Rival tabloids the New York Post and the New York Daily News both spent the weekend playing catch-up with Newsweek. The magazine published its very revealing cover story about Mary Kennedy’s last days on Sunday, leaving plenty of time for the dailies to recap it for Monday’s papers. But in the story, which includes a PDF of the sealed affidavit that drove its reporting, Kennedy biographer Laurence Leamer snuck in a small critique tabloids’ early coverage:
“Once they called it Camelot, now they called it the Curse, and the media was having a field day over this latest tragedy to befall one of America’s most storied and dysfunctional clans. Here was the womanizing Bobby, always described as a former heroin addict, leading his innocent wife to her death, yet another victim of an overweening male ego—and he did so while flaunting his affair with actress Cheryl Hines, who played Larry David’s wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was a juicy tale, lacking in nuance. But perhaps Bobby wasn’t guilty. Perhaps nobody was guilty. Perhaps Mary Richardson Kennedy was, and had been for some time, a desperately sick woman.”
True to form, both papers splashed the detail that Mary ran over the family dog.
[Post, Daily News]
Ok, lots of changes in the daytime TV realm: Dylan Ratigan is leaving MSNBC because the medium “is designed to argue about rules and resources, and who should control them.” [NY Times] He’s trying to overthrow all that, we suspect. Martin Bashir will move into Mr. Ratigan’s slot; cue speculation about Mr. Bashir’s successor. [Politico] Meanwhile, Joy Behar formerly of HLN, will have her own show on Current, to launch in September. Working title: “The Joy Behar Show.” [Press Release, Paula Froelich's Tumblr] Robin Roberts will be off GMA for a while because she needs bone marrow transplant to treat her MDS, a rare blood disease. [Mediaite]
The Wall Street Journal is preparing a weekly live video show from its D.C. bureau. [Beet TV] And D.C.-based Politico is adding 20 reporters to cover the economy and the military. [NY Times] All this will surely please Sally Quinn, wife of Ben Bradlee, whose most recent Washington Post column lamented the rise of the blogger and the end of power.
“Journalists used to be powerful. But now there are so many 25-year-old bloggers, many of them showing up on the TV talk shows, that the old-timers are struggling to catch up, tweeting their hearts out and using hip language like “hashtags.” And those young bloggers care about money, too. There aren’t enough jobs, and newspapers and Web sites are struggling to make profits. Even the people on top are insecure. Nobody knows when he or she is going to be let go; the guillotine drops on media stars with alarming frequency.” [WaPo]
One editor, Vogue editor in chief, Anna Wintour, still has money and power. But does her Obama bundling prowess qualify her for an ambassadorial gig? [Guardian] She handled the retraction of Vogue‘s March 2011 profile of Asma Assad diplomatically, anyway. She gave the follow statement:
“Like many at that time, we were hopeful that the Assad regime would be open to a more progressive society. Subsequent to our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that its priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue. The escalating atrocities in Syria are unconscionable and we deplore the actions of the Assad regime in the strongest possible terms.” [NY Times]
Meanwhile, Andrea Peyser thinks Barbara Walters should be fired for looking after our favorite new New Yorker, former Assad PR aide Sheherezad Jaafari. [NY Post]
Hearst boss David Carey said that magazines are good at inspiring your dreams but need five or six revenue streams to be financially sound. [Economist]
Which maybe explains why Conde Nast has launched a mobile video game about being a model called “Fashion Hazard.” [Adweek]
Meet the women behind the bangs behind L.A. site Hello Giggles. If you want. [Storyboard]
Even former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller watches Girls. What’s your excuse? [NY Times]
Longtime New Yorker receptionist Janet Groth wrote a memoir. [New Yorker]
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