Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: What readers didn't learn about Clinton Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 14:59:57 EST Message-ID: \SE D;LIFE;THE MAG TRADE \HD What readers didn't learn about Clinton \BY Cynthia Grenier \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES In the wake of the election comes a pretty interesting - you might even say curious - collection of magazine articles. Jacob Weisberg in the "Washington Diarist" of the current New Republic has the fourth estate soul-searching when he writes, "If reporters made less of Clinton's contradictions than Bush's and Perot's, it's not because they are fewer. Indeed, coverage of the campaign vindicated exactly what conservatives have been saying for years about liberal bias in the media." Mr. Weisberg then lists stories that weren't covered, or were not covered "aggressively": Gennifer Flowers, president-elect Bill Clinton's possible influence in his mother's malpractice "jam," and his contradictory positions on the Persian Gulf war. The entire special election issue of Newsweek - destined to be on sale for a month - includes campaign strategy and dandy, awesomely candid quotes from the likes of Clinton operatives James Carville and Paul Begala that the public is getting only now that it's all over. And on the future first lady - wow! Hillary Clinton comes across as a much tougher, more assertive number than we'd been led to expect. There's just a hint here that she might make her husband pay in blood for Miss Flowers. Time magazine is prepared to consider Mrs. Clinton as chief of staff, although the feature on her by Margaret Carlson is much more in the pre-election vein - and more than a tad gushy. LOOK OUT FOR CHELSEA Atlantic Monthly, in its December issue, has gone one step beyond baby boomers in the White House. Neil Howe and William Strauss are onto "The New Generation Gap," writing about how the divisions between fortysomethings and twentysomethings are not only cultural and moral but also political and economic, and how they are becoming ever more clearly defined. The piece is long, lively and ultimately optimistic to the point of being positively Utopian in its conclusion that today's kindergarten-through-fifth-grade generation will grow up as "the smartest, best-behaved, most civic-minded kids in the history of mankind." In short, forget about Bill and Hillary and Tipper and Al Gore: Keep an eye on Chelsea and Al III. GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL You want a change of pace from all this heavy election and transition business? Maybe a quick fix from Los Angeles magazine and its "The Best and Worst of L.A." will do the trick. For even more distancing from the travails of the political scene, take a browse through Rodale's Scuba Diving. Yes, Virginia, there is a bimonthly magazine devoted to nothing but scuba diving. Along with "29 Great Dive Deals," "Arresting Aruba, Bodacious Bonaire, Captivating Curacao," even the ads - all scuba-oriented - make intriguing reading for a gray Washington November. The ultimate in getting your mind off politics, though, may be this week's Entertainment Weekly and its featured excerpt from "A Day in the Life of Hollywood." On May 20, Collins Publishers San Francisco (a division of Harper Collins) mustered 75 top photographers from throughout the world to cover the "Studio Zone." This is a an area extending 30 miles in all directions from the corner of La Cienega and Beverly. The assignment: to "chronicle the illusion and the everyday life of this unique and volatile place." The selected photographs do make you want to look at the whole book. Out of 150,000 photos shot, only 225 made the final cut. FROTH AND SENIORITY As baby boomers - those folks again - grow older, magazines such as New Choices and Longevity are on hand to show them the way ahead, exuding a positive, upbeat attitude, to say nothing of lively graphics. Longevity (subtitle: "A practical guide to the art and science of staying young") gives us actress Michelle Pfeiffer as its cover girl. That's aiming young for you. New Choices is somewhat more sedate in its articles, although the cover shows off actor Jack Palance at age 72, doing his one-arm push-ups last year at the Academy Awards show. An article on a chorus line of 50-plus women who look exceedingly trim in the accompanying photographs extolls how golden girl showgirls keep on hoofing through the decades. GETTING SERIOUS AT LAST The December issue of Freedom Review, published by Freedom House, is showing both what life in the world without the communist regimes of Eastern Europe is like and how new editor Roger Kaplan is adjusting to this change. The reaction is: very nicely indeed. Featured is "A Last Conversation with Elie Kedourie," the highly respected historian who spent the past year at the Wilson Center here, dying a few days before his scheduled return to Britain. Frederik Bolkestein, a member of Parliament and a former minister of defense in the Netherlands, conducted the interview. In it, the historian discussed how Muslim despots use Western techniques of the media, following the model of Mussolini, Hitler and the Soviets. His perceptive, intelligent comments illuminate much of recent Muslim events by looking back over centuries of history. LAST BUT HARDLY LEAST Due to an editing error, the National Review got shortchanged in last week's column. The cover art complimented as being ever more witty during the campaign season was that of the National Review, not the New Republic. Cynthia Grenier's "The Mag Trade" appears Mondays. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM