Daily Blague

From David Carr's lighthanded denunciation of Time Inc.'s editor in chief, Norman Pearlstine"

Those looking for the heavy hand of a corporate overseer in Time's decision are making a mistake. Mr. Pearlstine is independent, and while he may have sought input from elsewhere in Time Warner, he made the decision alone.

Real businessmen need no process, endless e-mail messages or even so much as a make-it-so nod. No one had to lean on Mr. Pearlstine. He leaned on himself.

It has been a very long time since I glanced at once-proud Time. I'm not sure that I would read it now even if were as good as it used to be; I've gotten hooked on The Economist, which, for all its faults - not least of which is a desultory design scheme that seems intended to repel interest - has always been a great deal more serious. But Time was once an important source of centrist judgment that was capable of enlightening readers too busy to keep up in depth. Now it appears to be nothing more than a highbrow People, if such a monstrosity can really be conceived.

Perhaps one blessing to come from the jailing of reporter Judith Miller will be a cleaving of genuine news outlets from their entertainment-oriented simulacra. But I do ask myself what catastrophes will be required to awaken American citizens to their formidable duties as (however temporary) high stewards of the earth.