Our Guide to Safe Cars While reporting his story on auto safety, Detroit Bureau Chief Keith Naughton went looking for a list of the safest cars for sale. To his surprise, there wasn’t one–at least not a list that met our standards. So Naughton set out to compile his own. For help, he turned to Consumer Reports’ auto-test chief David Champion. After a lot of e-mailing and debate, the two came up with six choices that they believe qualify as the safest autos in their categories (page 59). “This is a unique list,” says Naughton. “There’s a lot of confusing data on crash tests and safety features out there. It’s easy to be really overwhelmed.”
Meet Dozer’s Creator As director of graphics, Karl Gude can diagram any portion of the human anatomy and has a knack for presenting poll datain snazzy ways. Turns out Gude also has a talent for telling stories to kids. His “Construction Buddies” books (Troll Communications) are a big hit with the 2-to-7 set. Featuring Dozer and Jane the Crane, the books are illustrated by Gude and written by Lisa McCourt Combs. For a sample, check out Construction buddies.com.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Angela Ginn”
Energy to Burn Adam Bryant and Big Oil go way back. At 18 he worked on an oil rig in Alberta. “It was the hardest job I ever had,” Bryant says. This week, he excelled at another hard job: forecasting the news. Bryant began work on the energy story on page 22 well before the topic became issue No. 1 in Campaign 2000. “The story kept building right up to deadline,” says Bryant. “That makes things more fun.”
Doing the Write Thing Allison Samuels is something of a Spike Lee expert. In the past six years, she’s covered nearly all of his many projects–from “Crooklyn” to “The Original Kings of Comedy.” Says Samuels, “He’s not afraid of anything and will say exactly what’s on his mind.” Her interview (page 75) on Lee’s latest and, perhaps, most controversial film, “Bamboozled,” proves that.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-23” author: “Wesley Jenkins”
Tracking Down the Truth Keith Naughton never planned on working as a business journalist. “I set out to be a rock critic,” Naughton says. Nonetheless, he’s been on the auto beat for 12 years, at the Detroit News, Business Week and, for the past year, at NEWSWEEK. Naughton acknowledges that his career might have been foreordained. “I grew up in Detroit,” he says. “Autos are in my blood.” Now, he and Washington correspondent Mark Hosenball are devoting themselves to one of the biggest business stories of the past decade–the Firestone recall. “I like that this story is incredibly competitive,” says Hosenball. “It makes me determined to go out and get something that no one else has.”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Mario Sanez”
Scribbling in the Dark After nearly a quarter of a century of reviewing films for NEWSWEEK, David Ansen still gets excited about movies. This week, on page 66, he writes about “Dancer in the Dark,” which will open the New York Film Festival next week. In it, singer Bjork makes her acting debut. “Writing about a movie like ‘Dancer’ is rewarding,” says Ansen, “because it’s a film where reviews can really make a difference.” We, of course, believe all of Ansen’s reviews are important–and so do our cinema-bound readers.
Photographers’ Choice NEWSWEEK’s Sarah Harbutt was awarded the prestigious Canon Prize for Picture Editor of the Year at the Visa Pour I’Image International Photojournalism Festival in Perpignan, France. Two thousand photographers were asked to name an editor they judged to have made an important contribution during the year. Harbutt, who joined NEWSWEEK last February after 12 years at The New York Times, wins our vote as well.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Floyd Fuentes”
Reinterpreting Culture If there’s any consolation at the ending of summer, it’s the pleasure of a new arts season. This week, on page 56, we provide our annual preview, spearheaded by Arts & Entertainment Editor Sarah Pettit. Her staff has lately produced a number of notable covers, including last week’s “Survivor” story and our take on Harry Potter in July. “Entertainment is a dominant influence in America,” says Pettit. “You could really see it last week, with ‘Survivor’ and the election vying for attention.” And we all know what won.
Rating the Fourth Estate With some 50 percent of American households invested in the stock market, the question of where they’re getting financial information–and how good it is–has become essential. It’s a topic that Howard Kurtz takes on unsparingly in his new book, “The Fortune Tellers,” excerpted on page 32. “I wanted to see if financial journalists have as much impact as political writers,” says Kurtz, the media critic at The Washington Post. “It turns out they have more.”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Barbara Montez”
A New Life of RFK Evan Thomas spent more than four years researching his new book, “Robert Kennedy: His Life” (496 pages. Simon & Schuster). But Thomas’s ties to the Kennedys go back much further than that. Thomas’s father, also Evan Thomas, was JFK’s editor for “Profiles in Courage.” Even so, Thomas had to work hard to win the cooperation of the family. “I gradually convinced them that I wasn’t doing a hatchet job,” Thomas says. An excerpt from his book, which will be published Sept. 5, begins on page 48.
