NY Observer > Salon

Salon on '2008's Surge of Successful Newswomen'

Felix Gillette — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:17:34 -0400

Today, Salon's Rebecca Traister has a terrific essay analyzing the success of CBS's Katie Couric, CNN's Campbell Brown, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow during this year's presidential campaign.

From the piece:

While pondering the meaning of this year's 18 million cracks in the White House ceiling, we might easily have missed the shower of shards falling from other glass domes, like those atop television newsrooms. In the final weeks of October, days before what many consider the most crucial election of our lifetimes, the probing interviews, fine-boned analysis and buzzy commentary showing up on television screens and Internet browsers all over the country are often delivered not in the deep rumble of a wizened Uncle Walt but in a higher register belonging to one of several female newscasters to have kicked ass, taken names and otherwise owned the coverage of the 2008 election.
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Dwight Garner on The Times' Daily Book Reviewers in 1996: 'They Calcify Quickly'; Ten Years Later Critic is Contrite

Leon Neyfakh — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:49:31 -0400

Two things curious about Dwight Garner's new gig as daily book critic at The New York Times: One is that he had some not very nice things to say about his new colleagues back in 1996 when he worked at Salon, and two is his 1998 profile of Michiko Kakutani, where he quoted one book critic after another on how she didn't deserve her Pulitzer Prize. James Wolcott is in there quipping poisonously that while there is a pattern of Times critics going "downhill" after winning their Pulitzer, "We'll probably have no such luck with Michiko," and Jonathan Yardley making fun of her for reviewing lots of short books.

The 1996 piece takes the form of an interview, wherein Mr. Garner asks himself 10 questions about the state of book reviewing. Number nine is "Should there be term limits for daily book critics?" read more »

The Importance of Being on Ellen

Matt Haber — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:36:24 -0400

Today on Salon, Rebecca Traister looks at how daytime television—particularly The View, Ellen, and The Rachael Ray Show—is impacting the election.

Writes Ms. Traister:

Credit Sarah Palin, or Hillary Clinton, or unprecedented excitement over the historic candidacy of Barack Obama and appreciation for his exceptionally appealing wife. Maybe it’s the panic about the financial crisis, outrage at the mishandling of the war, fury over gas prices, worries about the environment — all of which are so powerful that they’re causing the election to seep into unexpected cultural corners, like Us Weekly and porn. Whatever the reason, daytime talk shows have showcased some of the most sophisticated (as well as some of the most mind-numbingly stupid) conversations about what’s happening on the political stage this season. read more »

Chuck Klosterman Taking a Break From Esquire

Observer Staff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:51:33 -0400

Yesterday on Salon, Sarah Hepola profiled writer Chuck Klosterman for the release of his first novel, Downtown Owl.

After hashing out Mr. Klosterman's rise from obscurity to admired and derided cultural critic, Ms. Hepola writes:

But Chuck Klosterman seems to be getting a little sick of Chuck Klosterman. Even his most distinguishing quality—his ability to ramble endlessly, but meaningfully, about the ephemera of American culture—is wearing on him these days. In his September 2008 column for Esquire, he writes, 'I find myself growing more and more depressed about all the things I used to love ... It's not difficult to be the cop in the car watching the meth lab, but you will drive yourself sad. You'll find yourself thinking, Maybe the meth lab will blow up ... But it doesn't blow up. It just sits there, falling apart and declining in value, while the people inside lose their teeth and get crazy high.'

He's no longer going to be writing his Esquire column, by the way.

Will readers really have to live without Mr. Klosterman's observations on everything from Snakes on a Plane to different lighting schemes used by television networks? read more »

Claim: Times' Carr Received 1,200 E-mails After Memoir Excerpt

Matt Haber — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:24:36 -0400

David Carr must be one busy man this month. In an interview with Salon's Andrew O'Herir, Mr. Carr, The New York Times media columnist and author of the recently released book, The Night of Gun, says that he "got 1,200 e-mails when an excerpt of the book ran in The New York Times Magazine, and a lot of them were from people seeking recovery."

We know from Jennifer Senior's profile of Mr. Carr in this week's New York magazine that he probably felt compelled to answer them all since:

When he recently wrote a media column slamming Fox News, he got 450 e-mails, and he answered each and every one. read more »

Do All Salon Writers Want Their Kids to Be Gay?

Matt Haber — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:52:12 -0400

Today on Salon, Sarah Bird pens a humor piece in which she wishes her son were gay.

With palpable yearning, Ms. Bird writes:

How could I not dream of having a son who cared deeply about all the right things: fashion, musical theater, interior décor? But mostly a son who cared deeply about the most right thing of all: his mother? How could I not yearn for a son who would tell me that the bias cut emphasized my saddlebag thighs, that no one was staining concrete anymore, that the tiniest bit of white on the upper lids would open up my eyes and make me look 10 years younger?

Sadly, she finds herself stuck with a straight kid. read more »

Neal Pollack Has Visions, Revisions

Matt Haber — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:32:34 -0400

Yesterday, Salon published a piece by writer Neal Pollack about his experiences with this year's moral panic-inspiring quasi-legal drug, salvia divinorum, in a piece called Confessions of a Salvia Eater.

Fans of Mr. Pollack will no doubt enjoy his description of what he saw on the other side:

I put the salvia in my freezer and didn't touch it for almost two years. Then I had a free midnight, and it occurred to me to try some. ... Almost immediately, I had visions. ... The next night, I repeated the dose. While I had a few small visions, I mostly felt that my body was stretching out beyond its boundaries, moving into infinite space. read more »

Biographer: Roger Ailes Knows He's Right (Wing)

Matt Haber — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:28:40 -0400

Salon's Vincent Rossmeier has an interview with Kerwin Swint, biographer of Fox news Godfather Roger Ailes. Mr. Swint, a Professor of Political Science Kennesaw State University, says he "couldn't believe that no one had written a book on him yet. He's been such a central figure for so long."

In 2003, The New Yorker's Ken Auletta described Mr. Ailes as "a man of Falstaffian girth... Ailes is sixty-three and does not look immediately fearsome. He says he is five feet nine inches tall and weighs two hundred and twenty-five pounds; his jowls droop over his collar. With his pallor and barely perceptible eyebrows, Ailes looks like someone who has spent a lifetime under fluorescent lights. read more »

Michelle Malkin: Slate? Salon? Whatever.

Matt Haber — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:52:02 -0400

Yesterday on Fox News—America's Election HQ!—Megyn Kelly interviewed Fox News contributor and New Yorker profile rejecter Michelle Malkin about potential First Lady Michelle Obama. During the course of her echo chamber-like criticism of Ms. Obama (that's not a metaphor: someone should've checked Ms. Malkin's mic before putting her on air), Ms. Malkin said, "it's not just Republicans who are criticizing some of her comments, but also statements have been made in the left-leaning blog Salon about her comments."

That darn Salon!

Not so fast, Ms. Malkin. Alex Koppelman, Salon's War Room blogger, searched his site and couldn't turn up "anything like what Malkin is talking about." After posting a clip of her appearance and emailing Ms. Malkin, he solved the mystery:

Malkin responded to my e-mail; she says she misspoke and that she meant to refer to Slate, not Salon.

Let's call it the narcissism of minor differences.

Good Grieve: Politico Poaches Salon Reporter

John Koblin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:45:29 -0500

Politico has hired Salon senior writer Tim Grieve to become their new Congressional bureau chief. According to a memo sent out this morning by Jim VandeHei, Mr. Grieve "is a terrific writer, editor and conceptual thinker." Over at Salon, he ran The War Room blog.