Southern Bookman

Daily Beast's Herschel Walker scoop indicates increasing importance of digital journalism

Roger Sollenberger of New York-based The Daily Beast broke the scoops roiling Herschel Walker's disjointed U.S. Senate campaign.

The Austin-based Sollenberger disclosed this week that the vehemently anti-abortion Walker paid for a former girlfriend's abortion. Walker in his bizarre style has denied the story. Earlier, Sollenberger reported that Walker is the father of two children whom he's ignored.

Founded by Tina Brown, the Daily Beast was a digital journalism pioneer. It's now owned by the IAC corporation, the NASDAQ-listed company that owns a number of online consumer and media sites.

Whiie traditional newspapers struggle in heading to a digital model, sites like the Daily Beast flourish. Former New York Times media columnist Ben Smith this week announced the launch of his Semaphor, which will emphasize international news and Washington politics. Semaphor joins an increasingly crowded field with older sites like the Daily Beast and the recently launched Puck and Axios, recently bought by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Along with national and international news, Axios is opening local sites, with daily newsletters mostly curated from other media.

National papers like The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have surged in digital subscriptions. Semaphor and other sites will give them vigorous competition.

Sollenberger's Herschel Walker story shows that old-fashioned investigative reporting will remain vital.

Another Atlanta nightmare: Lane closures on I-285

The massive construction project at the I-285-Ga. 400 intersection and the reduction of lanes on the Perimeter is one of those quintessential Atlanta stories.

Beginning Saturday and lasting for eight months or longer, I-285 will be reduced to three lanes between Roswell Road and Ashford-Dunwoody Road, with westbound closures to follow, according to the Ga. Department of Transportation.

The "road diet" touches upon the metro area's deepest obsessions: traffic and business. Road disruptions hit at Atlanta's s most cherished myths of wide-open capitalism.

A front-page column Thursday by the AJC's Bill Torpy sounded the alarm. Torpy fears an increase in accidents, although he also pointed out that the closures might make drivers pay more attention.

The intersection lies near the center of Sandy Springs, which could suffer the most serious economic damage from the shutdown of one lane in both directions. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul told Torpy that the intersection has sparked a development boom along the Roswell Road corridor, which Paul called the metro area's economic center.

That's a bit exaggerated; while luxury apartments and condos have risen along Roswell Road north of the Perimeter, strip shopping centers, sex shops, laundromats and fast food restaurants still dominate.The corridor is one of the Atlanta area's most diverse thoroughfares.

But just north of the Roswell Road I-285 connection, the spectacular city hall complex, theater and  fountain trumpet Sandy Springs' vision for the future. A mixed-use development of housing, offices and retail will rise nearby. The grubby small businesses are unlikely to survive.

With just one lane closed east and west, Sandy Springs' momentum won't be slowed, although streets like Hammond Drive, Hildebrand and Mount Vernon Road will be swollen with traffic.

While the construction project ignores mass transit, Paul envisions express buses rather than light rail running along the Perimeter.

The closures come when the Braves begin their quest to repeat as World Series champions. Fans who enter I-285 at Roswell Road will face delays getting to Truist Park.

But like our beloved Braves, Atlantans show resilience. As in the past when such crises arise, Atlanta workers will persevere and survive this one. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Krugman sees the credibility gap of Jerome Powell, Vladimir Putin

The New York Times' Paul Krugman in a strange column Friday compared Fed Chairman Jerome Powell with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Krugman averred that Powell and Putin both seek to maintain "credibility" with their recent actions. Powell's Fed is raising interest rates to stop inflation, even if that causes a recession. Putin called for a troop mobilization after recent losses in Ukraine.

While Krugman expressed opposition to the Fed's rate increases because they could bring needless economic pain, he justified the action because of the Fed's need for the C-word.

I don't possess much economics expertise outside of reading Krugman, but my gut reaction was to think who cares about the Fed's "credibility" when thousands lose their jobs? An extended recession won't help Powell's credibility.

According to Krugman, Putin seeks credibility as the overwhelmed Russian army's Ukraine invasion fails. Curiously ignoring Putin's recent threat to use nuclear weapons, Krugman predicted that the Russian leader's forced roundup of more troops will end up badly. Putin's seizing of civilians to serve as cannon fodder in Ukraine set off massive opposition, with many would-be conscripts fleeing Russia. I didn't realize it was so easy to leave.

