Good news: Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper business, is back from the dead and will be published by Duncan McIntosh. Mark Fitzgerald, an E&P veteran, is the new top editor. Online reporting has resumed, and a February issue will appear. Duncan McIntosh is a boating magazine publisher—it also organizes boat shows. Separately […]
Read More‘Papa Charlie’ book review is still set for this week, Jefferson quote included
The review of Conversations with Papa Charlie is still set for this week—most likely Thursday or Friday—along with some related observations on charity, one of the topics of the book. I wanted to run it earlier but was unavoidably delayed. Memo to self: Remember the Jefferson quote. At least from afar, it would appear to […]
Read MoreTheGeorgetownDish is eying D.C. suburbs—plus Greenwich, Palm Beach, other upscale markets
So what’s ahead for TheGeorgetownDish—the new Web-based newspaper in the D.C. neighborhood where so many high-powered media types live? How can I not be curious when the publisher is named Solomon? Beth S. writes back: “We are working hard to create a world class site for Georgetown. As we perfect TheGeorgetownDish, we will be looking […]
Read MoreTheGeorgetownDish starts up: Hyperlocal newspaper war ahead? Or a friendly buyout?
A new online newspaper, the TheGeorgetown Dish, is starting up right in the neighborhood of Ben Bradlee, Sally Quinn and other VIP journalists. Beth Solomon—no relationship to the fictitious government landlord in The Solomon Scandals, thank you—is the editor and publisher. She has worked at ABC News and Voice of America among other places. Robb […]
Read More‘Papa Charlie’ review: Perhaps Monday rather than today
Housekeeping: The review of Conversations with Papa Charlie, the David Bruce Smith book, about his grandfather, Charles E. Smith, may come Monday rather than today. Stay tuned for a write-up on a new Georgetown newspaper. – D.R. Newest update, Jan. 11, 2010: Perhaps as late as Thursday. Simply a matter of my schedule. I’d rather […]
Read MoreOn David Bruce Smith, Lewis Mumford and sons vs. fathers
“The commonest axiom of history is that every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.” So wrote Lewis Mumford, a deity in fields ranging from urban studies to architectural and art criticism. And that’s the epigraph at the front of Conversations with Papa Charlie: A Memory of Charles E. Smith, by […]
Read MoreGoogle neighbors: A few words on David Bruce Smith and me
“Google neighbors”—is there such a thing? Perhaps. The Solomon Scandals Web site uses the words “David Bruce Smith” only once. He’s simply the son of the late Robert H. Smith and the grandson of Charles E. Smith, the builder whose life partly inspired my novel. A rather tenuous connection in many respects. But some Googlers […]
Read MoreThe Jewish grocers of D.C. (and suburbs)
Jew were once the Koreans of D.C.-area commerce, the owners of hundreds of small food-related stores. Sy Solomon, the builder in The Solomon Scandals, was the son of a Washington butcher come down from New York; and in a related vein, I was pleased to run across a virtual exhibit on the Web site of […]
Read MoreA tale of two obituaries—plus wisdom from J.Y. Smith, first official editor of the W. Post obit desk
You regulars already know my complaint. For whatever the reason, Washington philanthropist Robert H. Smith enjoyed a free ride from the Post’s usually stellar obituary desk as well as from the editorial page. His family’s paid obit at Legacy.com was rather redundant. Ahead I’ll compare the Smith encomia with a more balanced write-up of Indianapolis […]
Read MoreRobert H. Smith death editorial—and the need for the Washington Post to tell the whole story
Robert H. Smith, philanthropist and Crystal City developer, gets another paean today from the Washington Post—this time an editorial, which follows an obituary of more than 1,100 words. The Post appropriately notes Smith’s donations of “hundreds of millions of dollars to universities, the arts, historic sites and civic activities.” Given his significance, then, perhaps the […]
Read MoreRobert H. Smith dead: Son of the builder who helped inspire the Solomon character
Update, 2:05 p.m., Dec. 31, 2009: Just-posted commentary on the Washington Post’s less-than-complete obit of Robert Smith. – D.R. Robert H. Smith, a Washington philanthropist and developer, died yesterday, and the Washington Business Journal already has run his obituary, with another coming shortly from the Washington Post. He will be most remembered for the Crystal […]
Read MoreMolly Ivins, ‘Red Hot Patriot’: A play and a bio—and some ‘Scandals’-style uppitiness
The late Molly Ivins, subject of a new biography, as well as a forthcoming play called Red Hot Patriot, never met two fellow newspaper types named Wendy Blevin and Jonathan Stone. And why should she have? They’re fictitious—both Wendy (daughter of Morrison T. Blevin, the skilled bagger of both ducks and fighter-plane contracts—from his hunting-lodge […]
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