Monday, May 05, 2008

Read The New York Times on-line for free -- but don't buy it

The New York Times, like The New Yorker, has always been torn between two audiences, those who read the paper for the news and the columnists, and that very elite group that can afford the products featured in the glossy weekend pages and the daily Tiffany ads. Over the past few years, it seems like there's been a lot more pandering to the latter group. It's been awhile since I could justify spending four dollars on Sunday for the Times. Not only was it getting harder to fit into my budget, but there was the guilt over the pounds of wasted paper -- most of it advertisements for things I know that I will never be able to afford. But it's one thing when the Paper of Record panders to the pocketbooks of the scum at the top of New York society with advertisements for $5,000 handbags and Aston-Martins, it's another when one of their Magazine editors, Sandra Ballentine, admits in print:
What I Lust For: The fashionista in me gravitates towards the portrait of Andre Leon Talley and Lord Snowdon (top, left), both swathed in head-to-toe snow leopard.
SNOW LEOPARD?? That's just a little beyond the pale, isn't it?

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