Slate Magazine | The New York Observer

Disclosures

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:10:34 -0500

This week's award for best disclosure statement goes to The Big Money's Chadwick Matlin, who included this helpful paragraph in yesterday's Michael Lewis: Our Money Laureate:

That Lewis is so devoted to profile-driven journalism is surprising considering his influences (which, it should be said, are influences that I—and The Big Money—share). Lewis’ career owes much to the tutelage of Michael Kinsley, co-founder of Slate and a man who once said that profiles are "encrusted with...

The Plotz Thickens: Slate Editor Sends Staffers on Sabbaticals

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:08:46 -0500

In a season of media cutbacks, thus far the staffers at Slate have escaped the scythe. Editor David Plotz has made no layoffs, and is expecting none in the future.

Even more remarkably, Mr. Plotz is sending his writers out of the office to go work from home and pull together a big project and all the while still get paid for it.

Mr. Plotz has informed his staffers that they will, one...

Rosenbaum v. Jarvis Round Four (Five?): Web Guru 'The Billy Joel of Blog Theorists'

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:42:26 -0500

Remember how back in November former Observer 'Edgy Enthusiast' columnist Ron Rosenbaum used his Slate 'Spectator' column to call out Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis as "the Sarah Palin of Gurus"?

At the time, Mr. Jarvis—a former magazine editor-turned-digital evangelist—responded by calling Mr. Rosenbaum "a pissy third grader," which sparked an on-going war of words and inspired The Observer's John Koblin to spend some time with The Web Guru in November.

The war continues...

From The Simon Archives: In The New Yorker, Wire Creator Remembers The Late William Zantzinger

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:52:41 -0500

What do you do after co-creating a television series so critically praised, Slate's then-editor Jacob Weisberg called it "the best show on television and which prompted The New York Times editorial page's Nicholas Kulish to write, "If Charles Dickens were alive today, he would watch 'The Wire,' unless, that is, he was already writing for it"?

Well, you can write a Talk of the Town for The New Yorker, which is what David...

The Story of O: American Wife Author Sittenfeld Writes Serialized Inauguration Novella for Slate

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:53:55 -0500

Curtis Sittenfeld, author of last year's Laura Bush-inspired novel American Wife is wading into fictional Presidential doings yet again. Last night, Slate started running All Along, This Was Supposed To Happen, a serialized novella about Barack Obama's Inauguration.

Reached by email, Ms. Sittenfeld (who used to write for The Observer from time-to-time and is also the author of 2005's Prep), said that despite back-to-back novels with Presidential themes, she is "definitely not becoming...

Meet Slate's New Columnist: Eliot Spitzer

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:57:42 -0500

Media Mob has learned that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer will write a new column for Slate beginning tomorrow. The column will appear every other week and it'll be about government, regulation and finance.

"He's going to be doing a regular thing," said Jacob Weisberg, the editor-in-chief of the Slate Group. "It'll be heavily about the financial crisis and fixing financial markets and the economy generally."

The column will be titled The Best Policy.

Mr. Weisberg...

Reports: Chinese Democracy Recorded in Many, Many Studios

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:24:25 -0500

- "If [Axl] Rose ever had a moment's doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count — including the exit of every other founding member of the band — he left no room for it in these 14 songs," David Fricke, Rolling Stone, November 10, 2008.

- "The album credits list 14 studios," Jon Pareles, The...

Slate's Ron Rosenbaum Calls Jeff Jarvis 'The Sarah Palin of Gurus'; Jarvis Calls Rosenbaum A 'Third Grader'

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:25:47 -0500

Call it the Rumble in the RSS Reader: Ron Rosenbaum, former Edgy Enthusiast for The Observer and current Slate 'Spectator' columnist, took a sharp pin and attempted to pop the increasingly inflated ego of Jeff Jarvis, the former print journalist-turned-New Media guru at Buzzmachine.com.

Here’s a blow-by-blow, so far:

In his Nov. 11 column published last night, Mr. Rosenbaum throws the first crustless PB & J sandwich at Mr....

The Lost World: Remembering Condé Nast When It Sizzled

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:54:10 -0400

As John Koblin reported yesterday, Condé Nast is implementing across the board budget cuts. Men's Vogue was forced to reformat itself down to a glorified supplement to its big sister publication; Portfolio is dramatically scaling back its Web site and limiting its run from 12 issues a year to 10.

Like the natty yet faceless figure in the opening credits to Mad Men, Condé Nast editors could be forgiven for feeling like their...

Obama Elected President (Of Slate)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:20:41 -0400

For the third presidential election in a row, Slate has asked its staffers and contributors to tell the world who they're voting for.

The winner? Democrat Barack Obama, who beat Republican John McCain with 55 out of 62 staffers asked.

Not voting for Senator Obama: Deputy Managing Editor and Copy Chief Rachel Larimore, who's voting for Senator McCain because, "He's a man I admire, I agree with many of his policy positions,...

