Donald Bartlett and James Steele, cut loose by Time Inc. because they cost too much, have found a home at Vanity Fair.

An excerpt from the NYT story:

The two have accepted an offer from Graydon Carter, the editor, to sign a multiyear contract, agreeing to write two articles a year. Both will have the title of contributing editor at the glossy monthly.

Mr. Barlett and Mr. Steele, who linked their careers 35 years ago at The Philadelphia Inquirer, then moved on together to Time Inc., are among the most durable reporting teams in journalistic history. Their lengthy, in-depth investigations have won two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards.

When Time decided that it could no longer afford to keep them, they found themselves facing an already-constricted job market that seemed limited even further to them because of their long-form journalism, which incubates for months if not years, and because of their ages.

Mr. Barlett, 70, and Mr. Steele, 63, said that nonetheless, several opportunities presented themselves. They said they snapped up Mr. Carter’s offer because he was “passionate” about their kind of work and promised them the kind of space to which they had become accustomed (their articles in Time sometimes ran to 10,000 words).

Mr. Carter said that a pair like Mr. Barlett and Mr. Steele “doesn’t come around very often.”

There was this catty line to end the very brief article by Katherine Q. Seelye:

Here are a couple of questions for the magazine’s new sleuths: Why did those advertisers leave? And will more investigative reporting bring them back?

Seelye noted that while circulation at the very glossy mag was up, ad pages were down 15 per cent compared to the first half of 2005.

The investigative duo first came to my attention in the early 1990s when they penned a massive series called America: What Went Wrong?

Steve Lovelady at CJR Daily penned this note to them: Once Were Giants. To be fair, the duo have their conservative detractors too.

 

Update: Mr. Kinsella responded to this post originally made on Friday, Aug. 4. Look in the comments section

Update 2: More stuff here.

Hi Warren:

I'd post this on your blog, but you don't have a comments section, so there we go.

Anyway, I noticed you pointed towards some kind words for you from Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals.

I also notice you maintain a campaign against Robert McLelland (and to be fair, he against you), for what you see as his "anti-Semitism."

You implore Ted of Canadian Cerberus to remove his link to My Blahg.

However, if I remember correctly, you once called Ms. McMillan a racist for something she posted about some distressed Africans (something about letting nature take its course there, I believe). I'd go back and look at the post to be sure, but you flush your archives.*

* Ms. McMillan doesn't. Here's what she said on April 9, 2005: "Is there a point where we are allowed to stop feeling sympathy for these people, seal off the borders and just let nature take its course?"

She also wrote the following:

Update: To the friends of Warren Kinsella - the best friend Chuck Guite ever had - who are stopping by. This is the reason the thin-skinned Librano has directed you to this post. (which links to a story of World Health Organization workers being attacked for attempting to bring relief to Angolans.)

Warren has been outed as a pro-pollution chemical industry lobbiest in a post lower on the page titled "Whorin' Warren". He doesn't like it very much, and true to the testosterone-challenged technique he is famous for - chooses to misrepresent the content of this post instead.

What a pussy you are, Warren.

To me, it seems strange you would publicize grudging praise from a very right-wing blogger (there was once upon a time when you portrayed yourself as a battler of right-wing knuckle-draggers, remember?) who you once accused of making a racist remark while simultaneously railing about someone as an anti-Semite on what appears to be fairly spurious grounds.*

* See this old MyBlag post for an explanation as to why Kinsella refers to McClelland as "Robert "F*** the Jews" McClelland." You might find Mr. Kinsella's using the remark out of context. But what's a little out of context between enemies?

Anti-Semitism and racism are pretty close together on the scale of malignant human behaviours,  don't you think? So why not dissociate yourself from Ms. McMillan?

Alternatively, was Ms. McMillan right, that you attacked her for reasons other than seeing her original statement as racist?

I look forward to what I presume will be your ad-hominem attack on me.

Regards,

Bill Doskoch

Why am I no worse at online Pong after a long day of work, a few drinks, and eyes that feel sandblasted than I am when I don't have to deal with those presumed disadvantages?

