Otterblog

This Sunday’s Parade magazine had a cover story interview with Benazhir Butto. A remarkable feat given that she was assassinated a week and a half ago. Our reader’s note on Sunday didn’t do a particularly good job (my fault) of explaining how the whole thing works. Here’s part of an AP story that goes into more detail:

NEW YORK—An interview with Benazir Bhutto before the former Pakistani prime minister was assassinated was important enough to keep on the cover of Parade magazine, the magazine’s publisher said Sunday _ even though the publication had already gone to print when Bhutto was killed.
Randy Siegel said Parade went to press on Dec. 21 and was already on its way to the 400 newspapers that distribute it when Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27 shooting and bombing attack at a campaign rally in her country.
The Web version of the story was updated, Siegel said, but it was too late to change the magazine. He said the only option other than running the outdated article would have been asking newspapers not to distribute the magazine at all.
“We decided that this was an important interview to share with the American people,” he said.
Logistically, it’s virtually impossible for Parade to replace editions. Editorially, I thought the interview was good, prophetic. But it does point out the production problems inherent in newspapers on a grand scale.

Et tu Nelson: Last night’s Simpsons episode was a spoof on the N.H. primaries. In one scene, there’s a panel of pundits being introduced. One from CNN, one from Slate, and then one from the Washington Post, dismissed derisively as a “print journalist.” Nelson, the semi-orphaned bully, pipes in “Ha Ha. Your medium is dying.” Ouch.

Good read: If you have a chance, check out A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink. A fascinating look at the left brain vs. right brain, and which half of our head is going to be important in years to come.