They might be in the position the daily newspaper was in in 1958 when television came in...
Media critic Jack Shafer assesses the prospects for Harper's magazine, which has just appointed a new editor to replace lugubrious Lewis Lapham. I used to be a subscriber, way back when I still thought Bill Clinton would be a Good Thing. Yet even then I didn't really care for the house-style (apart from the inspiringly offbeat Index, a feature that UK papers eventually copied.). Everything else was too glum and sour, too prone to finding fascist Republicans under every bed. Maybe Lapham's successor, Roger Dodge can introduce a lighter touch. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I leafed through a copy in a bookshop. (Although any editor of a British political journal would kill for a circulation of 227,000.)
Naturally, I'll miss Lapham's psychic skills. He could hear speeches days before they were delivered. (Via Bookslut.)
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