New Yorker Magazine

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:27pm on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

The American news media could be fundamentally changing, according to Nicholas Lemann in the New Yorker story "Paper Tigers" from April 13, 2009:

"We now may see the history of journalism rewinding even farther, back to the time before the burghers and before the impresarios, when there wasn’t much of a market for news and there was a seamless connection between journalism and politics. Substantial realms of journalism, especially in newer media like the blogosphere and cable television, are already hard to distinguish from political activity. As government gets bigger and more consequential, the worry is not that there will be no one to purvey the news but that the news will no longer remain an independent and countervailing power."

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 11:51pm on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

A New Guinea tribe is suing The New Yorker for $10 Million for depicting them as rapists, murderers and pig thieves, Forbes magazine reported on April 21, 2009:

"In an April 21, 2008, New Yorker story, "Vengeance Is Ours," Pulitzer Prize-winning geography scholar Jared Diamond describes blood feuds that rage for decades among tribes in the Highlands of New Guinea. Diamond tells the story using a central protagonist: Daniel Wemp, member of the Handa clan, a blood-thirsty warrior bent on avenging his uncle's death. That quest, writes Diamond, touched off six years of warfare leading to the slaughter of 47 people and the theft of 300 pigs.

Now Diamond's protagonist is fighting Diamond. A two-page complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court on April 20 seeks $10 million from the New Yorker's publisher, Advance Publications, claiming Diamond's story falsely accused Wemp and fellow tribesman Isum Mandigo of "serious criminal activity" and "murder.""

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 4:38pm on Monday, February 9th, 2009

In February 2009, David Hauslaib's Jossip had some awfully nice things to say about Sasha Frere-Jones:

"Sasha Frere-Jones, the New Yorker's pop music scribe, is to rap writing what Wu-Tang is to rap music, hyphenated, cerebral (sometimes too much so) and very often good. Counterintuitive as it sounds, a magazine so pretentious that it's dishonorable to read it while getting a shoe shine is actually quite a reliable source for hip hop coverage. Granted, next to the price, Frere-Jones' Devin the Dude blurb was probably the most ignored bit of text in New Yorker history, but it's nice to know it's there, like a blinking smoke alarm. We also appreciate that the New Yorker's online edition now boasts the keyword "Fadanuf fa Erybody," one of the Dude's old albums."

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 10:03pm on Sunday, February 8th, 2009

On February 6, 2009, Media Life magazine reported that The New Yorker has a new publisher:

"The ad economy has been brutal to magazines, and especially to the New Yorker, and yesterday Condé Nast shifted bodies about in the hopes of reversing that slide. Out as publisher is Drew Schutte, who had held the title for just a year, and in is Lisa Hughes, longtime publisher of Condé Nast Traveler. Schutte moves over to head web sales for company's many magazine web sites, and in some ways it's a better fit, considering his years heading Wired, the Condé Nast publication dedicated to things digital.

Like a number of magazine publishers, Condé Nast has been slow to develop its web properties, and the Schutte move is a clear signal that the ailing fashion publishing house intends to catch up."