or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
July 07, 2008
Meet The New Boss; Marginally Better Than The Old Boss?
Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth has named Marcus Brauchli as the Post's new executive editor. Brachuli was the top editor at the Wall Street Journal until he was forced out by Rupert Murdoch.
Rather than hoping he'll be better than the outgoing editor, Leonard Downie, let's just pray he won't be even worse. Granted, that won't be a high hurdle. Here's Downie in an online chat looking back at his time at the Post:
Chicago: Hey Len, What is your opinion of Katherine Graham's quote: "The press these days should be rather careful about its role. We may have acquired some tendencies about over-involvement that we had better overcome. We had better not yield to the temptation to go on refighting the next war and see conspiracy and cover-up where they do not exist."Leonard Downie Jr.: It's timeless wisdom. She said that many years ago, and it was true then and it's true now. We keep that responsibility in mind every day.
Of course, the title of this post is wrong. Brauchli isn't the "boss" in this situation. The boss is Katharine Weymouth, and behind her, the stock market.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at July 7, 2008 06:40 PMThe boss is Katharine Weymouth, and behind her, the stock market.
Is it possible that the only overachieving, Weymouth I can stand is the talking head.
Now there's a dynasty deeply steeped in media.
Posted by: Labiche at July 7, 2008 07:49 PMWonder if this means the Post will become like the WSJ: demented op-ed pages; accurate news pages. So, you know, an improvement.
Probably not - the WashPo isn't marketed to financiers.
Posted by: RobWeaver at July 7, 2008 09:03 PMHey! That question came from Chicago! I know someone who lives in Chicago!
Posted by: Rick Perlstein at July 7, 2008 11:31 PMJust about every taxi driver and parking lot attendant in Washington can talk about the conspiracies (gentlemanly agreements) and cover-ups (gentlemanly agreements), but the fearless Post, like Sargeant Schulz, knows nossing.
The paper is a government gazette.
"go on refighting the *next* war?" ... yup, that's the quote all over the Internet. Timelessly stupid, I guess.
Posted by: Thomas Nephew at July 8, 2008 12:41 PM
