BRARIANGELINA Jolie, Pearl, Pitt at Cannes (Photo: Getty Images)
Mariane Pearl, the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, spoke out against the media establishment Thursday evening at a party hosted by Glamour to toast the book debut of her collected reporting for the magazine, In Search of Hope. In a critique of the WSJ and a public blinded by tabloid drama, she told Radar: "I think the Wall Street Journal has one person covering Africa." If celebrities like Angelina Jolie, who wrote the forward to Pearl's book, are drawing attention to issues it's because, as she put it: "Celebrities are doing the work that journalists are not. We can't afford to be cynical about that.'"

In a world where Britney's wardrobe dramas get more coverage than child prostitution or public health in the developing world, Pearl said, "Can you really strike out against Angie and Bono? Sure, there's an opinion backlash. People think they are doing it for some sort of ego trip. But the people who are expressing that opinion? What are they doing?"

The book party, hosted by Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive and publisher Bill Wackermann, was indeed a glamorous affair, and Mariane quaffed champagne amidst the boho, multilingual crowd, all the while wearing a little black dress with a seriously plunging neckline. She sees no incongruity, she said, in reporting on world affairs for a magazine that is primarily about fashion. "To have such a wide readership was a tremendous opportunity. If they come for the article about, you know, boots, and they get something more, then so be it."

In parting, Pearl expressed incredulity at what she termed "the Britney loop." "Poor girl," she said. "You know, I think the media can be very cruel for someone like that. But the endless fixation? That is an empty loop. That is nothing."

Up next for Mariane are trips to Israel and Senegal. Where, presumably, she won't be wearing that dress. "I don't know where it's from," she laughed. "I guess I am not that kind of woman."