Why?

WHY?!?!

Update

The answer 24 hours ago would be that I couldn't get any worse that I was; I'd hit rock bottom as a Pong player. However, I just played two of my best rounds, again after a long day at work and with just a little alcohol to take the edge off the reflexes.

Maybe I should rethink my thesis. Maybe alcohol and fatigue make me better.

The Chicago Tribune's Paul Salopek was told it would be impossible to trace where his city's gasoline came from. Fortunately, he didn't listen to that sage advice.

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This NYT story looks at the emerging hobby of beer pilgrimmages.

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The Beeb's Alister Leithead hangs and yaks with some British troops operating in Helmand province and draws some comparisons with Iraq.

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From Yahoo! News on Saturday evening:

Staying informed is expensive in Monrovia, Liberia. To help bring information to the people, one fellow has turned a blackboard into a daily news report.

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An excerpt from an NYT editorial about French Fries in the U.S. cafeteria being called by their original name again (You might remember they were switched to Freedom Fries in 2003 when the French wouldn't support the invasion of Iraq):

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Just in time for 9/11's fifth anniversary, New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright has a new book out on the events that led up to that terrible day: The Looming Towers - Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11. The NYT's Dexter Filkins reviewed it.

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One of the many advantages of being a Globe and Mail subscriber is getting periodic Globe Recognition emailings.

Today's is for the Yummy Mummy Guilt-Free Millcroft Getaway.

And what is a Yummy Mummy?

A true yummy mummy is someone who struggles to find the impossible balance between the single woman she used to be, the woman she's become, the professional she works hard to be, the wife she aspires to be and the mother she has to be. Basically, she's confused and exhausted (emphasis mine).

Hmm. Go on. Any trailblazers in this area?

The Millcroft Inn and Spa has partnered with the Yummy Mummy Club and Erica Ehm, Canada's original yummy mummy (?!?!), to bring you an extraordinary getaway package tailor-made for the Yummy Mummies, or Yummy Mummies-to-be, out there.

Basically, my image of Ms. Ehm was formed during her MuchMusic years. Not being a consumer of specialty television, I apparently missed her transition to national Yummy Mummy icon.

Frankly, I'm not expecting a high volume of responses, given that yummy mummies don't appear to be a disproportionately large component of my readership demographic, but a few questions:

• Are confusion and exhaustion the key identifying characteristics of the yummy mummy?
• If you are a yummy mummy, do you look on Erica Ehm as a role model?

That will be all. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Two documentarians sponsored by Israel's Media Education Foundation have produced Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

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Democracy Now! hosted a panel discussion on coverage of the war in Lebanon. The panelists were Peter Hart of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, Gideon Levy of Ha'aretz and Habib Battah, managing editor of Middle East Broadcasters Journal.

Democracy Now! talks to Mohamad Bazzi, Newsday's Middle East bureau chief.

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Saw it. Liked it!

However, I think it was a huge mistake not to reuse the original theme music.

Whenever the words "Miami Vice" pop into my head, the Jan Hammer score immediately starts playing. :)

Geoff Pevere's review in the Toronto Star, who gave it three-and-a-half stars, says what I would say if I had time (and talent. :) )  Jason Anderson in Eye gave it three, and his criticisms were ones that I share.

Liam Lacey, writing in last week's Globe, gave it three-and-a-half stars. John Harkness in Now magazine gave it three.

Israeli news anchor David Witzthum has covered lots of terrible events in his career, and has taken time to think about what social role the news media must play in the aftermath of a terror attack.

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That was the conclusion of two analysis pieces done by the NYT and The Globe and Mail and published Thursday.

Actually, Israel's Haaretz had a fairly similar take, only it was published Tuesday. :)

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Dubya issued a statement while hustling down to his Texas retreat Thursday. He called for Cuba to embrace democracy.

