Ezra Klein: Crusading Journalism

February 01, 2007

Crusading Journalism

Ankush, responding to the Times profile of Anna Wintour, writes:

Vogue is the leading fashion magazine in the country (perhaps the world) and exerts an enormous amount of influence over the industry with its coverage. That the magazine's editor is using that leverage for personal favors and to affect the dynamics of the industry she's supposed to be covering -- well, that should be a serious problem.

That strikes me as wrongheaded. It would be one thing for The New York Times, which seeks to offer detached reportage and analysis of world news, to influence events, to create their own stories. But Vogue? Wintour, assumedly, is not in the fashion world as a dispassionate observer. She has a sharply defined view of how the industry should function, and she has chosen, as her method of amassing and exerting control, an opinionated magazine. That her strategy has worked in, in and of itself, no problem at all. It's just how crusading journalism works. The American Prospect, in its little-read, largely ineffective way, attempts the same thing, viciously attacking trends, ideas, and figures we consider pernicious, and promoting and defending those we judge benevolent. The world would be a better place if we wielded Wintour's level of power. Whether the world is a better place because Wintour wields that level of power is, of course, an open question.

February 1, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

Huh? Has Ankush ever read Vogue? The magazine (as well as Bazaar, W, Elle) is designed to sell fashion - clothes, cosmetics, etc. The "editorial" content mirrors the advertising.
If he expects "objective" reporting on the fashion industry, try WWD or some other trade journals.

Posted by: CParis | Feb 1, 2007 12:27:33 PM

That the magazine's editor is using that leverage for personal favors

How is this any different than payola?

Posted by: BillCross | Feb 1, 2007 1:25:17 PM

For what it's worth, I posted an update pulling out some of the more problematic passages from the Wintour profile and elaborating on my reasoning.

CParis:

I'm certainly not a regular reader of Vogue, but I've definitely seen it on many occasions. I'm fairly certain that people aren't buying the magazine with the understanding that the "'editorial' content mirrors the advertising." There are catalogs for that sort of thing. Yes, Vogue promotes clothing, but I'm guessing the people who use it to make fashion decisions do so under the impression that there's some semblance of independent editorial judgment involved -- that the advertising largely follows the editorial, rather than vice versa. Now, I think the structure of that kind of problem nicely demonstrates what's wrong with what Wintour is doing, but, to be clear, Horyn explicitly states that Wintour isn't seeking advertising; she's seeking favors.

Also, I think the comment about WWD is off the mark. Ezra's analogy of Vogue to the Prospect, I think, is more useful (and, as I indicate in my update, actually helps to point out what's wrong with what Wintour's doing). To use another political journalism analogy, WWD is more like The Hotline: It's about the insidery machinations of the fashion business. To say I want Vogue to be like WWD would make as little sense as if I said the Prospect should be like The Hotline. I'd be asking for one publication to become a completely different one.

Posted by: Ankush | Feb 1, 2007 2:05:13 PM

I read Vogue regularly, and any reader who isn't aware of the interplay between the editorial and advertising content either doesn't look at the ads, or is incredibly dense. Vogue's editorial content is meant to reinforce the mutual goals of the magazine and the fashion industry: to sell clothes, and to get people hooked on designer brands as a symbol of status so that they'll return to the pages of Vogue to find out about the next big thing. Objectivity and independent judgment have nothing whatsoever to with it; with a few exceptions, one fresh-faced high-priced ingenue designer is as good as the next. Think of Vogue just like a fashion show or an invitation-only trunk sale, because that's exactly what it is.

Posted by: Adrienne | Feb 1, 2007 3:15:05 PM

No one denies that the editorial and advertising content are aligned. The question is which way the causal mechanism is working: Is the magazine flattering designers to draw in their ad dollars, or are advertisers flocking to the magazine because they're being flattered? The latter isn't problematic; it's what happens at every magazine.

I'll grant that figuring out which mechanism is at work is usually difficult. But consider a few points.

First, we KNOW that Wintour is asking for personal favors and offering (overtly or not) good coverage in return. We're out of the often-confusing, indeterminate realm of uncertainty as to causation.

Second, Vogue is in a unique position because it doesn't really have to seek advertisers out as energetically as other fashion magazines. It's the preeminent fashion magazine in the country. I would be much less surprised to find out this was going on at other fashion magazines, because Vogue is supposed to be a cut above the rest. Part of that, I think, is because readers think that it's not AS subject to making editorial decisions solely to keep the ship afloat.

More to the point: If you think that the magazine is making editorial decisions just to attract certain advertisers, why on earth are you buying it? What is the value of a magazine that you think functions on payola? I'm confused.

Posted by: Ankush | Feb 1, 2007 3:46:46 PM

I'm fairly certain that people aren't buying the magazine with the understanding that the "'editorial' content mirrors the advertising

In that case you're very naive.

More to the point: If you think that the magazine is making editorial decisions just to attract certain advertisers, why on earth are you buying it? What is the value of a magazine that you think functions on payola? I'm confused.

It's the world's highest profile fashion magazine. If it says something is fashionable, it is fashionable. If you're letting a magazine tell you what to wear in the first place, what do you care if the advice is any good or not? Its reliability isn't compromised, payola or no. Quite a nice set up, I have to say.

By the way this sort of thing goes on all the time in the British travel press - writers get free holidays, they give them a good write up. There the reader is being short changed, because somebody saying a holiday is good doesn't make it so.

Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Feb 1, 2007 3:58:35 PM

Vogue? Really? We're committing time to talk about Vogue and Anna?

Okay. Well, anyway, yes, Ankush I think you're right to be troubled... but this is not new. Vogue, even prior to Anna has always been about advertiser/editorial blurring and editors of Vogue exert tremendous control over the business. Wintour may be more powerful than some of her predecessors (maybe Grace, but Vreeland had tremendous power as well, as did Edna Wollman Chase. And that's just Vogue - You could debate whether Wintour now is as powerful as Carmel Snow was during her heyday at Bazaar), but partly that's a function of time in position and her success at continuing to grow Vogue (in what is generally considered a tough climate for magazines).

I don't think people realize how much control Anna has - collections get killed, styles get changed, simply based on whether she likes it or not. She can make and break careers. That Devil Wears Prada stuff is not that far off the mark.

But by the same token, fashion readers aren't dumb, and women who read Vogue seriously know that the magazine has a cozy relationship with advertisers. That doesn't make its editorial content valueless. Vogue, at its best, still provides the most current sense of what fashion looks like in any given season, with topnotch styling and photography of the best clothes on the most beautiful women. Wintour has the power, in other words, because she's right - and she's flexible; what and who she likes right now may not be what she likes next season. And when she stops being right, when she misreads her market and her audience, she may lose her power to control. Until then, you can't really fight it.

Posted by: weboy | Feb 1, 2007 4:01:25 PM

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