The Media Discover the Poor

The last time race and poverty became a front-burner media issue was after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but that quickly faded. As the country begins the long slog of rebuilding New Orleans, with many of its poor scattered in other states, how long before the press moves on to more scintillating subjects?

Footnote: The media have had a fine old time ridiculing Michael Brown, who quit last week as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as a former Arabian horse expert with no background for the job. And as The Post reported, five of the agency's top eight officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters. But why did journalists never get around to pointing this out in the past? Why are agencies such as FEMA never covered until disaster strikes? A database search found only one story and an editorial about Brown's 2003 nomination as FEMA chief. Both were in the Denver Post -- Brown is from Colorado -- and both described him as experienced because of his tenure as the agency's No. 2 official.

Beginning today, it will cost you to read Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, David Brooks and 18 other New York Times columnists online--$49.95 a year, to be exact.

But the executive in charge of the move--and perhaps those at other news organizations giving away their material online--hopes the Times can demonstrate, in a traditionally free arena, that money can be made by charging for premium content.

"It should work, but this is the Internet and you're always experimenting and testing," says Martin Nisenholtz, a Times Co. senior vice president. He believes that as many as 200,000 people may sign up--but also expects a drop-off in overall traffic because "we're gating one of the most popular parts of the site."

Times Select will offer video (of columnist debates, for example), expanded pieces from editorial writers and access to archives (eventually back to 1851). Among the opinion, business, local and sports columnists, Frank Rich will field questions in a blog-like forum and John Tierney will host a book club. But what about their diminished audience? "They may have mixed feelings about the fact they won't be read as much around the world, and I don't blame them," Nisenholtz says.

The Wall Street Journal made news Saturday--by publishing a paper.

The Journal's Weekend Edition--which is going to all current subscribers at no extra charge and is available on newsstands for $1.50 -- represents a gamble that the weekday business bible can lighten its image and attract sufficient advertising.

The front page is quite Journal-like, but with a consumer flavor--stories on Wal-Mart trying to become trendy and FAO Schwarz looking for hot new toys--plus an oversize feature on a Colorado chef trying to help tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. The Money & Investing section forgoes the usual fare on hedge funds and derivatives for pieces on futures contracts that protect the value of your home and the advantages of using credit cards for cash rewards, not airline miles.

The biggest departure is the Pursuits section, whose centerpiece is "Chefs Gone Wild" -- a stomach-churning report on such "experimental" foods as rabbit pizza, mustard ice cream and raw-lamb meatballs. Other pursuits include Disney's Hong Kong park, designer outlet stores, pre-college stress, Wynton Marsalis's favorite jazz, Notre Dame football and women's bikes--all "tailored to appeal to influential business decision-makers," as a Journal release puts it. Translation: Folks with plenty of disposable cash.

A decade ago, such pieces would have seemed out of character. But as the weekday paper has added Personal Journal and Weekend Journal, it has discovered there is life--and journalism--away from the corporate office.

What, a glittering career as a rock impresario and $4 billion in the bank aren't enough for David Geffen?