Return to Kosovo “The worst part of wartime trauma isn’t living through the events, it’s later on, when the memories settle in,” says Washington correspondent Donatella Lorch, who once worked as a relief worker. That’s one reason she and MSNBC.com international editor Preston Mendenhall traveled back to the war-torn region to revisit the fate of a village they first covered one year ago. Their moving story is on page 35.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Jessie Smith”
Covering a Crash With Empathy and Insight An hour after the Concorde crash, Christopher Dickey was at the scene. “I’ve spent some of the most momentous times of my career at ground zero,” says NEWSWEEK’s Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor. Senior Writer Adam Bryant and correspondent Mark Hosenball put the crash in context. The resulting story begins on page 54.
She’s With the Band, on Tour and on Deadline Lorraine Ali joined NEWSWEEK in April, but she’s already profiled artists as disparate as Neil Young, Hanson and Kid Rock. “Music has always been something I’ve responded to, and either passionately loved or hated,” says Ali, whose story on the all-girl heavy-metal band Kittie begins on page 67.
Photo: The disaster site in Gonesse, France
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-18” author: “Carol Fogg”
A Renaissance Reporter Investigative reporter David France likes a tough story. France has written on everything from anorexia to sexual harassment to George W. Bush. His piece about the murder of an Army private having an affair with a transsexual woman was the cover of The New York Times Magazine. France joined NEWSWEEK in June. This week, he takes on the controversy over those who dispute the link between HIV and AIDS. Real Survival Strategies For reporters, some stories seem to go on forever–O.J., Elian and the campaign come to mind. Watching the “Survivor” phenomenon unfold has been that kind of assignment for NEWSWEEK’s Marc Peyser and B. J. Sigesmund. “It’s freakish to know so much about this topic,” says Sigesmund. Maybe. But the expertise pays off in our cover story, page 52.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “Erik Lynch”
‘I Need 30 Rooms Close To Downtown, Please’ Two years ago, when the GOP announced that its 2000 convention would be in Philadelphia, Rosemary Goulbourne and Steven Tuttle hit the road. “We were the first advance team to get to town,” Tuttle says. “The mayor was so excited, he took us to lunch.” Since then, Tuttle and Goulbourne have arranged for credentials, hotel rooms and transportation in both Los Angeles and Philadelphia for some 30 staffers. Goulbourne is an expert: since 1980, she’s handled every convention but one for NEWSWEEK. “Steve and Rose are heroes,” says Managing Editor Ann McDaniel. Also critical to the effort are Gail Tacconelli and Elaine Parker, who manage to juggle 30 schedules and put together events at the conventions. “This team has been on top of every detail,” says McDaniel. Just ask Philadelphia’s mayor.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Kevin Dampeer”
AT&T Country Wall Street Editor Allan Sloan has lived for years in suburban New Jersey with his wife and three children. That’s more than just a fun fact for Sloan fans (and there are many). It’s one reason he’s reported on AT&T so expertly for more than a decade. “I live in a community that has a lot of AT&T people,” Sloan says. “So this is much more than an abstract topic for me.” Changing of the Guard NEWSWEEK Jerusalem Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman is coming home. Klaidman, our star Justice Department correspondent from ‘96 to ‘99, will become Washington bureau chief in January. He’ll succeed Ann McDaniel, who’s been named senior director of human resources at The Washington Post Company, our parent. Since joining NEWSWEEK in 1984, McDaniel’s done it all, from covering the Bush White House to serving as chief of correspondents, D.C. bureau chief and managing editor.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Iris Pham”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Tom Barber”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “Marina Macleod”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “James Smith”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Christopher Noffsinger”
Bonding in Hollywood We figure it’s never too soon to talk Oscars. In 1998, we began previewing the awards in roundtables with Hollywood’s hottest filmmakers. This year Jeff Giles and David Ansen invited producers of 2000’s most prominent pictures. The group hit it off immediately. At the photo shoot, Douglas Wick (“Gladiator”) genuflected before Brian Grazer (“Grinch”), one of Hollywood’s power players, clasped his hands in prayer and asked, “How about this? Is this good for my career?”
