Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Timothy Noah and Marjorie Williams

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576
from: Timothy Noah

I Am a Genius

Posted Thursday, July 9, 1998, at 11:57 AM ET

Forgive me, my dear, if I gave the impression that your newspaper-reading interests cover only matters related to hearth and home. I'm afraid you've revealed to our readers our dirty little secret that--in spite of my having been employed six years at the Wall Street Journal, and subsequently as deputy business editor of a major newsmagazine-- I can barely tell a stock from a bond.

You're right about synergy; it's a dumb idea. Also, as the Time/CNN case shows us, dangerous. Increasing the pressure on journalists to produce stories with smooth and dramatic narratives easily transferable to the big (or little) screen does not sound like a recipe for improving accuracy and fairness. But perhaps this is all a moot point, since it's hard to imagine the magazine world will hold much allure for Brown once she's become a movie producer. I predict the new magazine won't last, but that Brown will become a powerhouse in the film biz.

Walking from the subway to my office this morning, I figured out who should be the next editor of the New Yorker: Henry Louis "Skip" Gates. Let's start a rumor saying he's the guy to beat.

Here's the case for Gates (whom I know only by reading him):

1.) He would be the first African-American ever appointed to run a mainstream national magazine. Appointing him would instantly make Si Newhouse the Branch Rickey of the publishing industry. Kudos to Newhouse would be especially strong because the New Yorker is the most prestigious glossy magazine in America. (If memory serves, the highest-ranking black editor at a mainstream national magazine right now is Mark Whittaker, the number two at Newsweek.)

2.) He wrote the single best article published in the New Yorker during Tina Brown's tenure: His profile of Anatole Broyard, the brilliant book reviewer for the New York Times, who disguised from family, friends, and coworkers that he was black. (It's reprinted in Gates's book, Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Black Man.)

3.) Judging from his writing, he is interested in everything, as an editor should be.

4.) He has a lively moral imagination, a commodity that's been sorely lacking at the New Yorker since the days of Mr. Shawn.

5.) He would make the New Yorker look like America. The magazine business, and especially its more pointy-headed precincts, are today whiter than most country clubs.

6.) The downside with Gates, one hears, is that he tries to do too much. Slate has accused him of farming out some writing and editing tasks to subordinates. Even if that isn't true, some of his writing (I'm thinking mostly of his almost-terrific memoir, Colored People) reads like it was written in too much of a hurry.

That's a downside for a writer. But it's an upside for an editor, who by definition is someone who delegates writing tasks to others.

7.) We know he's a good enough administrator to have taken Harvard's Afro-American studies department, a sorry backwater when he arrived, and turned it into an academic powerhouse.

Over to you, Si Newhouse. A ten percent finder's fee would be most thoughtful....

Brilliantly,

Tim

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576
from: Timothy Noah

I Am a Genius

Posted Thursday, July 9, 1998, at 11:57 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Timothy Noah writes Slate's "Chatterbox" column. Marjorie Williams is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Imagine if...
Hiatt | What if McCain had waged his campaign based on respect?
Editorial: Meddlesome PalinKing: The Danger of Palin Power