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Other projects and a stubborn cold have slowed me down the last day or so. Here's some things I missed:
• Estrich vs. Kinsley: USC law professor and columnist Susan Estrich fired off a mass email Monday accusing the Times and Michael Kinsley of shunning women's voices on the opinion pages. She had been counting articles for three years, but finally blew her top and called for action when last Sunday's Opinion section ran a package topped by Charlotte Allen, who Estrich calls "a feminist-hater I have never heard of...[who edits] a blog for the Independent Women's Forum which is a group of right-wing women who exist to get on TV and get in newspapers attacking the likes of us." The dustup is being chronicled in the new Washington Examiner, where Kinsley replies: "If Susan wants to boycott media institutions that don't adequately reflect her progressive feminist values, maybe she should start by resigning from Fox News." Allen also replies, and there is more discussion at Cathy Seipp's blog. Links from Romenesko and FishbowlLA.
• Finke tells on Graydon Carter: LA Weekly columnist Nikki Finke reported (on the web and in today's issue) that the Vanity Fair editor has been bad-mouthing Jeffrey Katzenberg and Brian Grazer around town. She says it could make the magazine's Oscar party more interesting.
• Rivenburg clears the record: Times reporter Roy Rivenburg was the subject of verbal attacks at L.A. Observed last year by followers of Michel Thomas, the linguist who had claimed a number of disputed World War II exploits. Now that Thomas has died, Rivenburg explains his side at his website. He begins: "Now that I can speak freely without risking another frivolous libel lawsuit from Michel Thomas, it's time to set the record straight about his wartime feats. In 2001, my editors at the Los Angeles Times asked me to investigate several of Mr. Thomas' hard-to-believe World War II tales. I soon discovered we weren't the first to question his truthfulness."
• Also: Defamer's Mark Lisanti was interviewed at LAist, which also has named Jason Toney as its new editor....Author Deanne Stillman had a piece in Slate on the dire situation for wild horses in the West. Her next book is Horse Latitudes: Last Stand for the Wild Horse in the American West.....Rip Rense handicaps the mayor's race....Yvette Doss will be managing editor at the forthcoming Ciudad magazine. She had been at L.A. Alternative Press and Frontera. We already told you that Oscar Garza is editor-in-chief and Angelo Figueroa the editorial director.... Crystal Meers is the new Los Angeles editor for Daily Candy. She had been West Coast editor at ELLEgirl.