Reganomics

By Kathryn 

You want more recent information on Judith Regan, don’t you? We’ve got plenty

reganomics.jpgJudith Regan talks to the Telegraph with the aim of contesting last year’s “breathtakingly unflattering portrait” of the publisher by Vanity Fair‘s Judith Newman. The result, however, only colors insides the lines already drawn by Newman:

Even [Regan’s] boss, Jane Friedman, HarperCollins’s chief executive, has described her publicly as “a little bit of a loose cannon”.

That remark was “unfortunate”, admits Regan. “If I had the job of CEO I’d say: ‘Judith Regan is the most talented person in the world of publishing. She’s accomplished more than anybody else in the history of the industry and we’re lucky to have her’.”

And, then, as if readers weren’t already convinced that Regan should assign herself a publicist (of the Secret Service variety), the publisher goes on to inadvertantly call herself a witch, a pseudo-admission the profile can’t resist using for its closing:

…At a time when television presenters such as Simon Cowell and Donald Trump are doing very well out of being nasty, it seems like a perfect opportunity for someone who is as passionate as Regan. She says that in the clutter of multi-channel TV it is “strong personalities” that stand out. “The definition I used to have is: ‘Can somebody play you for Halloween?’ ” And could someone play her for Halloween? “I think I have a distinctive voice and I have a strong point of view. I’m certainly somebody who doesn’t mince words and tells the truth.”

That sounds like a yes.

Previously on GC:

  • Judith Regan and Halloween
  • Regan’s Top Ten Moments in VF