If Krugman's analysis is correct, it's distressing that leaders like Powell and Putin mainly seek credibility when human lives are at stake.

 

 

Ben Fong-Torres set standard for American rock criticism, Netflix documentary shows

Ben Fong-Torres defined Rolling Stone magazine's pioneering rock-music coverage.

The Netflix documentary "Like a Rolling Stone: the Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres" reveals the writer and editor's essential contributions to the magazine's early years.

While Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Crouse pushed the boundaries of political coverage for the magazine, Fong-Torres set the standard for the new field of rock music criticism. Along with his innovative interviews, feature stories and reviews, Fong-Torres as the magazine's music editor shaped other writers' work. 

Lester Bangs gave Jann Wenner's counterculture magazine a druggy hip persona. Fong-Torres' incisive writing and revelations of rock stars' inner personalities exhibited the authority of serious journalism. Fong-Torres' pieces helped make Rolliing Stone a national bible for a new rebellious generation.

Fong-Torres frequently worked with photographer Annie Leibowitz. In an endearing reunion with Leibowitz, Fong-Torres recalls how they invented their innovative techniques on the fly.

Interviews with rock stars like Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, singer Country Joe McDonald and Grateful Dead vocalist Bob Weir indicate that Fong-Torres was trusted by the musicians, although he had a strong reputation for honest criticism. Wenner in an interview recalls that Fong-Torres resisted the rock world's destructive drug use.

Audio excerpts from Fong-Torres' taped interviews with stars like Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Stevie Wonder show how he got them to reveal their hopes and  vulnerabilities.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Fong-Torres gained his work ethic carrying out thankless tasks in his father's struggling restaurants in Oakland and San Francisco, with a brief sojourn to Amarillo, Texas. Pop radio offered visions of a different world.

Discovering his passion for journalism while covering the student protest movement as the editor of San Francisco State's newspaper, he left a job as the editor of a phone company magazine to take a chance on Wenner's venture, launched with legendary San Francisco writer Ralph Gleason.

An earnest Chinese American with long hair and glasses, Fong-Torres defined the magazine's music writing. While popular musicians gave the magazine credibility, Fong-Torres' work also established the careers of groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Doors and the Jefferson Airplane. He recalls giving renewed attention to Ray Charles, whose music was underappreciated by the rock generation.

While working at Rolling Stone, Fong-Torres also got involved in covering discrimination against Chinese Americans and gang conflicts in San Francisco's Chinatown. Fong-Torres' brother, an anti-gang activist, was mysteriously murdered, a devastating tragedy.

Fong-Torres refused to leave the Bay Area when Wenner moved Rolling Stone to New York City. After a few years contributing to Rolling Stone from the West Coast, he built a career as a freelance writer for Parade magazine and other publications and as a public speaker and community activist.

While he's a respected community leader who now looks like a distinguished professor or successful businessman, Fong-Torres still loves the music. He's shown reuniting with Elton John before a concert on John's current tour.

Fong-Torres is known for his impersonation of Bob Dylan, alluded to in the film's title. He's the Dylan of rock critics.

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Washington Post stops publishing its landmark Outlook section

The Washington Post on Sunday published its Outlook section for the last time, ending after 68 years a centerpiece of the newspaper's rise to greatness.

Conceived by then publisher Philip Graham as the "brains" section, Outlook began on Dec. 19, 1954, offering commentary, opinion pieces and essays by a range of writers, many of them newly discovered.

In a Sunday valedictory to Outlook, former editors Robert G. Kaiser and Steve Luxenberg gave a comprehensive retrospective of the section's history and how it paralleled the newspaper's ascendance.

Graham launched Outlook months after the newspaper completed its monumental purchase of the Washington Times-Herald, its only morning competition.

As Kaiser and Luxenberg detail, the Post before acquiring the Times-Herald was far behind the afternoon Washington Star in circulation. The Times-Herald deal doubled the Post's readership and lay the foundation to its eventually overtaking the Star and challenging The New York Times as a national newspaper.

The Outlook section raised the newspaper's reputation for publishing intellectually challenging and entertaining writing. It was a beacon heralding the newspaper's ambitions to broaden the boundaries of daily journalism.

Kaiser and Luxenberg cite Outlook's most consequential commentary, published on June 4, 1967. Post reporter Ward Just after 19 months in Saigon wrote an opinion article that concluded that the Vietnam War "might be unwinnable." Presenting his personal viewpoint based on his reporting without any "on the other hand" assessments, Just exposed the corruption and military incompetence of America's South Vietnamese allies.

