Media adulation for Graham has been so strong that any such criticism is apt to seem way outside the mainstream. In Personal History , Graham presents many business titans as near-saints. Now, at age 80, Graham has only a loose grip on a media empire left to her son Donald Graham and investors hungry to maximize profits. Although touted as a feminist parable, Graham's book is notably bereft of solidarity for women without affluence or white skin. They barely exist in her range of vision.
Social inequities are dim, faraway specks.
The 625-page book gives short shrift to the unrich and unfamous, whose realities are peripheral to the drama played out by her dazzling peers. Personal History chronicles Katharine Graham's lifelong struggle to gain confidence, power, and stature among the nation's elites. It's certainly personal. But it's not history. Many media outlets are in a state of moral outrage about Jerry Springer, the current emperor of daytime trash television.