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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Happy 75th, Fortune

I’ve never been a big Fortune mag reader. My sensibilities lean more toward small and growing business (ala Inc and Fortune Small Business), but I’m going to have to pick up the 75th anniversary issue after reading Peter Carlson’s story in the Washington Post.

He promises a great issue and has a great intro about the alternating genius and idiocy of its Fortune-telling over the years. I’m hoping for a glimpse at some of Margaret Bourke-White’s work. I consider her a journalistic hero and greatly admire her photography. I’ve got to scoot over to Legacy for an exhibition of her work at Contessa Gallery. But mostly, I want to read Carol Loomis's "My 51 Years (and counting) at Fortune."

Carlson writes:

Loomis is one of the little-known heroes of journalism. A dogged investigative reporter -- she read 50 years of annual reports for a recent article on Bethlehem Steel -- Loomis specializes in holding the Gucci-clad feet of America's CEOs to the fire. The titles of her greatest hits give you an idea of her bite: "The Madness of Executive Compensation," "AT&T Has No Clothes," "The $600 Million Cigarette Scam" and "Recipe for Jail," a prescient pre-Enron 1999 piece on fraudulent corporate accounting that was illustrated by a cover photo of ledger books being cooked in a big stewpot.

She continued perfecting her craft with “guts and integrity," he writes.

… (she) ranks with Fortune's other great writers. She wrote this memoir with brio and wit. It's an inspiring piece that ought to be required reading in America's journalism schools.

7 comments:

Jill said...

Wen - I'll steal my spouse's copy if you remind me and bring it on the plane for you. I steal his Fortune and my son's Forbes all the time.

Jill said...

Hey! Love the new look. PS - I'm getting the new Joan Didion book for the trip.

Wendy A. Hoke said...

Bring it on, Jill. Thanks for the compliment. I'm working on the site and realized I had to change my template to incorporate links. It's plain, but what I can say.

Wendy A. Hoke said...

I'm still messing around with this photo stuff. I hate my corporate head shot so I'm looking for something more creative. I should have one taken. I have this photo of me and Zinsser from SPJ NYC last year but I'm not sure if I'm going to live it up. Took for forever just to figure out Flickr. How the heck did you manage all the extras on your site?

Wendy A. Hoke said...

That would be LEAVE it up, not live it up. Must be a Freudian slip in anticipation of Vegas.

Jill said...

LMAO!!! I'm bringing my laptop with me so we can play, but if you even just google "blogger hacks" you'll probably get some stuff you like. There's a link somewhere on my site in a comment for Adam Nowthatsprogress re: a great site with hacks, including how to get rid of the Blogger.com header!

Wendy A. Hoke said...

Sweet! I'm on it.