Like most people, I’ve never been much of a fan of Tina Brown, and have long reflexively shunned the copy of Newsweek I see in the supermarket checkout line, but after reading this post at Forbes by Jeff Bercovici, I’m suddenly more than little sympathetic:
What a few days it’s been for Tina Brown. First she got a journalistic colonoscopy courtesy of WWD, which burrowed deep into the dysfunction at the merged Newsweek/Daily Beast. Now Brown has been named one of the 25 least influential people alive by GQ magazine, which grouped her in with the likes of Marcus Bachmann, Hosni Mubarak, Hank Williams Jr. and Leo Apotheker. (And, okay, President Obama.) Not exactly the kind of press you want when you’re a professional shaper of opinion.
The article’s not online yet, but here’s what GQ had to say about her:
Brown spent 2011 transforming Newsweek from a magazine no one reads into a magazine no one reads but everyone despises. That’s what happens when you star-f**k the corpse of Princess Diana by Photoshopping her at age 50 for your cover, then do a separate Photoshop of her holding an iPhone, and then create a fake Facebook page for her that includes wall posts from Deepak Chopra. Did you know Tina and Di were friends? They were! This Photoshopped image of them having lunch with Stevie Nicks is proof!
Bercovici’s post is titled, “GQ Names Tina Brown One of the ‘Least Influential People Alive.'” And when it comes to being non-influential, that’s a topic the sclerotic men’s fashion magazine has long been expert at.
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