Examining the writing in Conde Nast Portfolio

Peter Carlson of the Washington Post takes a look at the writing in new business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio and wonders whether the information that it’s providing about business men and women is what readers want.

Carlson wrote, “The stories are all well-crafted but . . . do we really care about this? I’m not sure I do, and I’m not sure there’s enough room in my pathetic brain for info on the personal lives of billionaires, especially with so much cranial space already stuffed with endless inside info on Britney and Brangelina. The creation of a whole new class of celebrities could spark some kind of mass mental meltdown.

“Here’s what I want to know about businessmen: Is the product they’re selling useful and safe? And are they doing any damage to their customers, employees, shareholders, the environment or society? That’s it. I don’t want to know about their caffeine addictions, hobbies, marital problems, rotten kids or sexual kinks. (Well, maybe the sexual kinks.)

“But that’s just me. Maybe you’re eager to learn that Pickens once erected a bronze statue of himself playing racquetball outside his company headquarters or that his 78th birthday party featured a squad of cheerleaders with ‘Boone’ emblazoned on their uniforms and Rod Stewart singing, ‘The Way You Look Tonight.’

“If that’s the kind of stuff you want to know, Portfolio is the place to find it.”

Read more here.