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Throw the disk at him!
By James Poniewozik
Forget the Web posting. The Starr Report's groaning arrival really demonstrates the power of large white cardboard boxes
(09/15/98)

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BROWSE THE
MEDIA CIRCUS
ARCHIVE

BY SUSAN LEHMAN

Has the New York Times' coverage of the Clinton scandal been fair? Prominent readers weigh in.

Daniel Schorr, NPR: [Editorial page editor] Howell Raines doesn't like Clinton and the Times' editorial page has been arrayed against Clinton for a long time. That's fairly clear. The news pages seem fairly uncontaminated by this; they are doing their best.

Gay Talese, author: The Times is typically complete. The editorial page is always unfair and biased in one direction -- that is what an editorial page is for. I think it's a wonderful paper, better than when I was there, and the editorial page is the most splendid editorial page in the U.S. Howell Raines is a most brilliant editor. The op-ed page -- the commentary there, the quality and variety in writing -- I don't know if they give Pulitzers for op-ed pages, but the Times' op-ed page should get one.

Mark Crispin Miller, professor, New York University: I have been disturbed by the Times' coverage. It seems excessive, as if the paper had an investment in Whitewater because of Jeff Gerth's reporting on the matter and therefore had decided to go to town on the story. The necktie story on the front cover was a kind of breakthrough for the Times in Clinton-related tabloidism. It has been very distressing. I haven't admired it. By belaboring the story as they have, they have contributed to the crisis around this thing.

Katha Pollitt, columnist, the Nation: I think Maureen Dowd is just the worst. There is a rather sick vein of columnists who present themselves as having no partisan stake, but as representatives of morality, seriousness, world history. I find this unbearable ... I hate that tone of voice, that appeal to some kind of vast, deep, middle-of-right thinking-ness that the Times' editorials embody.

Joe Klein, the New Yorker: Everyone wants to read about blow jobs, but that's a one-day story. There has to be a rationale for writing about blow jobs, so we get into perjury and obstruction of justice. So a story like Whitewater, which has been totally discounted, becomes this endless, endless sort of legal folderol. That's the only way you can rationalize this, especially if you went to Harvard or Yale, as most of the people in the elite media did, and you're a specialist, and you find yourself on the White House beat writing about blow jobs every day.

Victor Navasky, publisher, the Nation: To me, [Kenneth] Starr has conducted a sexual inquisition. You don't get a sense of the dimensions and danger to the republic of that inquisition from the New York Times editorial page. They are obsessed with what they believe to be the president's alleged crimes. Even if he were guilty of those crimes, I think that would be less threatening to democracy than what Ken Starr has done and the precedents he is setting.

Marshall Loeb, editor, Columbia Journalism Review: As a reader and consumer, I find myself well served by the Times in this matter. Certainly they have been complete and thorough. I have found the Times editorial page critical and supportive of Starr, critical of the president but fair. I don't know any reason why the Times would want to be anti-Clinton. My memory is that the Times supported Clinton for president in '92 and '96 -- I don't think there is any right-wing conspiracy at the high level of the New York Times.

Poor Bill Clinton, whom I've known for many, many years, he did some wrong things but he is suffering like Lear and Job right now. I can't think of any good coming out of this, but I hope middle-aged men will be less inclined to exploit credulous young women.

U2, Salman?

Salman Rushdie -- author, condemned man, groupie?

Rushdie, recently granted a reprieve from Iran's decade-old death sentence, has a new book out in May. "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," a contemporary story based on the Orpheus myth, centers around a "U2-esque" female rocker, according to Rushdie's publisher, who reports that, as part of the research for his book, Rushdie hung out with the rock band U2. Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, apparently wants to work out some sort of MTV/VH1 "tie-in" -- whatever that means -- to promote the book. And, as part of a promotional effort, it's possible Rushdie may join the band's spring tour. A spokeswoman at Henry Holt says there won't be any final decisions for another two weeks or so. Now that the fatwa has been lifted, it appears that Rushdie is embracing the seven deadly sins with a vengeance.

Comings, goings

Nothing is set in stone but Charlie Rose show staffers say it's near official: Their boss is going to be a correspondent for "60 Minutes II," a new show set to begin airing next year. CBS says no agreements have been signed yet, but Rose told the New York Times, "This is going to happen, I'm so excited." What will Rose add to the show? "Arrogance?" ventures a Rose employee.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal writer Tony Horwitz jumps to the New Yorker beginning this fall. Horwitz, who is currently living in the South, may file Southern dispatches. He joins former Journal writer Joan Acocella, the New Yorker's new dance critic. Peter Schjeldahl begins writing art criticism for the magazine in mid-October. Talk of the Town editor Susan Morisson was promoted to articles editor but will continue to edit Talk and Shouts and Murmurs. "David likes her so much, he wanted her to do it all," says a magazine spokesperson.

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Will the last one left at Brill's Content please turn out the light? Departing staffers from the media watchdog magazine now include executive editor Eric Garland, managing editor Joan Friedman, associate art director Michael Mrak, online manager Darcy Cosper, writer Rachel Lehmann-Haupt and reporter Andrew Hearst.

Buy this now!

Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. (For short say "McSweeney's.") Known also as "Gegenshein." Also answering to the names "The Starred Review," "The Mixed Review," "The Grim Ferryman," "The Primitive," "McSweeney's: Diamonds are Forever" and "Condé Nast McSweeney's for Women."

Dave Eggers, former Esquire and Media Circus editor, but best known for editing the late humor mag Might, is behind the quirky new journal. "It picks up where Might left off, and is informed by all of our troubling, frustrating experiences with actual magazines," says Eggers. The first issue is full of stories that were killed by other magazines, experimental fiction and bits and pieces from writers Eggers likes. Rick Moody, the ever-amusing Mark O'Donnell, Sarah Vowell, Tom Junod, David Foster Wallace, Paul Tullis and others contribute stories involving the following subjects: soldiers dying, gold mining, spiders, Hawaii, kissing, sunken treasure and fire.

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Joan Didion is one of the very few writers who doesn't write unless she has something to say. In this week's New York Review of Books -- the 35th anniversary issue -- Didion takes on the Starr Report. Interested, as always, in narrative -- or, as she says, "the stories we tell ourselves to live" -- Didion traces the development of the Starr narrative. You may have heard it -- or thought it -- before, but Didion's reading is clean, clear and elegant.
SALON | Oct. 8, 1998