A Note to Readers No, it wasn’t your computer. Last week our partners at Microsoft suffered Internet site outages that might have prevented some readers from connecting to NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.com, as well as to other sites on the Microsoft network. The problems began late Tuesday with a technical glitch, possibly human error, and continued throughout the week, probably as a result of deliberate tampering. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused our readers.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Patrick Lamborn”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Richard Roberts”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Robert Mullinix”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Trevor Williams”
Lorraine Ali has always tried to stay ahead of the cultural curve. She wrote stories on grunge rock and the Lilith Fair “while they were still fringe,” she says. For this week’s cover package, Ali visited a new phenomenon on the mainstream’s margins: America’s first Christian alternative-rock tour. “At the shows, kids were moshing one minute and praying the next,” she says. And as Marc Peyser reports, music is just one part of the growing world of Christian entertainment. Movies, books and TV make up the rest of the billion-dollar business. (Page 38)
A Promise Kept
Last fall, during Bill Clinton’s trip to Vietnam, Debra Rosenberg visited an MIA excavation. So last April, when seven U.S. MIA hunters were killed in a helicopter crash in Quang Binh province, she was immediately drawn to the story. “The search program is really important, even three decades after the end of the war,” says Rosenberg. “Soldiers want assurance that if something happens, we will come and get them.” (Page 26)
Save the Caddies
During his teens, David Noonan spent so much time working on golf courses he turned the experience into a novel: “Memoirs of a Caddy” (Simon & Schuster, 1991). “Country-club caddies are being replaced by golf carts,” Noonan says. “It’s too bad, because it’s a chance for kids to learn about the world.” Noonan, of course, still uses a caddie when he can. “And I’m a big tipper.” (Page 34)
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-11” author: “Dorothy Buhr”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Vanesa Spence”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Donald Pereira”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Simon Foppiano”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Ericka Gellert”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Michael Pearse”
A Lesson for Life
Barbara Kantrowitz owes a lot to a 10th-grade teacher. “One day she had me read something aloud that I’d written,” she recalls, “and it got everyone’s attention. I decided on the spot to become a writer.” Kantrowitz oversaw this week’s feature on first-year educators. “Teachers live in a world that doesn’t respect them,” she says. “That means we’re not respecting the future.” (Page 42)
Fools for Stock Funds
The Motley Fool guys (actually Tom and David Gardner) don’t just know finance; they write about it with finesse. Their irreverent advice reaches 30 million people a month via Web sites, books, radio shows, columns – and periodic editorial sections of NEWSWEEK. This week the Fools explain how to be your own CEO, why you need a rainy-day fund – and that it’s safe to stick with stocks. (Page 58)
Photo: A passion for softball and politics Photo: Teacher Ben Klein Photo: The Motley Fools
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Gloria Smith”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Glenn Fuhrman”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Andrea Trotter”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Martin Basham”
Upstairs, Downstairs Martha Brant got a rare behind-the-scenes look at the White House for her piece on President Bush’s state dinner. “I rode the service elevators, spent time in the basement kitchen, the calligraphy office and the floral shop,” Brant reports. The meal itself was off-limits. “But we were invited in to cover the entertainment in the East Room,” Brant says. “I sat in the back row and heard soprano Dawn Upshaw sing one of my favorite songs–‘Gracia a la Vida’.” (Page 36)
Hot Off the Press Our new Polish-language edition is off to an exuberant start. NEWSWEEK Polska, published with Germany’s Axel Springer, sold out its first print run of 400,000 within 24 hours of hitting newsstands on Sept. 3. Editor Tomasz Wroblewski’s mission: to mix stories on Poland’s domestic scene with pieces by NEWSWEEK’s global network of correspondents.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Dean Wright”
Reporting for this week’s cover story, Donna Foote met people who can’t kneel, some who can’t walk–and one who is even unable to hold a pen. “I had no idea [of] the suffering that’s imposed by arthritis,” she says. “If you have the disease, your life is about pain–avoiding it, easing it and managing it.” Yet new questions about drug treatments have made that more complicated, while science has done better uncovering the causes of arthritis than identifying a cure. “Sufferers are somewhat buoyed by that research,” says Foote. “In the meantime, they grimace and bear it. They’re quite heroic.” (Page 38)
