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R E C E N T L Y

Why Elia Kazan should not receive an Oscar
By Steve Erickson
By bestowing a special honor on the director, who already has won two Oscars, the academy is glossing over history
(03/17/99)

Strange fruit
By James Poniewozik
Garden Escape is a new publication grown from the fertile soil of Garden.com. You might call it a catalog; they call it the ultimate service magazine. What if they're right?
(03/16/99)

Kiddie-porn trafficker -- or crusading undercover reporter?
By Susan Lehman
Larry Matthews' 18-month sentence for receiving and transmitting kiddie porn raises difficult First Amendment issues
(03/11/99)

The anti-Marthas
By James Poniewozik
The Discovery Channel's daytime shelter shows decorate down-market souls in six cheerful shades of Play-Doh
(03/09/99)

Conservative pinup battles "arm candy" canard
By Susan Lehman
Ann Coulter will write for George. Plus: N.Y. cops get tough on the New Yorker; doubloon-or-nothing for Wenner
(03/04/99)

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National Mag Awards can't get no respect in N.Y. Times

On March 18, the Times ran a small piece about the American Society of Magazine Editors' decision to strip This Old House magazine of its nomination for a National Magazine Award for general excellence. Astute Times readers might have wondered, "What nomination? What Magazine Award?" During a week in which the Times ran no less than six Oscar-related pieces, the newspaper of record devoted exactly no coverage to the National Magazine Award nominees.

Asked about the disparity, Times culture desk editor John Darnton says he thinks the Times "overdid" its Oscar coverage this year. "Let's face it," he says, "it's only an awards ceremony for movies -- it doesn't need to command the world's attention." Noting that yet another Oscar piece (in which Vincent Canby comments on studio politics) is slated to run Thursday, Darnton says he thinks the paper will trim its Oscar coverage next year.

As for the magazine awards, Dave Smith, the Times' media editor, says that the paper doesn't even cover the Pulitzer nominations. While he says that the paper may change its decision not to cover magazine award nominations, he points out that Magazine Awards coverage will never reach Oscar proportions. "The two industries are so different, it's probably not even worth comparing. Part of the attraction to the Oscars is the personalities involved -- magazine writers almost never rise to that level." Of course not -- that's why they need those beautifully written notes.

(The National Magazine Awards will be held April 28 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Men's Health, Newsweek and Vanity Fair were nominated for General Excellence Awards for magazines with more than 1 million circulation; the New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, Outside and Smart Money were nominated in the class of magazines with a circulation of 400,000 to 1 million and ... now that we've listed the nominees, we're beginning to understand why the Times passed on the whole thing.

Nation thrills as S.F. Examiner's gripping eXaminer.cam captures meaningless newsroom movements!

In a bold newsroom innovation apparently modeled on Andy Warhol's "Sleep," in which a camera filmed someone slumbering for what seemed an eternity, the San Francisco Examiner is featuring live Web cam coverage of its newsroom.

The still frames are updated every 30 seconds. When we logged on, a grainy figure was visible on the left side of the screen. When the picture changed, the grainy figure had moved across a cubicle. The next time, it was gone!

According to Examiner online editor Jesse Garnier, the paper decided to use the two Web cams (one is trained at the news desk, the other on a different lucky online staff member each day) to give people a look inside the newsroom. The quality of the image is grainy enough to prevent complete invasions of personnel privacy or to compromise workplace security, says Garnier, although he concedes that his wife relies on Web cam images to track his workday activities. Examiner online staff member Michael Moffitt, on whose nose the Web cam was trained throughout most of the day I looked, says, "Personal hygiene is now more important to me."
SALON | March 25, 1999

Susan Lehman's Media Circus appears every Thursday.