Washington Post Company Acquires Foreign Policy; Magazine and Web Site Now Part of Slate Group

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:58:06 -0400

According to a heavily embargoed press release from The Washington Post Company's reps, the company has acquired Foreign Policy, the magazine and Web site formerly owned by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

FP will become part of The Slate Group, which recently launched The Big Money, a business site.

Why this news is embargoed until approximately 3 P.M., we have no idea, but the release follows.

The Washington Post...

Perrotta on Palin: Introducing the 'Sexy Puritan'

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:30:48 -0400

Slate has an essay by Election and Little Children author Tom Perrotta on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, in which he writes, "Caribou hunting aside, Sarah Palin represents the state-of-the-art version of a particular type of woman—let's call her the Sexy Puritan—that's become a familiar and potent figure in the culture war in recent years."

Mr. Perrotta continues:

Sexy Puritans engage in the culture war on two levels—not simply by advocating conservative...

Slate Stakes Big Money on 'Big Money'

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:06:40 -0400

Spinoffs are well known in television. Sometimes they work: The Jeffersons spun off from All in the Family and ran for 10 years. Sometimes they don't: Look at Joey. (You didn't while it was on.) Slate, the Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive's wonky, contrarian Web site of politics and pop culture, isn't a sitcom—if it were, Christopher Hitchens would surely be Archie Bunker—but it's launching a spinoff of its own today with The Big Money, a business...

Dead-On Ad Placement on Slate

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:49:50 -0400

This week, Slate presents a special issue all about Geezers, those adorable folks in pastels and plaid you see walking aimlessly about your local mall and running for President of the United States.

Among the offerings, 80 over 80: The Most Powerful Octogenarians in America, which includes Mike Wallace, Liz Smith, and Hugh Hefner. And while it shouldn't be confused with The Observer's Power Geezers list from 2005, Slate's ad...

Slate Editor's Dream Assignment

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:44:18 -0400

Do undecided voters dream of aerial wolf hunts? Slate's David Plotz sure hopes so.

After a series of disturbing dreams featuring Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, he's inviting readers to contribute any and all dreams about Ms. Palin.

Here's his call for entries:

Palin has gripped the American imagination in a way that seems designed to burrow into our dream lives. Palin's supermom abilities provoke envy and anxiety in women, especially...

The Great Plagiarizer of the 21st Century, The Bulletin, Is Dead

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:04:17 -0400

And it appears The Bulletin, the alt-weekly newspaper in Montgomery County in Texas that repeatedly repurposed other publications' works, is apparently no more.

The paper's publisher, Mike Ladyman, tells The Houston Press' Hair Balls blog: “It’s dead right now. I’m not bringing out another issue. I’ll just close it up.”...

Slate's Plagiarism Accusations Followed by Alt-Weekly's Web Site Shut Down

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:26:23 -0400

Yesterday Media Mob (and just about every other English language media and journalism Web site) wrote about Slate critic Jody Rosen's investigation into The Montgomery County Bulletin's egregious and repeated plagiarism of his and other journalists' works for their small-circulation alt-weekly.

Today, The Bulletin is no more. At least on the Web, where the paper's site has been stripped down to a simple directory of files. Coincidence? Probably not. Then again, it might...

Conason! Blumenthal! Jody Rosen! They've All Been Plagiarized by The Bulletin

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:50:04 -0400

The Slate music critic Jody Rosen has a simple question: "In purely statistical terms, do the articles in the Montgomery County Bulletin amount to the greatest plagiarism scandal in the annals of American journalism?"

You might ask: The Bulletin? What's that? Also, why is Jody Rosen participating in media reporting?

Well, the story begins like this: Mr. Rosen was tipped a few weeks ago by a reader that a Jimmy Buffett profile he wrote in...

Bill Bennett's Latest Gamble

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:03:03 -0400

Writing on The New Republic's Plank blog, Zvika Krieger alerts us to the fact that Bush 41 "Drug Czar" and so-called "Bookie of Virtue" William Bennett and former Bush 43 special assistant David Kuo are launching a conservative answer to Slate. (This comes via Gawker.)

According to a posting on the UC Berkley Journalism Jobs board posting linked by TNR, the new publication, which is called Liberty Wire, describes its sensibility as follows:

Our...

'Slate' Writer Confesses: I May Have Unleashed 'Hezbollah-Style Fist Jab' Meme

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:16:12 -0400

Slate's Christopher Beam has something to get off his chest.

In a post last night, Mr. Beam, who writes the website's 'Trailhead' blog, confessed that he may have accidentally set off the ridiculous Barack and Michelle Obama "terrorist fist-bump" meme that found its way into this week's New Yorker's cover illustration by Observer contributor Barry Blitt. That cover has spawned more op-eds, blog posts, news segments, and articles than, frankly, Media Mob is willing...

