LAT: A Very Public Opinion Exchange (Estrich v Kinsley turns nasty)

A very public opinion exchange
Wanting to see more commentary pieces by women, a writer takes on a Times editor. And raises some eyebrows.

By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer


....The dearth of female commentators at American newspapers is no secret, but the issue turned considerably more public and more rancorous in recent weeks as writer and feminist Susan Estrich intensified a long-running campaign to get the Los Angeles Times to publish more opinion pieces by women.

The USC professor demanded action by The Times and directed her anger at Michael Kinsley, a onetime Harvard Law School classmate and editor of The Times' opinion and editorial pages.

In a series of e-mails to Kinsley — some of them copied to journalists, who quickly posted them on the Internet — Estrich questioned Kinsley's mental powers and judgment, predicting his days at the newspaper were "numbered."

Referring to Kinsley's Parkinson's disease, she wrote that "people are beginning to think that your illness may have affected your brain, your judgment and your ability to do this job."

As a result, Estrich's already icy relationship with the newspaper's op-ed operation has gone into a deep freeze. Kinsley has accused Estrich of "blackmail" and called her comments about his health "disgusting."...


http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-estrich11mar11,0,4998276.story?coll=la-home-style

Susan Estrich has the distinction of managing that campaign. She's 17 years too late.

Bye Susie!!!

:fuckyou:

As the controversy drags into a fourth week, Estrich continues to bounce from conciliation to confrontation. She seemed near tears in an interview, saying she never intended the fight to get so personal. She blamed the operators of her website for improperly posting comments about Kinsley's mental health and contended she didn't think e-mails to Drudge and others in the media would get into the public domain.


She didn't believe that emails to Drudge would be made public?! I suppose she also believes in the tooth fairy.

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wondering if her wagon has indeed run off the road --

As an avid reader of the LA Times Op-Ed page, I was very pleased when I heard Kinsley got the job, but I have been disappointed with the product under his watch.

They've gone sort of "Hollywood" (ironic, I know). Lots of regular "name" commentators. A whole page to Joel Pett and cartoons on Sundays. A lot more lightweight pieces without a lot of meaning, just snarkiness.

Kinsley's columns themselves are often very good, though.

Making fun of a person's disability? What an asshole.

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She caves to the right more often than not in her FAUX "News" appearances. Her comments about Kinsley's health were despicable. And she is either lying or moronic if she didn't think her e-mails were going to be made public.

That said, all media outlets need many more women voices, in every sector of the business. Estrich is just a really shitty conveyer of that message at the moment, just like Bev Harris is a really shitty conveyer of the voting reform message at the moment.

DTH

snip>
Forty-three prominent Los Angeles women signed Estrich's original complaint about gender imbalance, and several interviewed after the furor with Kinsley erupted said they continue to stand by her. They said The Times' shortcomings are proven by recent tallies demonstrating how few women write for the opinion pages.

In the first nine weeks of this year, women penned 20.5% of the paper's op-ed columns, not including staff editorials, which do not carry bylines. That compared to the New York Times, with 17% women writers on its op-ed pages and the Washington Post with 10%.