GREG MITCHELL — editor of Editor & Publisher magazine

Pressing Issues
by Greg Mitchell

"The Soldier Who Refused To Torture
— and Killed Herself a Few Days Later"
Editor & Publisher magazine

THE
New American Dream Interview




GREG MITCHELL is the editor of Editor & Publisher Magazine.



(Here you go. Some things I answered outside the “A” area you will see.... GM)



NAD: Greg, hello, thank you for taking the time for this.

Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? What did you start out wanting to be?

Is there still time?

GREG MITCHELL:
Grew up in Niagara Falls, New York, which makes me practically Canadian.

Went to St. Bonaventure University j-school (the only one we could afford in the state) as virtually the only non-Catholic, which got me out of theology class but, alas, not ROTC.

I have wanted to be journalist from about age five, probably from watching “Superman” on TV and reading the comic.

Unfortunately, I wanted to grow up to be Clark Kent, not the Man of Steel.




NAD: How did you arrive at The Nuclear Times?

And from there to? And then ... ?

Could it possibly be that you might be like a teacher who ended up the school district superintendent because he wanted to be able to do more?



GREG MITCHELL:
Got out of college, had a chance at a job at the Washington Post but instead came to NYC to join an alt-magazine called, I kid you not, Zygote.

Went to the legendary Crawdaddy in 1971 and stayed, more or less, until 1979.

Freelanced, wrote first two books, served as editor of Nuclear Times from 1982 to 1986, freelanced for a long time, wrote my two big political campaign books for Random House plus two books with the great Robert Jay Lifton (on Hiroshima and capital punishment), and even a memoir about coaching my son in Little League (which naturally was the one that got a big Hollywood pay day, optioned by Tom Hanks).

Came to Editor & Publisher at the end of 1999, became editor in 2002.

Didn’t write any more books until the past year, when I have completed two. Huh?




NAD: Would you like to choose one of these to answer, elaborate on?

I don't ask this to make fun. I ask because I really seek the answers.

— Are UFOs real?
Probably not, though I saw one in 1966.

— Did we land on the moon in 1968?
Yes.

— Did Bush knock down the towers?
No.

— Was Paul Wellstone's death an accident?
Haven’t followed this conspiracy at all.

— The Oklahoma City bombing? Wasn't that just another U.S. government terrorist exercise? Or not.
No.

— Waco. We burned kids, right? You can see flames shooting out of the tanks. Or not.
Eh, doubt it.

— Is Bigfoot real?
No.

— Is there a God?
I doubt it. Beethoven is God.


... What makes you think that?

A. Oh, I guess I answered more than one.



NAD: Does anyone read newspapers anymore. Do we read books? What do we read?

And does it matter?


GREG MITCHELL:
More people read newspapers than ever before — if you count their web sites.

And you should. For all the good that does them.

The same cannot be said of books.

Of course it matters, particularly if they are less likely to read my book.



NAD: Please tell us more about yourself, the things you have done, what you would like to do, what you did today. What do you eat, what do you drive, what do you drink.

GREG MITCHELL:
See above for what I have done (loosely speaking).

Oh, did I mention that I once coached a Little League team to the New York State (it’s a big state) finals? No one else in my town has ever done that.


What color is your toothbrush? ---Who wants to know?

Do you wear pajamas or sweatpants? — Very rarely either. Not at same time in any case.

Does your favorite coffee cup have words on it? What are they? — No words. Should say, “Stop adding sugar.”

What did you absolutely have to get done by noon today? — Check Amazon ranking.

How about by Christmas 2009? — At this age, sadly : a colonoscopy.




NAD: Why didn't the newspapers of the United States stop Bush? He lied, people died. Why do we think of Woodward and Bernstein as the hallmarks of American journalism and that was how many decades ago?

Why aren't there heroes from this year, this month, this week?

Wouldn't people read newspapers if there was anything in them to read?

Why do we just know that some things won't be discussed in our newspapers?

What can be done, besides giving up on newspapers on moving on to something else?

GREG MITCHELL:
Sorry, this is too much to tackle in a pithy way.

For newspapers not stopping Bush, see “So Wrong for So Long.”

And as noted above, plenty of people read newspapers — if on the Web.




NAD: What else would you like to add? What else should I have asked?

