Lynn Hirschberg is an American journalist who has written for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', ''
Vanity Fair'', and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Since 2008, she has been the interviewer of the online video series ''Lynn Hirschberg's Screen Tests'' where she interviews celebrities for ''
W'' magazine.
Career
In 2008, Hirschberg created ''Lynn Hirschberg's Screen Tests'' for ''
T: The New York Times Style Magazine''. The ''Screen Tests'' were a series of short black and white videos featuring close ups of celebrities answering questions Hirschberg had posed. In 2010, Hirschberg left ''T'' to work at
''W'' Magazine and carried over her ''Screen Tests'' series.
In 2015, Hirschberg began a new video series, again for ''W'', called ''Birthday Stories'' featuring actors, models, and designers discussing their birthdays. In 2020, Hirschberg began a new podcast for W Magazine, 5 things with Lynn Hirschberg, in which she asks high-profile celebrities about a person, place, thing, and two experiences that have affected their lives.
Controversies
Hirschberg has been the subject of ire from several of her interviewees. In 1992, she wrote a piece for ''
Vanity Fair'' about
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as t ...
who was then pregnant with her daughter
Frances Bean Cobain
Frances Bean Cobain (born August 18, 1992) is an American visual artist and model. She is the only child of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love. She controls the publicity rights to her father's name and image.
Earl ...
. Hirschberg quoted Love talking about taking heroin while pregnant. As a result, Cobain was removed from the care of her parents by child protective services shortly after her birth while an investigation was launched. In response Love left Hirschberg a threatening message on her answering machine. Love also recorded and released a bootleg song called ''Bring Me the Head of Lynn Hirschberg''.
In 1997, she wrote a piece about
Jamie Tarses
Sara James Tarses (March 16, 1964 – February 1, 2021) was an American television producer and television studio executive. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold suc ...
for ''the New York Times Magazine''. A year earlier at age 32, Tarses was named president of entertainment at
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, the first woman ever to serve as a network's top programmer, and the second-youngest person to be the lead programmer of a network (after her mentor
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...
, who was 31 when he took over at
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
). Tarses had been hired by ABC because she had brought success to NBC: she helped develop ''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'' and shepherded ''
Mad About You
''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...
'' and ''
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...
''; worked on the development of ''
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...
'', ''
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
'', and ''
Blossom
In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring.
Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as wel ...
'', and at the beginning of her career, monitored scripts on ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
''. (Her dad wrote for ''
the Carol Burnett Show
''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...
''; her brother is a writer.) ABC was "a snakepit" at the time. Hirschberg observed Tarses's hairstyle, way of sitting, and her stress and wrote about "a nervous girl." "Women are emotional, and Jamie is particularly emotional," she wrote quoting an anonymous male. "You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her."
In 2010, Hirschberg interviewed rapper
M.I.A. for ''
T: The New York Times Style Magazine''. In the piece she contrasted the rapper's luxurious lifestyle with her political viewpoints in unflattering ways, leading to criticism from M.I.A. who would later release her own audio of the interview as well as releasing Hirschberg's telephone number through
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
.
In response the editors of ''T'' issued a statement clarifying that some of the quotes were taken out of context and published out of order.
References
External links
*
Lynn Hirschberg's Screen TestsBirthday Stories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschberg, Lynn
American women journalists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
The New York Times writers
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American women writers