Isikoff on the Case
When Gary Condit agreed to a NEWSWEEK interview, we weren’t surprised that he wanted to talk to Michael Isikoff. His reporting on Monica Lewinsky, the Florida recount, Oklahoma City and more have earned Isikoff a reputation for scrupulous fairness. How does this story stack up? “It’s a classic Washington potboiler,” Isikoff says. “A rakish congressman, a mysterious disappearance, the search for clues. All it lacks is a conclusion.” (Page 20)
The Armani Lifestyle
Christopher Dickey first met Giorgio Armani this summer. But his appreciation for the designer stretches back years. “I’ve had four Armani suits I’ve loved more than any others,” he says. In his reporting, Dickey was struck by how single-minded the designer is; he has little time for anything but work. For Armani devotees, that focus is a good thing. Says Dickey: “His style speaks to people.” (Page 34)
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Johnathon Martinez”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Abby Baumgardner”
A Passion for Jazz David Gates has been a jazz fan since he bought his first record, at 13: Louis Armstrong’s “Ambassador Satch.” In high school, he played what he calls “inept Eric Dolphy-style bass clarinet” in a jazz band. Still, Gates, now 53, had to be persuaded to sit through all 17-1/2 hours of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’s new “Jazz.” In his story, beginning on page 58, Gates explains why it was worth it. A NEWSWEEK arts writer and novelist, he says he had planned to use the documentary as a springboard for an essay on whether jazz was dead. But after trekking up to Burns’s headquarters in Walpole, N.H., Gates decided to turn the camera on the filmmaker. “Burns turned out to be such a great talker and such a human mystery,” he says, “I found myself writing a profile instead.”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Seth Thompson”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “Agnes Bumgarner”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Gregory Trevethan”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Ann Trollinger”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “Shirley Carlson”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Edward Mcdonald”
A Complex Alliance Asked to describe Saudi Arabia, a Westerner might conjure scenes from “Lawrence of Arabia.” That’s an outdated vision, says Christopher Dickey: “The oil boom has led to a phenomenal amount of building–of shopping malls.” And the Saudi view of America is almost wholly formed by these monuments to commerce, Dickey says. A generation ago Saudi sons were educated abroad and developed a greater comfort with the West. The urbane Bandar bin Sultan, ambassador to the United States, studied at Johns Hopkins, for instance. Last week Dickey talked with Bandar extensively for our profile of the U.S.-Saudi alliance. “Bandar is a classic diplomat,” Dickey says. “One of the best of his generation.” (Page 32)
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “William Thompson”
A Sign of the Times Like other organizations around the United States, NEWSWEEK has instituted new security precautions in our mailroom. For now, e-mail is the most efficient way to send letters to the editor and to submit My Turn essays. Letters should include name, address and daytime telephone number and should be e-mailed to letters@newsweek.com. The same information is required on My Turn essays, which should be e-mailed to that address and marked “Attention My Turn editor.” For subscription inquiries, call 1-800-631-1040. You can find out more about contacting us in the Feedback section of our Web site.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “James Cole”
Photo: Italian cops examine evidence last September Coming to America Last month, Donatella Lorch spent three weeks with a dozen teenage “Lost Boys,” some of the 4,000 youth left orphaned 14 years ago during Sudan’s brutal civil war. Her goal was to document their immigration to America–the most ambitious child-refugee resettlement program since the Vietnam War. She ended up becoming a member of their extended family. “The most emotional part for me was watching their goodbyes,” says Lorch.
Photo: Lorch and refugees You Read It Here First Last week newspapers reported that 2000 Census data showed a 60 percent increase in America’s Hispanic population, putting it on par with blacks. That wasn’t news to us: our Sept. 18 cover, “Redefining Race in America,” previewed the data. Last week that issue won first place at the Unity Awards in Media, honoring coverage of issues affecting minorities and the disabled.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Deborah Lewis”
The Highest Percentile Donna Foote knows her SAT scores. “But I’m not telling,” says the L.A.-based correspondent, who, with Senior Editor Barbara Kantrowitz, reports on the University of California proposal to ban the test from the admissions process. Kantrowitz, who contributed to our September 1999 cover on testing, has forgotten her scores (sure, Barbara). The real test is the groundbreaking coverage NEWSWEEK’s writers and reporters bring to education. Read their work and you’ll agree they’re at the head of the class.
