The Clinton hype

How media and marketing intersect makes for a fascinating inquiry (“ ‘My Life’ in the Eye of the Perfect Marketing Storm,” July 4).

Like most journalists, David Shaw may like to think he is above the fray, that he is somehow untainted by the dirty business of marketing. Yet he has an audience and a product and packaging too.

Shaw can dress up his column as “serious criticism” all he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s giving his readers the Clinton candy they crave. He wants the eyeballs just as much as “60 Minutes” does.

Adam Behar

Cardiff by the Sea

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David Shaw’s column perfectly exemplifies why media news has become such vacuous, self-promoting garbage. He hasn’t even tried to read Clinton’s book, but he is going to pass judgment on it based on what his colleagues in the media have chosen to discuss in their interviews with Clinton.

I bought the book and am reading it. I would suggest that Shaw do so too, because this is a first-hand account of an eight-year presidency during which the working deficit in the federal budget was demolished and a trillion-dollar surplus was projected. Foreign policy was always on point. The Bosnian crisis was effectively brought to a halt. I could go on.

Heavenly Wilson

Los Angeles