GREG MITCHELL:
Willie Mays. Jim Brown. Ali. Dylan. Van Morrison. Neil Young. Springsteen, Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, Professor Longhair, Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, Hank Williams. Kurosawa. “Dr. Strangelove,” “Paths of Glory.” “The Lives of Others.” As previously cited: Beethoven.



Please insert a link here to something you would like linked to, with a brief tag re: where that link goes:

This goes to my blog, which describes my new book, “Why Obama Won.” —

http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/

____________

About

THE New American Dream Feature Interviews

If you search the archives below, you will find, in a sort of order [last to first], interviews with:

Will Braun, editor of Geez Magazine,

Ben Heine, political artist in Belgium

Matt Sullivan, editor of The Rock Creek Free Press

Sam Smith, editor of The Progressive Review

Jarek Kupsc, 9/11 Truth filmmaker, "The Reflecting Pool"

Bill O'Driscoll, arts editor, Pittsburgh City Paper

Gerry McCarthy, editor of The Social Edge

Jim Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist magazine

Bartcop, old-school blogger from Tulsa

Lee Rayburn, radio show host from Madison, Wisconsin

Aimee England, bookseller in Michigan

Al Markowitz, poet for the working woman & man

Timbre Wolf, a Tulsa peace minstrel goes to Hawaii

Steven Stothard, a radical grows in Indiana

Dale Clark, an artist in the desert

Jacqui Devenuau, Green Party organizer in Maine

Don Harkins, co-editor of The Idaho Observer

Stewart Bradley, independent film producer

Rick Smith, Cleveland area radio host

William P. Meyers, independent book publisher, political activist

Ian Woods, Canadian publisher, 9/11 Truth activist

Richard D. Brinkman, Edmonton, Canada 9/11 Truth

Lynn Berg, New York City actor

Alejandro Rojas, of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network

Brian Kasoro, publisher of The Liberator magazine

Brother Raymond, walked from Denver to D.C., for truth

Korey Rowe, one of the producers of Loose Change

Dave Zweifel, editor of The Madison Capital Times

Cathleen Howard, expatriate, from Tucson to Mexico, to pursue her dreams

Sander Hicks, Brooklyn radical entrepreneur, writer, publisher

Joe Bageant, America's blue-collar author

Frida Berrigan, a lifetime of faith, hope and love

Denise Diaz, brewing up a revolution, at The Ritual Cafe in Des Moines

Deanna Taylor, Green Party activist, teacher, in Salt Lake City

Rossie Indira-Vltchek, writer, filmmaker in Jarkarta, Indonesia

Nora Barrows-Friedman, Pacifica reporter in Gaza

Delaney Bruce, Friends of Peltier

Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs

Michael Sprong, South Dakota Catholic Worker

Brian Terrell, Des Moines Catholic Worker

Bob Graf, One of the Milwaukee 14

Loren Coleman, Bigfoot researcher

Monty Borror, Sci-Fi artist from Virginia

David Ray, Great American Poet

Jack Blood, radio show host, in Austin, Texas

Danny Schechter, A Real Reporter

Bob Kincaid, host, Head-On Radio Show

Tony Packes, Animal Farm Radio Host, Keeping An Eye on Big Brother

Richard Flamer, Working With the Poor in Chiapas

David Ray Griffin, 9/11 Truth activist author

Barry Crimmins, U.S. comedian, author, social activist

Bret Hayworth, political reporter for the Sioux City [IA] Journal

Lisa Casey, publisher of website All Hat No Cattle

Joe & Elaine Mayer, activist couple in Rochester, Minnesota

Fr. Darrell Rupiper, U.S. priest revolutionary

Whitney Trettien, MIT student, Green Party activist

Meria Heller, radio show host

Phil Hey, professor, poet

John Crawford, book publisher

Steve Moon, Iowa Bigfoot researcher

Carol Brouillet, California social activist, 9/11 Truth

Russell Brutsche, Santa Cruz artist

Kevin Barrett, professor, radio show host, 9/11 Truth activist

A'Jamal Rashad Byndon, social activist in Omaha

Chris Rooney, Vancouver, Canada Catholic Worker, website publisher

Marc Estrin, political novelist, from the left

Peter Dale Scott, poet, professor, author, activist

Anthony Rayson, anarchist zine publisher, works with prisoners

Alice Cherbonnier, editor of The Baltimore Chronicle, an independent newspaper