Gawker
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death of print
Will David Geffen Gay Up the New York Times?
Hello, Pink Lady! David Geffen, the wealthy friend of Dorothy, wants to buy the New York Times. Fantastic news for the paper's gay mafia. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by WindowSeat: 'd lk t s ths pst r-wrttn s "Wll Crls Slm Spc p Th Nw Yrk Tms?" wth sm clrfl... 8 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Penthouse Magazine Closing? CEO Says No, COO Says Yes
Internet porn has devastated old-fashioned smut rags. We now hear a top executive at FriendFinder Networks, the publisher of Penthouse, wants to close the money-losing magazine down. But his boss denies it.
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By Owen ThomasComment by TedSez: So other than going to a liquor store and surreptitiously asking the sleazy guy behind the counter for a creepy... 5 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Newspapers are dead. Google and Sharon Stone's ex-husband killed them.
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e-books
Esquire Editor Admires the Kindle, or At Least the Hearst Replacement
Esquire editor David Granger loves the Amazon Kindle. Sort of. The e-book reader gives him hope that Internet-shortened attention spans will lengthen enough to spark a renaissance in books and magazines. He's utterly delusional. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by stoprobbers: I can't read off a screen, hurt my eyes. When society turns away from the written word -- on a PAGE... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
The New York Times Battles a Googler for New Jersey
Why is the Gray Lady building websites for the obscure suburbs of South Orange, Maplewood, and Milburn? Perhaps because those are the exact same towns Google executive Tim Armstrong picked for Patch, his local-news startup. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tremonius: I read that the LA Times has online revenue exceeding its editorial costs, minus printing. That means if they went... 5 Responses | Other threads
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e-books
Hearst's E-Reader: The Last Stand of a Doomed Industry
Dear media companies: Please stop trying to innovate. You're lousy at it. Hearst's supposed "Kindle killer," an electronic reader for magazines, is just the latest in a series of debacles from the moribund print-media business. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Argy: It's pretty hard to feature reader comments posted online when no one posts any. There's only so much citizens of... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Here's Hoping Google Does Kill the Newspapers
The news that Google is placing ads on Google News has sent a renewed wave of handwringing through the newspaper industry. How dare those Googlers make online news a profitable business! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Elliot Poger: OK, and once the newspapers die, who's going to write the stories? (No, not bloggers churning out copy in... 10 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Only a Cable Guy Could Come Up With Newsday's Pay-Only Scheme
Pundits will say Newsday's desperate plan to charge for the Long Island newspaper's website is some kind of bellwether for the industry. What it really means: Newsday and its owner, Cablevision, have nothing to lose. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by OlgaGrisha: "Some local Long Island News"? That's pretty much all Newsday is and has been for years now. People know this,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
San Francisco Chronicle Owner Threatens Shutdown
Hearst Newspapers could shut down San Francisco's dominant daily, the Chronicle, if unions do not agree to major job cuts. The threatened shuttering would leave the city without a real newspaper. Would anyone notice? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by PRIsNotJournalism: And this is when capitalism officially takes over democracy. Too bad no one will be around to document it, except... 4 Responses | Other threads
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bloggers
White House Liveblogging Could Destroy Blogging Forever
Oh, dear god: The Obama White House is liveblogging itself. What's the point of liveblogging this stuff ourselves when we can just read this stuff in our pajamas? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by GORDONGARTRELLE: This is like the day Borges met Escher and the world ended. It was emosewa. 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Michael Kinsley tried making readers pay for news. Didn't work!
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death of print
How Not to Save Newspapers
Micropayments are the future of content! If I had a nickel for every time I heard that one. Walter Isaacson, a former managing editor of Time, is the latest to pick up this tired banner. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by izzyrowlands: Whatever you say Mr. Thomas, but that is a pretty sweet cover. 7 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Computers Destroying the Print Media: A History
Is it any surprise that print is dying? Not for newspapers. In fits and starts since the 1970s and 1980s, they (and others) have been looking to go electronic but they screwed it up. Watch! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by joefry: The only value left in having physical print is the tangibility of it... some people just like having a paper... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Google to Newspapers: You're Still Screwed
The latest cut in the ever-shrinking kingdom of Larry and Sergey: Google Print Ads, a program which brokered ads in newspapers and magazines. So much for the notion of Google saving the printed word. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by cdmunch: Why didn't google do any special logo today? Not that I really care, buy they put up crap for every... 2 Responses | Other threads
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portfolio
Portfolio's Loss Is Political Blog Empire's Gain
Sinking ship Portfolio has one less expensive contract to worry about. Matt Cooper, formerly the D.C. bureau chief of Time, has joined web outfit Talking Points Memo. More » -
los angeles times
A Newspaper's Online Fairy Tale
The editors and writers of the Los Angeles Times could shut off the presses tomorrow and live off its website, media pundit Jeff Jarvis claims. But the numbers don't add up. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Lizstless: Or, you know, maybe like decades of knowledge selling ads actually is worth something and they actually sell for more... 1 Responses | Other threads
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planetout
A Gay Media Empire to Shove in the Closet
A new kingpin of gay content has just come out to Wall Street: Here Media, which rules queer pay-TV, film, magazines, books, and websites. But has anyone stopped to ask if we need it? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Mark Johnson: Glad to see someone is reporting on this. The only gay sites that make money are the hookup sites... 3 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