Widely read in Washington, Just's bombshell article weakened support for the war. Along with The New York Times' David Halberstam's reporting from Vietnam, Just's piece increased opposition to the U.S. war effort.

As the newspaper's power grew, culminating with its Watergate reporting, it reached an unbelievable 70 percent market penetration in Washington, as Kaiser and Luxenberg note. From a high of 900,000, the newspaper's print circulation has now fallen to fewer than 275,000 readers.

But with more than 3 million online subscribers, the newspaper now owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has embarked upon an ambitious expansion, including new bureaus throughout the world.

The newspaper said that Outlook's articles will now run elsewhere in the print edition, and online.

But in shuttering Outlook, the newspaper has lost a piece of its soul.

 

 

 

 

 

Atlanta landmark Zesto's to close because of failed city crime, homeless policies

I was dismayed at the brief Atlanta Journal-Constitution story Friday announcing that the long-established Zesto's on Piedmont Road will close Sunday.

The Livaditis family, owners of the landmark fast-food restaurant that has served ice cream cones and burgers to generations of families, said that labor shortages and "loitering problems" led to the sale of the site at 2469 Piedmont Road to an undisclosed buyer. The Splash laundromat and Fiesta Foods grocery store were also part of the deal.

That a family with deep roots in Atlanta has to sell a beloved business is shocking. I assume that "loitering issues" mean homeless men badgering customers. The Atlanta police and social service agencies have failed a beloved Atlanta business and its customers.

Zesto's is located in a transitional part of Piedmont with a nondescript mix of fast-food places, bars, strip clubs, convenience stores and car-repair places. Homeless people have set up camps in the area. It's sad that Zesto's will close after years providing dining pleasure because  people no longer feel safe going there. An Atlanta institution is the victim of the city's inability to alleviate homelessness and prevent criminal behavior.

The family last year closed its well-known restaurant on Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points after a tree fell on the building. Two Zesto's remain in the city.

Zesto's is not the only business whose customers feel threatened. In New Orleans, Starbucks announced it will close its location at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street because of "security problems," according to the New Orleans Advocate-Times Picayune.

I shook my head in disbelief at the news: Canal Street used to be New Orleans' most prosperous thoroughfare. For years, I took the streetcar down St. Charles to that corner, excited at the swirling crowds as I headed to the nearby French Quarter.

Atlanta and New Orleans have failed as cities if people feel fear rather than joy at public places.

 

 

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution front page trumpets print excitement

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's mix of front-page stories Wednesday brought home why I love the daily print newspaper.

A blazing headline about persistent high inflation contrasted with news that the Hermes luxury brand is opening a 7,000-square-foot luxury boutique in Phipps Plaza in 2024.

Ace economics reporter Michael Kanell wrote that a looming rail strike could further entangle the Savannah port, exacerbating supply-line shortages. Another article detailed MARTA's plans to extend its streetcar line from downtown and add rail to the Beltline.

The AJC plans to end its daily print newspaper except for the Sunday edition, completing its changeover to online publication, longtime business columnist Maria Saporta recently reported.

Digital publication is undoubtedly the only future left for newspapers. But Wednesday's front page displayed the immediacy and excitement of printed newspapers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Fourth Ward revival threatened by Atlanta Medical Center closure

The Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center's imminent closure rips at the heart of Atlanta's vibrant Old Fourth Ward.

Veteran AJC reporter Ariel Hart's comprehensive report Sunday on the Medical Center's shutdown in November detailed the hospital's importance as a jobs center, without noting the neighborhood's revival the past few years.

Along with serving as a Level 1 trauma center, the WellStar Medical Center also houses doctors' offices. The hospital's closure will shut down more than 2,000 jobs.

After the opening of Ralph McGill Boulevard to downtown and the creation of the Beltline, the Old Fourth has experienced a boom, attracting new residents, restaurants and small businesses. The loss of the Medical Center's jobs will hurt the restaurants, coffeehouses and services providers that have flourished in the community.

Like other Atlanta hospitals. Cobb County-based WellStar is considered a nonprofit organization, although it generates more than $1.5 billion in annual revenues, according to Propublica. The nonprofit status gives the hospital company tax breaks and a professed community-service mission.  That wasn't enough to keep WellStar operating the Atlanta Medical Center, which began in 1901 as what became Georgia Baptist Hospital, which lasted until 1999.

