• by John Gaffney , March 3, 2003

The Tribe Has Spoken: After GQ editor Art Cooper resigned last week I had been thinking about some kind of “passing of the torch” kind of tribute in this space. But as I was running in the rain Sunday afternoon it occurred to me that I should save the torch for the next Survivor episode. Nothing passes subtly in the magazine business anymore. Transitions strike like lightning. A transition from brains to basic instincts hit with the British glossy sensibilities of FHM and Stuff and Maxim two years ago. Advertisers followed. Wasn’t too tough to figure out why. Art Cooper’s moving on just means his talent will find another platform now. The crowd at Elaine’s has a new topic. No radical changes (outside of more cleavage on the cover) will hit GQ. The magazine business is way beyond logical progressions anymore. Editorial quality did nothing for Red Herring and Salon. FHM with its Baywatch covers are setting records but The Atlantic Monthly had a great January as well. One cover doesn’t fit all anymore and trying to find order in a beautifully disordered area of today’s media world is the main challenge for any planner/buyer.

Having Said That: By the way Art Cooper was a great editorial mind that mixed wish-list fashion, mindless distraction and great long-form journalism in the same package. He often had north of 250 edit pages to do it with, but hey, you go Art.

Memo To News Channels: Here’s A Good Story: While the cable news stations feed the world yet more “watch, wait and wonder” pieces about Iraq, I just got hipped to a shows called “Walk In Your Shoes” an ongoing series on Noggin that “tackles the many misconceptions about life in both the US and Jordan held by kids in both countries.” The next episode (Tuesday March 11, 9p.) shows the trials of 16-year-old Jim from Greensboro, North Carolina and 15-year-old Abdulrahmen from Amman Jordan, who agree to swap countries and see what each other's life and culture are really like for themselves.