{"id":16258,"date":"2025-04-21T07:41:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T14:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=16258"},"modified":"2025-04-24T07:49:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T14:49:04","slug":"graydon-carter-hired-christopher-hitchens-pissed-off-trump-and-revealed-deep-throat-he-calls-himself-a-beta-male-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=16258","title":{"rendered":"“Graydon Carter hired Christopher Hitchens, pissed off Trump and revealed Deep Throat. He calls himself a \u2018beta\u00a0male\u2019”, The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Edition:United States<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Academic rigor, journalistic flair<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: April 21, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Julian Novitz<\/a>, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Disclosure statement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Julian Novitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Partners<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>Swinburne University of Technology<\/a>\u00a0provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    View all partners<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"CC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We believe in the free flow of information<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.Republish this article<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    April 21, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The editor of Vanity Fair<\/a>, Radhika Jones, is stepping down after seven years. Amid the media buzz about who might take her role \u2013 long considered a plum one \u2013 is a surprising question. \u201cIs it still a good job?\u201d asked the New York Times<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some magazine editors have said no, one even saying \u201cI wouldn\u2019t touch that job\u201d. But Jones\u2019 immediate predecessor, Graydon Carter, says it\u2019s \u201cstill a great job for an enterprising editor\u201d, though the golden age of magazines \u2013 including Vanity Fair \u2013 is clearly over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Carter\u2019s new memoir recounts his time as editor from 1992 to 2017, during the magazine\u2019s glory days. It\u2019s full of stories about editors and writers who comfortably stalked the halls of power. They rubbed shoulders with tycoons and celebrities, attracted both reverence and apoplectic rage, and were handsomely paid for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Review: When the Going Was Good: An Editor\u2019s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines \u2013 Graydon Carter (Grove Press)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    When the Going Was Good<\/a> is an apt title for a book about the \u201cgolden age of magazines\u201d. Carter\u2019s memoir focuses on his time at Vanity Fair, but also includes stints at Time magazine, where he got his first taste of \u201cexpense account life\u201d, and as co-founder of iconic satirical magazine Spy, where he first described rising tycoon Donald Trump as a \u201cshort-fingered vulgarian<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    Graydon Carter\u2019s memoir remembers his time at Vanity Fair, Time magazine and co-founding Spy.Penguin Random House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    As Carter notes in his memoir, the glory days of the print magazines have passed. What can he tell us about their heyday, and the future of long-form journalism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Golden days<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For an editor with a few horror stories about writers who exceed their word count \u2013 one would apparently turn in 70,000-word \u201cvomit drafts\u201d \u2013 Carter doesn\u2019t exactly make a virtue of concision. The opening chapters linger on his upbringing in Ottawa, and it takes roughly 50 pages to arrive at the subject of magazine work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At university, he joined a literary magazine (the Canadian Review) on a whim, and swiftly became its editor. Over six years, he grew its circulation to an impressive 50,000 copies. When the Canadian Review folded in 1978, Carter moved to New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is where When the Going Was Good picks up. Carter succeeds in conveying the excitement and possibility of this period. He got a job at Time<\/a> when it was still the \u201cmagazine of yore, the weekly that could move the market and influence presidential elections\u201d, and not the \u201cdigital husk\u201d he now considers it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    As a university dropout, Carter found himself somewhat out of place at Time, where he was in the company of Ivy League graduates and Rhodes Scholars. His cohort included many future stars, including Walter Issacson<\/a>, Michiko Kakutani<\/a> and Maureen Dowd<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here, he was introduced to elite New York writers. Meals, drinks and travel were all covered, and he reports never having to turn on his oven during his five years at Time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The existence Carter describes feels remarkably privileged now, but throughout the 80s and 90s, high-circulation magazines like Time provided vital support for a generation of writers. Their generosity with expenses, salaries