High life
Watch out, you editors
Taki
elegantly written pages of the English- speaking world) you have been warned. The poor little Greek boy is joining your ranks, and not a moment too soon. Starting this summer, I shall be editing an insert in the Big Bagel's only profitable weekly newspaper, the New York Press. The NYP is a hell of a success. It was started by Russ Smith, a sartorially correct young gentle- man, ten years ago. After seven years of struggle and sweat, it now makes lotsa moolah. This is the way it should be. NYP shades towards the right, although it employs columnists like Alexander Cock- burn, a man whom I might not agree with where politics are concerned, but one who calls a spade a spade and does it in beauti- fully written prose to boot.
Russ Smith writes the 'Mugger' column in his own organ, a long rambling J'accuse that pricks the pomposities, exposes the hypocrisies, and more or less insults the ruling liberal elites of this celebrity-mad town. My job will be to write a column and edit six pages filled with upmarket news, gossip, politics and cultural criticism. One thing is for sure. Certain phonies will soon be gunning for me. The cultural appa- ratchiks of this town have for far too long gotten away with murder. Take Stephen Glass, for example. He is a 25-year-old twerp who was recently fired from the New Republic for having written numerous exposés — such as uncovering a group of Clinton-haters plotting to overthrow the government, or being present when a group of drunken, drug-taking conservatives engaged in an orgy at a Washington confer- ence — all of which turned out to have been invented by him. The irony being that Glass — no relation of my friend Charlie Glass, God forbid — acted both as a writer and as a fact checker.
His crimes having finally been exposed, Glass has not been punished. Instead, he is attending Georgetown University while the hacks in this town and Washington are expressing their sorrow 'that a great talent has been wasted'. This is the biggest crock of you-know-what since British tabloid scum called the Queen unfeeling for taking her grandsons to church following the death of Princess Diana. What I'd like to know is the following: Clifford Irving went to jail after he hoaxed the publishing world with his Howard Hughes book. Ditto the German chappie who peddled the Hitler diaries to Frank (my wife is Lady Kitty) Giles and to Lord Dacre. Like Irving and the German chappie, Glass made lotsa moolah from his inventions, and ruined quite a lot of reputations as a result. Yet the media feel sorry for him. Not only has he not been prosecuted, he has become a star of sorts, and all because he worked for a lefty like Marty Peretz. This state of affairs will soon have to change, or I'll drop dead trying to change it. I am cer- tainly excited about it (no, not dropping dead, but editing), and have been rushing around like mad hiring writers and setting up plans. Nothing is yet finalised, but if it ever comes to pass, as I believe it will, I plan to have lots and lots of fun. Ever since my daddy died, I have been itching to start something. I did in Greece, lost one cool million right off the bat, and folded it. The idea is to be able to write the way I do in The Spectator. With libel laws In America not being so draconian as they are in Britain, I'm looking forward to punctur- ing a few balloons. Like the celebrity scene. What has really taken place here is that the 19th century's sense of snobbery has been replaced by the celebrity snobbishness. Stars live in fear of not remaining in the headlines. (Remember the Robert Frost ditty? 'No memory of having starred, atones for later disregard, nor keeps the end from being hard.') Film celebrities have managed to gag crit- ics by refusing access to anyone not ready to gush and grovel. Tina Brown — who else? — started the rotten trend of writing hagiographies in return for access. The Hitler-Stalin pact was signed with Michael Ovitz, when the latter literally controlled Hollywood as its top agent. Now every edi- tor follows Brown's lead. Only conservatives are targeted. But never you mind. It will be a long slog, and at times things will look bleak and our efforts irrelevant, but I 'trio's' that in the end we shall prevail. One always does if one wants something badly enough. And I want this one.
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