Mike Allen, chief White House correspondent for THE POLITICO and “'the most powerful' or 'important' journalist" in Washington, D.C., has a clutter problem. This is a photograph of his office at Time magazine, where he worked as a political reporter until 2007.
In the middle of the Venn diagram between the glass ceiling, the vanilla ceiling, and chilled out dude-itors, you'll find the cover of the summer issue of Port. There, staring back at you, are the patriarchs-in-chief of some of the most influential American print magazines, which, if you believe them, have the same staying power as the human species itself!
In the past week, we've witnessed the post-9/11 era's most comprehensive set of stories about the extent of the U.S. government's secret domestic spying programs. It's front page news worldwide. It's sparked a national debate over privacy and security. And some of our nation's most useless political pundits could not be more bored.
Last week, mustache-stroking corporatist sloganeer Thomas Friedman used his immensely valuable column space in the New York Times to write a love letter to a company run by his daughter's college roommate. Could Thomas Friedman possibly top that for sheer laziness and nepotistic indulgence? But of course.
Disgraced Florida man Allen West, who was forced out of the Army before being voted out of Congress after just one term, is now a Fox News talking head, naturally. One of his first orders of business? Getting to the bottom of this question: Is America's sitting attorney general more dangerous to us than a terrorist leader focused on murdering as many Americans as possible?
Bloomberg View columnist and longtime Newsweek man Jonathan Alter has a new book coming out that includes details about jowly shithead Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. Politico's media reporter Dylan Byers writes that excerpts from the book show that Alter "reveals a number of surprising facts about the Fox News chief that, taken together, make him out to appear extraordinarily paranoid." Yes, Roger Ailes is paranoid. But Alter didn't "reveal" anything new at all.
Even for engaged citizens, the long New York City mayoral campaign can sometimes get a bit tedious. Our city's tabloid reporters work tirelessly to find fresh angles to keep readers interested. How about... INCEST? Or even, dare we say... INCEST BUNDLING?
Although Frank Bruni is a bad newspaper columnist, he does write for a very influential newspaper, even if he doesn't always seem to know it. But we can't expect Frank Bruni to always be writing about "news." Sometimes, you just wanna say, "Hey, Frank: could you opine on the current season, for 800 words or so?"
An aspiring Chicago rapper calling himself "Rhymes Priebus"—get it? Like Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Heh heh—got more media coverage than ever today when he drove around members of President Obama's press pool during a chauffeur gig he'd picked up. And with all that newfound fame came another first: The first time a conservative publication called him a slur on the internet.
The Chicago-Sun Times laid off its entire photography staff this morning in a purge that cut about 28 staffers, according to the Chicago Tribune.
