Obama 'furious' over McChrystal 'wimps' article
(via today)
Not to pick on Today, but really, how else is Obama supposed to act? If the hed said “Obama ‘totally stoked’ over McChrystal ‘wimps’ article,” now that would be news…
Glass houses, Newsweek:
Newsweek: Top U.S. General in Afghanistan Under Fire for Testy Magazine Profile‘Testy’? You call that testy?
Ha. Well played, Today
I have a special kind of affection for Newsweek. It’s not rational, really, as I haven’t read the thing in years, but my parents subscribed to it when I was a kid, and I have great memories of the magazine. I wish I could call up specific stories that touched me, but my mind doesn’t work that way. I traffic in visceral feelings, so I remember that special sharp, inky magazine paper smell, the feel of the thin paper, the glossy pages scattered with Newsweek red, that certain kind of smug feeling a too-smart kid gets when they read about adult things and think, “I know more than you do” at their peers. Not a flattering portrait of my young self, for sure, but Newsweek’s short, digestable, easily-readable articles helped form my young view of the world, and perhaps even my adult sense of what journalism should be about.
So I was pretty pleased when I found that, not only does Newsweek have a tumblr, but that it’s really fucking good. It’s smart and funny and self-deprecating, with that weird Tumblr multi-media combo of words and pictures; original content, quotes, re-blogging and re-re-blogging; self-promotion; and teasing and touting one’s peers. Love that Newsweek has allowed their tumblr to rely on the format’s strengths, instead of creating some watered-down, mainstream media version of a a good thing.
Strange I’d find it the same week Newsweek also goes up for sale. Or not so strange really, given that it has a place in the current news cycle. But whatevs. Anyway. Thanks, Mark Coatney, for bringing me back into the fold. I hope Newsweek, and its tumblr, survive.
