This week's edition of Newsweek was the first magazine to land in our mailbox yesterday, and it probably goes without saying that there is no major Patrick Kennedy coverage in it. In fact, there's just this: a brief mention in the "Conventional Wisdom Watch" box with the note: "Bad news: Woozy wee-hour car wreck sends him to rehab. Good news: Nobody died." And this quote on the "Perspectives" page (number five): "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions...That's not how I want to live my life...I know that I need help."
That's it. Newsweek's editors could say there was little room for the story to breathe, what with a massive cover story package on AIDS, in which Newsweek acts like a complete copycat of Time magazine by honoring Bill Clinton and Melinda Gates with self-promoting columns. (Clinton's is "Editor's Choice" on the website.) But look at what else they have room for:
Their story on Porter Goss, moved up front from what would be a natural National Affairs story to "Periscope," does work its way from Goss underlings at CIA around to crooked Republican congressman Duke Cunningham, even including a picture of Cunningham (no picture of Patrick Kennedy). The caption read: "GUILTY: 'Duke' leaves court."
The "Periscope" section also featured an article on the new pop-music trend toward ripping on President Bush. "Mr. President, how do you sleep at night while the rest of us cry?" is a lyric from the pop singer Pink that leads off the story by Lorraine Ali. The story details anti-Bush rantings from Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, the Dixie Chicks, Eminem, Green Day, and Madonna. Then the magazine tells you to come listen to clips from these Bush-hating songs, er, "protest songs" at MSNBC.com.
