Ginia Bellafante (born March 31, 1965) is an American

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or gover ...

and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essay ...

for ''

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 ...

''.

Career

Bellafante worked at ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', as a senior reporter covering fashion, until 1999. She then joined ''The New York Times'' as a fashion critic, and later worked as a television critic before joining the Metropolitan section covering New York City. In 2011, she began writing "Big City", "a weekly column dedicated to life, culture, politics and policy in New York City".

Criticism

In 1998, Bellafante wrote a cover story for ''Time'', "Is Feminism Dead?", claiming that young feminists care primarily about "their bodies" and "themselves". The story was critiqued by Erica Jong of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'', who said, "''Time''s idiotic cover story on feminism is, in short, a symptom of what's wrong, not an analysis." Janelle Brown of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

'' called it "poorly thought-out". Bellafante's ''New York Times'' review in 2011 of ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

'' was criticized by some as sexist for suggesting that only sexual content might motivate women to watch a complex fantasy story. In April 2020, Bellafante came under fire for linking

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

's and, in particular,

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commen ...

's, coverage of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

to a New York man's death. The man had contracted the virus while on a cruise, which he had decided to take after consuming media that had downplayed the threat of the virus. Some considered several parts of the story misleading; in particular, remarks by Hannity reported in the article were made after the cruise had already begun. Bellafante herself had also downplayed the virus around the same time, saying she didn't understand why people weren't traveling to China.

Personal

Bellafante is a native of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with her husband and their son.

References

External links

''The New York Times'' ArtsBeat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellafante, Ginia 1965 births American television critics Living people American fashion journalists American women journalists American women critics 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists Time (magazine) people The New York Times columnists Journalists from New York (state)