Entertainment, TV, Celebrity, Culture

Follow @2Paragraphs
  • Daily Edition
    • Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthy Says Biden Is Following His Leadership To “Victory”
    • Kari_LakeMAGA Mama Kari Lake Says Trump Needs ‘Prayers’ Against Porn Star Rap
    • Sen. Chuck SchumerChuck Schumer Calls MAGA Republicans “Ostrich-Like” in “Denying Realities”
  • Business
    • Randi ZuckerbergRandi Zuckerberg Sarcastically Mocks Crypto Boys Club
    • Daymond JohnDaymond John Drops Elon Musk Icebreaker on Twitter, ‘Money v. Meeting’
    • Warren_BuffettWarren Buffett Reverses on Computer Chips After Biden-GOP Cooperation
  • Culture
    • Derek HoughDerek Hough’s Fiancée Shops For Wedding Dress, Hints at 6 Bridesmaids
    • Antonio Banderas, Melanie GriffithAntonio Banderas Reunites With Ex-Wife Melanie Griffith, ‘Gorgeous’ Daughter
    • Dakota JohnsonDakota Johnson Teases Fans With Multiple Orgasm Video, “Slip”
  • Sports
    • Gov Greg AbbottTexas Gov. Greg Abbott Picks Alabama Over Houston, Fails Politics 101
    • Michael_Jordan_and_Barack_ObamaBarack Obama Knocks Out #1 Seed Purdue In NCAA Round 2, ‘A Crime’
    • Oscar de la HoyaOscar De La Hoya’s Girlfriend Sizzles in See-Thru Mini Dress, ‘OMG’
  • Food
    • Jennifer GarnerJennifer Garner Reveals Her Favorite ‘Dry January’ Treat at Home
    • Dark ChocolateAre Dark Chocolate Fears Overblown? Cadmium, California, and “Ouch, Ouch” Disease
    • Wendy's restaurantWendy’s New Riddle Stumps Social Media — “Chili in Philly?”
  • Interviews
    • Cranberries_in_a_bucketDo Cranberries Really Help UTI? A Doctor Answers With New Evidence
    • Lauren Lovett The Speech Ring InventorVideo: The Speech Ring Inventor on Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
    • Surge first out gay superhero in the moviesFirst Out Gay Movie Superhero Surge Speaks on Humor, Responsibility
  • Cool Stuff
    • Ice-T on LAW & ORDER: SVU (Virginia Sherwood/NBC)Ice-T’s Wife Flaunts Brand New Range Rover With Front Seat Refrigerator
    • Bergdorf Goodman 5th Avenue store in NYCChristian Louboutin Reveals 3.5″ Spring Mules With ‘Vibrant Red’ Nail Polish
    • Cardi_BCardi B Says She Hit Jackpot With $30,000 Chanel Slot Machine Bag
  • Contact
  • Privacy

Bennet, James — Atlantic Editor-in-Chief

by Joseph Mackin in People | February 14, 2013

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

A dual duty (redline/bottom-line) editor like every publisher today needs, The Atlantic’s James Bennet attracts the kind of big digital audience numbers that his bewildered competitors receive the way AT&T used to swallow the fabricated quarterlies from Bernie Ebbers’ WorldCom. How’d they do that? The ethical Bennet is no Ebbers, of course, but the two do evidently share a love of fiction: Bennet has restored that much-maligned genre to pride of place in his magazine’s print version, after controversial exile. He must believe that, given the heavy conjecture and Gladwell-y logic that commonly underpins the journalism of his elite squad of carnival barkers, he may as well include what is admittedly invented.

Mr. Bennet has the secret sauce everybody wants: he actually knows his audience. At the website, Bennet sets the scene brilliantly. As guests slide from the lively comment curation of Ta-Nehisi Coates to Benjamin Schwarz’s always lucid but increasingly earnest and almost nostalgic book banter, they get to try on a variety of loose-fitting humanism. It’s sort of the intellectual equivalent of Anthropolgie: inclusive, aspirational and as comfortable with contradiction as Walt Whitman. One 2012 issue contained both a measured, deflationary essay by B.R. Myers on the undue praise accorded a rather ordinary debut novel (with Myers suggesting that hyperbole has a habit of reproducing itself like a virus) AND on the cover, American Mozart: The Genius of Kanye West. Are these two pieces difficult to reconcile? Myers says the neophyte is no Tolstoy, stop exaggerating, but the cover says check it, Mozart in the house. Kanye West is probably less a shaper of culture than something that happened to grow in ours, like one more data point in a petri dish. But the rapper sure does blow, and Bennet is smart enough to raise the Atlantic’s sails when he does. It’s treacherous seas out there, sucking down old media armadas like a digital Bermuda Triangle. And yet Bennet’s vessel looks as sturdy as can be. It’s got a neat, Nate-Silver-meets-Sarah-Silverman ergonomic cool, and it’s not afraid to run hot either (What Does the Sun Sound Like?). Whatever the weather, Captain Bennet is a sure hand.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

Legendre, Yann

Yann Legendre, photo: Les Inrocks

Load More

  • Recent
  • Trending
  • Popular
  • Bradley_Cooper,Bradley Cooper’s Net Worth Wealth Soars, $100 Million Plus
  • Barbara CorcoranWho Is Barbara Corcoran’s FBI Agent, Football Star Husband?
  • Israel Del ToroWatch ESPYS Pat Tillman Recipient MSgt. Del Toro Talk About Resilience
  • Don_RicklesThat Moron Don Rickles Is Dead — Comedy Mourns An Icon
  • April Ryan booksWho Is April Ryan, Head-Shaking White House Reporter?
2paragraphs on APPLE NEWS | 2paragraphs Amazon Shop | SEE MORE 2paragraphs ARTICLES
  • About 2paragraphs
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Dedication
  • Map
  • Fresh
  • Law
  • How-To
  • Personal
  • Books

© 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC

  • Buffer
  • Diggit
  • Email
  • More
  • Facebook
  • Flattr
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Stumble
  • tumblr
  • Twitter
  • VK
  • WhatsApp
  • Yummly
  • Xing