing about the cosmic meaning of day trading. It may be a reflection of our amnesiac media culture that Monday's societal menace of crazed stock-market fiends has already disappeared down the memory hole.

As I prepare to pack up my newspapers, I can't resist passing on one more gem. Today's Washington Post ran a mournful headline that read, "Hundreds Are Killed, Millions Left Homeless by Asian Floods." Guess where the Post played this story? Page A-15, beneath the fold.

But don't blame the Post. The Wall Street Journal kissed off 1.8 million homeless Chinese in six terse lines towards the bottom of its front-page news briefs. And what about the Times, rightly famed for its international coverage? Not a word in today's paper about the Chinese floods, presumably because they deemed a chatty feature on the Italians' obsession with cell phones to be more relevant to its readers. In fairness, the paper of record ran a wire-service picture on Wednesday's Page A-6 of flood-drenched South Korean mourners crossing over to a funeral in rowboats.

Jodi, I'll especially miss our e-mail exchanges tomorrow morning when the Journal arrives with its special "Weekend" section, which frankly I find addictive, packed with stories about $7 million vacation homes and new electronic gizmos for the bored executive. (Last week, the Journal found a business titan who admitted that he had fired someone over his cell phone while lounging on the beach.)

This is getting to be a long good-bye. So before I wax too maudlin, let me just say, Jodi, that you've been a great morning pen pal. Enjoy the F train. And here's hoping that you enjoy the summer weekend without thinking for a single New York minute about the upcoming Senate race.

Fondly

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516171819
from: Walter Shapiro

After the Flood

Posted Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999, at 2:26 PM ET
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Walter Shapiro is the political columnist for USA Today. Jodi Kantor is an associate editor at Slate.
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