The cover of Time?
While digging around the U.S. news media for more - any - coverage of the Downing St Memo (which I'm just going to shorten to DSM from now on), I came across a link to a Time magazine June cover story on what was called the "bombshell memo". Excitedly I clicked through, wondering if the story was finally about to break big in the States. Of course I was to be disappointed. The "bombshell memo" story dated back to June 2002, and concerned the memo written by FBI Minneapolis agent and whistleblower, Coleen Rowley, who accused the agency of ignoring intelligence warnings about 9/11 and obstructing information that might have prevented the terrorist attacks. (Oops, I'd forgotten all about that.) So that's what apparently constitutes a cover-worthy "bombshell memo" in Time-land. So where does that leave the DSM?
Just for kicks I went back over Time's U.S. front covers since May 1, 2005, when the memo story broke in the UK. Plenty of hard news there, right? Wrong. Seems the most important things going on in the world these past few weeks include America's Home-buying binge (this week, June 13); "Lose that Spare Tire" (June 6); "The Class of 9/11" (May 30); Bill Gates' new X-Box (May 23); "A Female Mid-life Crisis" (May 16); and a really big section on "The Last Star Wars" (May 9). This must be why Time remains the world's leading newsmagazine! (Maybe I should check back through Entertainment Weekly to find cover stories on Iraq, Tony Blair, and the Senate filibuster crisis!) Anyway, the May 2 issue did have a cover of the new Pope Benedict XVI, and a brief piece inside on Blair. So I went back through the contents lists for all seven issues, to see if there was anything else from Britain. But I could find no major stories about the UK election, its context or its aftermath after May 5; and certainly no mention of any memo. Maybe it's hidden in the news briefs section. Or not.
So there you have it: the DSM can't really be a "bombshell" in Amereica, as it hasn't been annointed as such by Time, which saves such powerful adjectives for other, much more serious news stories.
Btw, apologies for any excessive sarcsam in the previous two paragraphs.
Just for kicks I went back over Time's U.S. front covers since May 1, 2005, when the memo story broke in the UK. Plenty of hard news there, right? Wrong. Seems the most important things going on in the world these past few weeks include America's Home-buying binge (this week, June 13); "Lose that Spare Tire" (June 6); "The Class of 9/11" (May 30); Bill Gates' new X-Box (May 23); "A Female Mid-life Crisis" (May 16); and a really big section on "The Last Star Wars" (May 9). This must be why Time remains the world's leading newsmagazine! (Maybe I should check back through Entertainment Weekly to find cover stories on Iraq, Tony Blair, and the Senate filibuster crisis!) Anyway, the May 2 issue did have a cover of the new Pope Benedict XVI, and a brief piece inside on Blair. So I went back through the contents lists for all seven issues, to see if there was anything else from Britain. But I could find no major stories about the UK election, its context or its aftermath after May 5; and certainly no mention of any memo. Maybe it's hidden in the news briefs section. Or not.
So there you have it: the DSM can't really be a "bombshell" in Amereica, as it hasn't been annointed as such by Time, which saves such powerful adjectives for other, much more serious news stories.
Btw, apologies for any excessive sarcsam in the previous two paragraphs.
posted by hdougie at 11:26 AM
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