NEW YORK -- Last week, the first lady came to town to light the 5 1/2 miles of lights stapled to the branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and while she was in Manhattan she also electrified a clutch of the town's media executives. It was a most worthwhile schmooze for all involved.
During a week when she appeared on the cover of Vogue's December issue -- the first time a first lady has done so -- Hillary Rodham Clinton swept through the media world, having lunch with editors from Time, Teen People and People magazine on Tuesday, greeting a table of Vogue editors at breakfast on Wednesday, and delivering a 15-minute oration in praise of Harvey Weinstein and his media company, Miramax Films, on Thursday.You will be reading more about Hillary Clinton very soon: Newsweek and Time are working on profiles of the first lady for the end of the year, and she is under consideration by Time to be its Person of the Year.
Her visit demonstrated the fact that magazine editors need famous faces to generate a little heat and light for their publications. They can feed off the prestige of the first lady while she uses them as a vehicle to support her favorite causes. And it also showed that at least in the case of Weinstein, a generous campaign contributor, the principle of the favor bank is alive and well in the world of media, as it is in the political arena.