In the BBC story on the release, somebody inserted the following comment from a reader:

HAVE YOUR SAY Do they really want Iraqi-style democracy and US-style capitalism? payman, Hyattsville, US Send us your comments

There are reports that Britain's outgoing ambassador to Iraq has warned Prime Minister Tony Blair that although the situation isn't hopeless, Iraq will likely break up along religious lines..

Actually, Gen. John Abizaid,  the U.S.'s top general in the Middle East told the Senate Armed Forces committee on Thursday that a civil war in Iraq along religious lines is possible if the sectarian violence can't be controlled.

Beeb defence correspondent Paul Reynolds offers this analysis:

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In the late 1990s, Orna Shimoni helped lead protests against Israel's occupation of Lebanon. Now, she wholeheartedly supports her country's attempts to destroy Hezbollah. Here's why.

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I just figured out that my current position as writer at CTV.ca News has lasted for just over two years and seven months as of this posting.

My last staff gig with Bell Globemedia Interactive -- which brought me to T.O. just over six years ago now -- lasted two years, six months and three weeks (that venture got blown up in early 2003).

This means CTV.ca is the second-longest staff tenure of my professional life since my nearly eight-year run at the Leader-Post in Regina ended in 1996 (for details on how that ended, read this; for a more exotic adventure in job loss, there's also this).

I should add the standard qualifier that based on previous experience, employment tenure is subject to change without notice. Hopefully this post isn't already obsolete (I suspect it isn't, but it is a crazy old world, so it's best to cover all possible bases in these matters. :) ).

The Globe and Mail's Robert Everett-Green calls the Hillside community music festival near Guelph the "hippest music event of the Ontario summer." That may be true, but it also might not be saying much about Ontario's summer musical festivals.

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Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up.

Read this.

British journalist Robert Fisk talks with Democracy Now! about the impact of having top political leaders in the United States and Britain with no military experience, and why the U.S. should get over 9/11 -- lest it increase the chances of another one.

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AOL.com has developed a list of the 111 wussiest songs ever recorded.

However, in a transparent ploy to immediately destroy the list's credibility, they listed Terry Jack's Seasons in the Sun as number 110! (WTFF?!?!)

That makes it less wussy than Foreigner's I Want To Know What Love Is (74), Kenny Rogers' She Believes in Me (57), Donny Osmond's Puppy Love (47), and Debbie Boone's You Light Up My Life (22).

There was a slight rebound when I saw Dan Hill's Sometimes When We Touch ("I wanna hold you/'Til the honesty's too much" ...) was number 2, although I can't say I agree with REM's Shiny Happy People taking the pole position.

Seasons In The Sun should have been a slam dunk for at least the top 11. Easily one of the worst songs ever recorded, let alone the wussiest. An example:

We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the stars we could reach
Were just starfish on the beach

My version:

I felt anger I felt pain
When I heard that song again
Terry Jacks' insipid tune
Managed my mood to ruin

OK, not exactly Bob Dylan either, but if you can do better, go nuts.

President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, leader of the Orange Revolution, has nominated Viktor Yanukovych as his prime minister.

If I remember correctly Yushchenko's supporters opposed pretty much everything Yanukovych -- candidate of the pro-Russian establishment kleptocracy -- stood for, yet the big guy said he did this for national unity. Oh, and to break a four-month political deadlock.

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From CTV.ca: Internet users do less household chores: study

NYT public editor Byron Calame pronounces on the paper's more "flexible and realistic" approach for explaining why a source was granted anonymity.

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Since I have an air-conditioned office to hide in this afternoon, I'll be fine on what is expected to be Toronto's hottest day of the year. But if I were old and poor, I'd be at risk of dying today.

Street nurse Cathy Crowe argues Toronto isn't doing enough to protect the vulnerable during these extreme weather periods.

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The NYT's Frank Rich on how the tired old Iraq war has slipped off the TV news radar, supplanted by that hot new conflict in Lebanon.

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In an interview Monday with Democracy Now!, British journalist Robert Fisk warns another 9/11 will result from the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

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