Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Mistah Hearst, He Dead

As a 12-year veteran of Hearst Magazines, I couldn't help be fascinated by the firestorm directed against the company ignited by comments of Hearst newspaper reporter Helen Thomas, and Helen's lightning quick apology. My, the self-righteousness of the company and of the Family in particular. Daughter Victoria Hearst especially went off in her condemnation of Thomas and in her defense of the po' little besieged state of Israel, the week of the Marva Marmara massacre.
"I urge Hearst Corporation CEO Frank Bennack to make a public apology to the Worldwide Jewish Community, assuring the Jewish people that the Hearst Corporation is not anti-Israel."
No, but it sure has become anti-human. Hearst Magazines, under the cheeseball leadership of Cathie Black -- and fully supported by the Family -- has been on a slash-and-burn campaign against its own products for more than 10 years now. Back in the day (say up until the turn of the Millennium), each Hearst title had its own cache -- a different history, size, smell, paperweight, readership, and cover style. Each magazine had its own turf and the EICs would fight bloody battles to not let the scourge of advertorial ruin the day.

A battle lost long ago. Starting with the replacement of Ed Kosner as Esquire Editor-in-Chief with GQ procurer David Granger, all those who defended their title's color and traditions were bounced. So now Hearst is in the grip of little but slick pimpery, losing money by the cartload, and symbolized by that godawful new Tower. (Classical Hearst extended itself into a college campus, with titles cribbed among 4 or 5 buildings surrounding 57th Street & Broadway. And the old Deco headquarters leveled by the Tower was a thing of beauty. Originally built in 1929, intended to be its own 48-floor skyscraper but finished at only 6-floors because of the Depression, it had the opal glimmer of marmoreal lamps and discreet mahogany-lined walls in offices secured from the outside world by blinds, shutters, and heavy drapes.)

Ted Rall on the great Helen Thomas.