Mort Zuckerman Outsources His Opinion Columns

Buried in the recent long and winding profile of Mortimer Zuckerman in The New Yorker was this little nugget of how the pipsqueak publisher's weekly column in U.S. News & World Report is created: "He writes early in the week, dictating a first draft of the column over the phone to a secretary in Mexico City." Yes, Mexico City. "She transcribes his musings, and sends them to him; he fiddles and dictates anew . . . Then, typically, he sends it to Harry Evans, the eminent newspaperman and publisher." Evans then puts on the finishing touch.

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