Monday, March 4, 2024

Dear David Streitfeld, In 1936 Time selected American socialite and fashion icon Wallis Simpson as "Person of the Year" for sending Royal Watchers into a tizzy. Best Retiring Guy

 
American socialite and fashion icon 
Wallis Simpson


Based on all the headlines she generated in her time, you could easily say that Wallis Simpson was an entertainer.
Most long-form audio shows, even at their best, are not news in the way, say, a zoning commission report is news. The erosion of the idea of news can be seen even more vividly in the magazine field. Where the goal was to inform, now it is to entertain. “ 
Time magazine just selected Taylor Swift as the person of the year,” said Samir Husni, a longtime magazine analyst. “It never selected Elvis or the Beatles. She was the first entertainer. We’re becoming more about marketing in journalism than truth in journalism because we’re depending on the customer to pay the price rather than advertising.” 
This is how digital has changed journalism, he said: “The thing now is to make everybody happy. But that was never the role of journalism, making people happy.”

Husni pretty much undermines his argument her.e

The role of journalism in the 20th century was to get consumers to buy stuff.


And typically ignore the accomplishments of women.  Unless they worked in fashion or entertainment.

Until recently, individual women rarely make Time's gimmicky "Person of the Year" cover story.


Related reading:

British Vogue, April 2020


According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'tizzy' as in a highly excited and distracted state of mind, occurred in 1935.

  1. A-list
  2. B-list
  3. flashbulb
  4. safari suit
  5. shirtdress
  6. trendsetting
  7. wire photo

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