Opening Old Wounds While reporting about DNA evidence and the Boston Strangler, Debra Rosenberg had to inform relatives of some of Albert DeSalvo’s alleged victims that a new investigation had been opened in the 37-year-old case. “It’s dredging up a piece of the past they’d rather have behind them,” Rosenberg says. This is the latest case to be given new life by the promise of DNA testing. The story begins on page 50.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Mary Friel”
Geoffrey Cowley has written cover stories on AIDS, Ebola and malaria. But he says he’s never encountered a problem as insidious as ailments like mad cow. “These diseases are contagious even though they’re not caused by germs,” he says. “They combine the most terrifying elements of AIDS and Alzheimer’s. And they’re so stealthful, they can devastate before anyone notices.” In his piece on page 50, Cowley takes us from the highlands of New Guinea to the halls of Britain’s Parliament. His characters range from dwarves and cannibals to physicians and public servants. Says Cowley: “You’d think a mystery writer had fabricated the whole thing. I wish that were the case.”
Peer Approval
When other journalists honor us, we know we’re doing our jobs well. Just recently, it happened twice. Last week the Washingtonian ranked the nation’s top 50 political reporters and included our Howard Fineman, Michael Isikoff, David Hume Kennerly, Robert J. Samuelson, Stuart Taylor Jr. and George F. Will. In late February, The Journal of Financial Reporting named Jane Bryant Quinn, Samuelson, Eben Shapiro and Allan Sloan among the country’s top 100 business writers.
By Our Authors
When well-planned arson destroyed $12 million in buildings and chairlifts at the Vail, Colo., ski resort in 1998, suspicion settled on the Earth Liberation Front, a radical enviro group. But in “Powder Burn: Arson, Money, and Mystery on Vail Mountain” (Public Affairs), NEWSWEEK special correspondent Daniel Glick reveals a much more complex tale. Given the animosity locals feel for the New York-based company that owns Vail, there were actually enough arson suspects to please Agatha Christie. Like Glick’s book, the Vail case is a classic whodunit.
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Tonette Davis”
Nice Guy Finishes First
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Lucinda Morrison”
Wartime’s Lighter Side
Life can’t be all war, all the time, for anyone–even Donald Rumsfeld. The secretary of Defense was so amused by a cartoon on last week’s Perspectives page (“Must See TV: A Donald Rumsfeld Press Conference”) that he asked artist Mike Peters for a copy. “It’s always an honor when that happens,” says Peters, whose work appears regularly in the Dayton Daily News. “Although whenever a politician asks for a cartoon, I usually find out later they put the damned thing up in their bathroom.” This week, we’ve collected the year’s best ’toons (and photos) in our annual Perspectives issue. (Page 44)
The Fight for Audiences
Multiplexes will be so swamped with new releases this holiday season that a few good movies are bound to go unnoticed. Ten films open wide this month–from Oscar contenders like “Ali” to kids’ fare such as “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.” “Studios are competing for audiences more ruthlessly than ever,” says entertainment writer John Horn. (See our holiday movie guide, page 38.)
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-01” author: “Daniel Vanness”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-10” author: “Adam Salis”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Michelle Gunn”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Merlin Scott”
The Silver Fox Up Close
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “James Kwong”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Louis Chandler”
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “Luis Rivas”
Giving Books to Babes
Honoring an Old Debt
title: “Bylines” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Pauline Alvey”
Jonathan Alter and Bill Clinton have a history. The two met in 1984, and Alter interviewed Clinton several times during his presidency. Then, in the midst of the Monica scandal, Alter asked Clinton whether he would consider psychiatric therapy. “We were riding in the presidential limo,” Alter recalls. “Clinton just blew up at me.” White House aides took to referring to the exchange as the “are-you-crazy-Mr.-President question.” And Clinton declined to give Alter another interview–until now. (Page 34)
On War Footing
Christopher Dickey and Joshua Hammer had only a brief break between writing last week’s cover story and reporting on the latest outbreak of Mideast violence. “It’s a horrific situation,” says Hammer, who files from Ramallah. “The dead bodies are piling up at the morgue.” Attitudes are hardening, too. “People in the West Bank thought the Netanya Passover killings were justified.” (Page 18)
A Gracious Winner
When Allison Samuels ran into best-actor winner Denzel Washington at a post-Academy Awards party, he gave her a “five-minute hug.” Then he handed her his Oscar. “This is partly because of what you wrote,” he told Samuels, referring to her report on the dearth of black Oscar winners (“Will It Be Denzel’s Day?” Feb. 25). Says Samuels: “It was a really amazing moment.”