The Atlanta Medical Center's disappearance, which took Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens by surprise, will imperil Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta's only other Level 1 Trauma Center. (Several hospitals, including Northside, are designated as Level II.)  Grady is mainly funded by Fulton County, along with a smaller contribution from DeKalb. Fulton commissioners expressed alarm at providing Grady with enough funds to handle the overflow of indigent patients when the Atlanta Health Center closes just before the holiday season.

Gov. Brian Kemp and the GOP's refusal to fully fund Medicaid severely limits the Medical Center's revenues. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will take aim at the GOP's denials of health care, even with a huge state budget surplus.

Along with the Peachtree Center foreclosure, the Atlanta Medical Center demise clouds Atlanta's economic future.

 

 

Peachtree Center foreclosure brings chill to downtown Atlanta revival

Peachtree Center once gave downtown Atlanta urban excitement.

Over the years, the office, retail and dining complex on Peachtree Street attracted fewer workers to its looming towers. Peachtree Center on Tuesday succumbed to a foreclosure sale on the Fulton County Courthouse steps, a ritual often repeated during Atlanta's boom and bust history.

Owner Banyan Street Capital invested millions to renovate Peachtree Center, running up a $140 million debt, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Soaring office vacancies, worsened by the Covid epidemic, led to Banyan defaulting on its loans. Situs AMC, acting for the mortgage security lender, took over the landmark for $127 million.

Famed architect John Portman opened the multi-building edifice in 1982, an investment in downtown as other developers fled to Buckhead and the northern suburbs. New urbanists groused that the project was a fortress walled off from street traffic - although it was connected to a MARTA station and people could enter after a short walk across an attractive plaza.

The office buildings' lawyers, journalists, financial advisers, government workers and public relations professionals packed the complex's food court and retail stores at lunchtime. Unfortunately for the complex's long-term prospects, the hive of urban activity disappeared by evening, as workers headed for home outside of downtown.

Peachtree Center's foreclosure is another setback for downtown Atlanta's long promised revival.

 

Washington Post, New York Times rivalry heats up in books coverage

The Washington Post and New York Times are engaged in a book culture war.

In welcome news for readers, the Post recently announced the revival of its Sunday book review section, which returns Sept. 25. The Post in 2009 quit publishing its Sunday Book World, dismaying book lovers. The newspaper's book reviews were spread across different sections.

Along with competing with The New York Times' Sunday Book Review, the Post hired longtime Times critic John Williams to edit its new section, which will feature essays and reviews by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Dirda and standout critic Ron Charles along with author interviews and publishing news.

Similar to a blockbuster sports trade, Williams' arrival at the Post followed Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic Carlos Lozada moving from the Post to the Times, where he will write a literary-focused op-ed column.

Before the Post's announcement of its revived Book World section, the Times appointed Gilbert Cruz as its new book editor, replacing Pamela Paul, who now writes an op-ed column, disappointing so far. Cruz's mission is to revitalize the Sunday book review for the digital age, broaden publishing industry coverage and improve readers' service features.

The Times-Post literary skirmishes come after the Atlantic disclosed its increased coverage of books. The venerable magazine dealt a serious blow to literary culture years ago when it stopped running short stories and moved from Boston to Washington to give more attention to politics. Founded in the 19th century in Boston, then the center of the nation's literary life, the Atlantic was known for publishing many of the country's leading writers. Broadening book coverage represents a return to its literary heritage.

Along with a precipitous decline in circulation, major newspapers drastically cut back or eliminated book reviews in recent years. The Post's shuttering of its Book World under former publisher Lally Weymouth was a devastating loss to the nation's literary culture.

Announcing the Washington Post's new book section, Charles in his newsletter heralded the return of cover illustrations and other print publication attractions. My first thought was to see if I could subscribe to the new section for mail delivery. If not, I'll look forward to enjoying it digitally.

The renewed commitment to book coverage by the Post, Times and Atlantic might bring at least a small revival in book readership, which has declined in recent years, and boost the renewed popularity of traditional print books.

While local newspapers have alarmingly disappeared, the Times and Post have increased revenues through a boom in online subscriptions as print circulation and traditional advertising declined.

A few ironies arise in the book coverage revival. The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, whose Amazon disrupted the publishing industry. Atlantic owner Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Apple, along with Microsoft and Google, fueled the Internet age, revolutionizing reading and the gathering of information.

With all of the disruptions, book culture hangs on.