Meanwhile, they start talking about
terrorism everywhere ... that’s about as much as i can really say without getting in more trouble.
What’s your take on media and ethics right now?
it’s bad. First of all, i’m a total news junky. i
put on Cnn, which used to be straight news, and there’s nothing. i get to watch anderson Cooper talking to tina Brown about Princess Di last night. this is what passes for news. i can watch nBC for breaking news on Paris Hilton. and i’m just not interested in meaningless celebrity and that’s really what it’s about, right now. i feel like rome is burning or something.
I think on the progressive left there’s
a tendency to blame the media for this moment and for this facile news. But I think that’s far too simple a critique. What’s going on?
i just think we’re seeing the absolute commercialization [of the media.] We don’t see any more public trust. We can see that with this Wendy McCaw [and the] Santa Barbara news-Press. Who would have thought a private local owner ... would have decided that this is going to be her own little diary and throw out the editor of the newsroom ... When we think of this whole thing blows up because of rob Lowe’s address ... the straw that breaks the camel’s back is about this guy wanting to build a mega mansion? it’s appalling.
But these are all kind of big picture things and I’d love to narrow it down. how did you get to Carpinteria?
How did i get here? Well, you know, it’s funny, Frank rich, when he was here, he said
to me, “i don’t understand how you cover Cuba and Miami from Santa Barbara?” i said, “How did i cover it from new york?” i get on a plane and went down there. i get on the phone and i call. guess what? i fly another hour and a half longer. Look at the view i have [here]. Look at the great cactus i have from australia and the great oak. i love covering great tumult. i’m an ambulance chaser. i came out of crime reporting in new york and i love living in this terribly serene bucolic environment. i don’t know how anyone does it any other way.
how does living here inform your writing? it tells me what i like and what i don’t like
and my quality of life. Listen, i live very much in a new york world in a certain way. My husband is a new yorker ... Most of my family is in new york or new Jersey ... as i used to say, we came from the tri-slum area. there was no slum we didn’t touch. i gotta tell you,
when i first moved up ... i didn’t know much about Carpinteria ... i was looking for [property] all over town. We just found this house and we could afford it. and we went for it. i liked that there was almost an acre. you know, it was something i could play around with. of course now i’m
complaining about all the upkeep. Bobby, my husband, is always saying that i ‘m in the Barbara Stanwyck phase of my life ... He says, “She wants to run around in a cowboy hat and have a lot of land.”
ABOVE, interviews with Fidel Castro, the family of Elian Gonzalez and others help Bardach tell the story of Cuba and its exiles in the book Cuba Confidential (Vintage 2003).
FALLWINTER2007 45
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