Slate Reveals: The Love That Dare Not Bark Its Name

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:52:33 -0400

Two weeks ago this reporter delved into the shadowy world of adorable animals and the people who love snorgling them. If you'll allow me to break from journalistic objectivity (while simultaneously breaking into first-person), it was a hairy assignment, full of wet noses and wagging tails. It was also one that changed me forever. I don't think I'll look at kittens being adopted by rabbits in quite the same way again.

With that...

God is Dead (And Other Explanations for The Love Guru)

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:12:09 -0400

In a recent New Yorker...

Michelle Malkin: Slate? Salon? Whatever.

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...

David Plotz Named Editor of Slate, Jacob Weisberg Bumped Up to Chief Editor of 'Slate Group'

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:41:48 -0400

The Slate family is getting bigger, and consquently, a restructuring is in order! David Plotz, longtime deputy for the thinky, contrarian Web magazine, is becoming the new chief editor of the site. He'll be the third editor of the 12-year-old site, succeeding Jacob Weisberg who succeeded Michael Kinsley. Weisberg will now oversee all the Slate Web sites in a role not dissimilar to Jim Kelly's current role at Time Life.

"I’ll be in charge of...

Folie à Deux: Husband and Wife Journos Stay Together Through Hell or No Fresca

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:10:40 -0400

In a bit of marital stunt journalism, Slate's David Plotz and The Atlantic's Hanna Rosin decided to spend a whole day 15 feet apart and report on their experiences. (They also let Slate V's camera' follow them.)

Inspired by a recent New York Times 'House & Home' story about a Buddhist monk and his platonic partner who've spent the last decade eating off the same plate and attempting to breathe in unison...

Finke to Defamer: No Links For You

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:37:58 -0400

Nikki Finke, The Observer's 2007 Media Mensch of the Year, has a bone to pick with Defamer.

On her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, Ms. Finke offers a look inside the Hollywood gossip sausage factory and shows how an anonymous comment on her site attributed to "A CAA Agent" was picked up by Defamer and went on to become fodder for outlets like Variety, The Los Angeles Times, and Slate.

...

Don't Stop the Music! Times Hunts at Slate, Vibe for New Pop Critic

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:04:22 -0400

“Being pop critic at The Times is a dream job—certainly it was mine,” the former occupant of that position, Kelefa Sanneh, wrote in an e-mail to Off the Record this week.

But a little more than two weeks ago, Mr. Sanneh left his dream job for the other dream job: a reporting gig at The New Yorker. Since March 3, when a Times memo went out announcing Mr. Sanneh’s departure from the...

Classical Music: Awkward, Then Snobbish, Like the Nerd at the Party

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:38:01 -0500

The New Yorker's classical music reviewer Alex Ross, (whom the Observer's Doree Shafrir considers the best listener in America) and The New York Times' (mostly) jazz writer Ben Ratcliff have been firing off emails about pop, jazz and classical to each other and posting them on Slate for the past few days. They're attempting to "leave their musical islands." Here's a highlight reel:

Ross:

Classical music keeps getting marginalized in American culture, and, like...

Slate to Launch Business Site

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:10:04 -0400

The past year has seen the launch of the Fox Business Network and Condé Nast’s Portfolio. Now it looks like there could be another brand-new business journalism start-up to add to the list.

Slate—the irreverent online magazine that, since being launched by Michael Kinsley in 1996, has established itself as a fixture in the crowded landscape of opinion journalism—plans to start a separate site next year, devoted exclusively to business news and...

Jews in the establishment

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 07:54:41 -0500

Noam Chomsky has, on Znet (at zmag.org), now joined the chorus criticizing the Walt-Mearsheimer article in LRB on the power of the Israel lobby. Chomsky gives the authors credit for debating a verboten subject, but says, It's the oil and corporate interests, stupid (that have dictated policy in the Mideast). It's typical of Chomsky, as a materialist, to say this. He has always missed the sociological component of this issue, and he's doing so now....

Clinton as Clay? As a Blogger?

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 09:08:00 -0500

Bill Safire remarked Sunday that the way to run against Hillary is to adopt "the same campaign they used against Henry Clay.... You remember. 'Clay can't win.'" In case you don't remember, David Wissing explains, with a caveat: "Now the one difference between Clay and Hillary is that Hillary actually has never lost a national election. Clay's reputation as some who 'couldn't win' was earned over his three defeats whereas the thought that Hillary 'can't win'...

You've Got Hate Mail! Virtual Pundits (Mis)Fire Back

Sun, 30 Nov 2003 19:00:00 -0500

Clicking through a stack of e-mail from readers indignant over something I'd written about President Bush recently, I began to think about ways in which his popularity and mine seem linked. At least in the minds of his still-numerous, if dwindling, fans.

And then I began to wonder: Is it just my imagination, or is the American public becoming less articulate, less apt, less coherent in direct proportion to its growing stridency? Is everyone...