John Meacham

Felix Dennis On His Murder Stunt: April Fools!

Portrait of the Billionaire as a Young Man: Felix Dennis (right) hawks British counterculture magazine 'Oz' in 1970 with coproducers Richard Neville and James Anderson.
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Portrait of the Billionaire as a Young Man: Felix Dennis (right) hawks British counterculture magazine 'Oz' in 1970 with coproducers Richard Neville and James Anderson.

Felix Dennis, the billionaire publisher of Maxim who was the first person to say the word “cunt” on live British television, cut right to the chase last night at the Columbia Journalism School.

“Let’s get the murder thing out of the way,” he said in his refined British accent, alluding to his outrageous, and subsequently retracted claim in The Times of London on April 2 that he had killed a man 25 years ago.  read more »

Jon Meacham's Cri de Coeur: Why Do You Read The Economist Instead of Newsweek?

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham.
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Newsweek editor Jon Meacham.

After about an hour, there seemed to be no more questions for him, so Newsweek editor Jon Meacham turned to his audience—about 100 graduate students at Columbia journalism school—and said he had a question for them: Did anyone in the room read Newsweek or Time? There was a small, awkward rumbling before finally, a man shouted, "No!"

Mr. Meacham scanned the audience for his quarry and then asked the journalism student, clad in a black turtleneck, whether he read The Economist. Yes, he did.  read more »