and fees allowed their employees and contractors to pursue book-length projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This kind of institutional support for writers now increasingly falls to universities rather than magazines, where neither the money nor the parties are nearly as good. But Carter\u2019s experience at Time clearly helped to establish his later philosophy as an editor: \u201cif you take care of talent, you\u2019ll get better work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spy and making an enemy of Trump<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    After realising he was unlikely to advance further, Carter moved to a role at Life Magazine<\/a>. Life had once been the most popular magazine in the US due to its cutting-edge photojournalism. But when Carter arrived, he found it to be a \u201czombie monthly\u201d, the rise of television having siphoned off much of its previous readership. Even in the 1980s, there were signs print magazines would inevitably lose ground to new media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Carter\u2019s discontent at Time and Life prompted him to establish his own magazine (with his colleague Kurt Andersen) in 1986. Spy Magazine<\/a> satirised American (particularly New York) high society, and the entertainment and media industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to novelist Dave Eggers<\/a>, Spy was <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    the most influential magazine of the 1980s. It might have remade New York\u2019s cultural landscape [\u2026] It was cruel, brilliant, beautifully written and perfectly designed, and feared by all. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    A Spy magazine cover. Ebay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    It was certainly loathed by one of its frequent targets: Trump. Carter\u2019s \u201cshort-fingered\u201d jibe continues to rile Trump to this day. It is a good line, and Carter can\u2019t resist returning to the subject of Trump\u2019s hand size at least five or six times in his memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Following a brief stint as editor of the New York Observer<\/a>, Carter caught the eye of Si Newhouse, the proprietor of Conde Nast<\/a>. Initially recruited to be the editor of the New Yorker<\/a> (Carter\u2019s favourite magazine since childhood), this assignment was changed at the last minute to Vanity Fair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Parties, influence and Deep Throat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As editor, Carter shifted the magazine\u2019s then somewhat arch, ornate language to a more sober and reserved house style. But he retained the keen eye for celebrity and corporate gossip he had developed at Spy. His editorial instincts were an excellent fit for Vanity Fair\u2019s unique blend of high reportage, entertainment features and sensationalist expose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of Carter\u2019s signature accomplishments as editor was deepening the magazine\u2019s connections with Hollywood. Carter devotes two chapters to discussing how he established a regular Vanity Fair Oscar party<\/a>, and the social world that surrounded it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    Actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, 2013. Evan Agostini\/AAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This provides some entertaining stories, such as an attempt to host a party where every actor who had played James Bond would be present, but was attended only by a belligerent George Lazenby<\/a>. Carter\u2019s outreach, however, helped to secure the candid celebrity interviews and profiles that made Vanity Fair so attractive to advertisers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This supported an approach to investigative journalism that could be expensive and time consuming. The monthly format of Vanity Fair meant Carter and his editorial team had to exercise farsighted judgement as to whether a story would have ongoing relevance for readers. Carter presents this work as a long game, where a writer would be matched with an idea or a lead, and supported until they delivered the copy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As editor, Carter oversaw some of the magazine\u2019s most iconic reportage: such as Dominick Dunne\u2019s coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial<\/a>, Marie Brenner\u2019s expose on the tobacco industry<\/a>(later adapted as the Insider<\/a> starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe), and the revelation of the Watergate informer \u201cDeep Throat\u201d as former deputy director of the FBI Mark Felt<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    Dominick Dunne\u2019s coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial was among the iconic reportage Carter oversaw as Vanity Fair editor. Vince Bucci\/AAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    When the Going was Good presents Carter\u2019s time at Vanity Fair as a long list of accomplishments (though he is always judicious about giving credit to assistants, sub-editors and writers) and a succession of amusing anecdotes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A gruellingly awkward high society dinner with Princess Margaret is one standout. Carter recalls a crowd of prominent New Yorkers being uncomfortably trapped in his apartment due to royal protocol that forbade them to leave before the princess, who continued to smoke and drink until midnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another is an account of a long running, one-sided feud with Joan Didion\u2019s husband (and Dominick Dunne\u2019s brother), John Gregory Dunne<\/a>, who took umbrage, inexplicably, at his and Joan\u2019s exclusion from the cover of Vanity Fair\u2019s first Hollywood issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    No malice \u2013 except for Tina Brown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Carter also devotes space to his generally pleasant, but carefully managed relationship with Si Newhouse. Over what seems like a constant succession of dinners and lunches, he ensured the expense accounts remained \u201cbottomless\u201d, and that Si\u2019s occasional attempts at editorial interference were adroitly deflected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    Christopher Hitchens. Peter Foley\/AAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    His long friendship with Christopher Hitchens<\/a> \u2013 one of most distinctive voices Carter brought to the magazine \u2013 is described with great warmth. Dominick Dunne, the other key writer from Carter\u2019s period (inherited from his predecessor as editor, Tina Brown), is treated less generously. While Carter acknowledges Dunne\u2019s talent, he is also forthcoming about the difficulties of working with him later in his career, due to his \u201cimperious, overbearing manner\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Carter was clearly not fond of Brown<\/a>, who snatched his dream job at the New Yorker and apparently left a poisonous office culture in her wake. Her considerable role in establishing the iconic look and feel of Vanity Fair, and her early recruitment of vital writing talent (Marie Brenner was another Brown hire<\/a>, for instance), goes largely unacknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But for the most part, When the Going Was Good lacks malice. With a few exceptions, Carter has a kind word (or what sometimes feels like an amicable page and a half) for just about every writer and editor in New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While there is a lot of detail about daily work and specific articles, Carter does not share too many insights about the print magazine world in general. Nor does he extensively consider what has been lost with its decline. The period following the 2008 financial crisis, where funds significantly tightened<\/a>, is skimmed over. It would have been interesting to hear more about how Vanity Fair adapted to these leaner times, which preceded his departure in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Justified victory for a \u2018beta male\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When the Going Was Good has the breezy, amiable tone of a justified victory lap at the end of a storied career. Throughout it, Carter cuts a surprisingly modest figure. He describes himself as perpetually anxious, a \u201cbeta male\u201d who was terrible at negotiating and had to battle his own \u201cinherent laziness\u201d. He is happy to attribute much of his success to simple good fortune. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/a>
    A 1997 Vanity Fair cover, during Carter\u2019s reign. Herb Ritts\/AAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This tone possibly undersells Carter\u2019s accomplishments. And articles from some of his former writers<\/a> suggest a more mercurial personality than he reveals here. Toby Young, who wrote a biting memoir<\/a> (adapted for a 2008 film<\/a>) about his unsuccessful time at Vanity Fair under Carter, reviewed this memoir<\/a> for The Spectator. In it, he describes Carter in his prime as \u201cfull of malicious gossip\u201d and constantly \u201cbigging himself up\u201d against his rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But Carter\u2019s humility (whether taken as false or genuine) also reflects his characterisation of himself as an editor. He places great value on being supportive and non-confrontational with his writers, enabling them to deliver their best work, rather than being directing or demanding. The joy and gusto he brought to this background work, at every stage of his career, comes across clearly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While When the Going Was Good will likely be of interest to magazine aficionados, as a memoir it is too good-natured to be scintillating. The venom and savagery one might have expected from a founding editor of Spy is largely absent. But it does present Carter as someone who has emerged, remarkably, from the notoriously cutthroat world of New York magazines with little interest in settling scores or making enemies. Or at least any new ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Indeed, from this book, Carter doesn\u2019t exactly seem the type to dash a cup from perjured lip<\/a> (that sort of thing is probably best left to the writers). But it is easy to imagine him sweeping in a little later in the evening to make sure everyone is still having a good time. And possibly charge the next round of drinks to his expense account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Edition:United States Academic rigor, journalistic flair Published: April 21, 2025 Author Disclosure statement Julian Novitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Swinburne University of Technology\u00a0provides funding as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16259,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16258\/revisions\/16259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}