NYT's Genius Geeks Don't Know How to Save It, Either
Did you know that the New York Times has a crew of "digital renegades" who are reinventing journalism through interactive graphics and databases? It's true! Too bad they're not working on fixing the newspaper's business. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by diorist: Reportage? Is that as in "roughage" or "sewage?" more » | Other threads
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death of print
Google Boss to Newspapers: No Bailout
Everyone wants a sugar daddy to save them. Wall Street has found one in Washington. But the newspaper industry has been batting its eyes in the direction of Mountain View, Calif., home of Google. Ha! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by CodePink: Um, this man resembles a mentally challenged adult who likes doing that fast hand moving thing when he gets excited.... 8 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Forbes.com, Magazine United at Last by Layoffs
We hear Forbes, the fussily conservative business magazine, is laying off Web and print staff today, and merging the surviving editors and writers into a single newsroom. It only took them a decade. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by VarneyPompeii: Please landmark 60 Fifth Avenue NOW. more » | Other threads
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startups
Why Halsey Minor Can't Have Nice Things
Dotcom mogul Halsey Minor, the CNET founder, has spent freely on real estate, artwork, and startups. He's having trouble keeping them all. The latest bauble to run aground: San Francisco magazine publisher 8020 Media. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by hminor: Owen I invested $6 mm of my own money against an idea I had and found others who shared to... 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Even Listicles Being Downsized at Fortune
Bad news is still big. It's just the articles that are getting smaller. 2008 was 80 percent less dumb than 2007, according to Fortune! A year ago, Fortune readers were treated to a full 101 moments of dumbness in an end-of-year comic look-back. This year? Only 21 dumb moments to be found.
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By Owen ThomasComment by oldtaku: Yeah, I have to say those 101 moments always had at least a dozen kneeslappers (including a couple I'd somehow... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Terry Drayton
Little League Thief Rewarded with Magazine Cover
What happened to Terry Drayton, the tech CEO whose company allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from kids' sports clubs? Why, he's Seattle Business's new cover boy.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hydroceph: Yeah! Media whitewashing! The Atlantic's playing, too: [www.theatlantic.com] Here's the Atlantic by-line: Henry Blodget is the editor of Silicon Alley Insider, an online... 3 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Three Magazines I Actually Miss
All the magazines are dying! It's the Internet's fault. No, actually magazines have always died. Statistically, 80 percent of them fail. Which is what makes the medium such a perfect object for nostalgia.
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By Owen ThomasComment by gladys_kravitz: I will never understand the cult of Jane Pratt. 12 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Fortune stops covering businesses it used to tout
Just last month, Fortune reported on how investors are still bullish on green technology. And there's plenty in its pages about the bright future of online media. But Fortune's accountants must not read the magazine! Fortune has laid off two reporters on the cleantech beat, and all but one of its New York- and San Francisco-based online reporters, who wrote primarily for the magazine's website.
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By Owen ThomasComment by .: Its gonna get worse before it gets better. I hope some companies (like Gawker) can restructure during this time and... more » | Other threads
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death of print
New York Times lays off "Shifting Careers" columnist
Marci Albother has written the Times' Shifting Careers column since 2007. Yesterday, the NYT allowed her to explain that she's become the newspaper's latest job cut. I was going to 100-word her long goodbye, but Peter Kafka's post at AllThingsD is a better take on the situation at the Times. I'm so bummed about everything that I'm not even picking on AllThingsD today.
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By Paul BoutinComment by michaellamb: she's cute - I'm sure if she comes to the Valley some idiot here will hire her just for her... 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
PC Magazine kills print edition
Why, God, why? PC Magazine was such a nice, safe publication. It never hurt anyone. It sort of kept to itself around the neighborhood, but it seemed perfectly normal. Not at all like those rowdies at Infoworld. Ziff-Davis, the publisher, has already gone through bankruptcy. Wasn't that enough ? In a word: No. Seventy percent of PC Mag's revenue now comes from the Internet, according to Ziff's CEO. Valleywag alum Nicholas Carlson has a tidy little reblog of the whole situation.
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By Paul BoutinComment by categorically: If I don't get my porn via print, why would I want to look at Lenovo PCs in print? 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Blog vendor offers to insult every pro journalist on Earth
Have you spent years building your reputation as a reporter? Are you a bit anxious, because you read a rant by Jeff Jarvis that says you're now unemployable for life? Never fear. Smug-faced Six Apart CEO Chris Alden is here to save you with The TypePad Journalist Bailout Program. How it works: You send Six Apart a link to "your last piece for a newspaper, magazine or broadcast journalism venue." Six Apart gives you a free TypePad blog. You get to keep a few pennies of the couple of bucks per month Six Apart will make from ads they'll run on your blog. Most important, the inept, self-aggrandizing management team at Six Apart gets to brag about all the storied journalists they've now got blogging for them. Thanks for the offer, Chris. But I'd rather saw my own head off.
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By Paul BoutinComment by anildash: Hi Paul, thanks for the link to the bailout program. You can feel free to substitute my smug face if... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Forbes memo confirms print, Web staff merging
Ending a longstanding internal split that dates back to the days of the first dotcom boom, Forbes Media is merging the staff which puts out the conservative-leaning business magazine and its online component, which run separately and with a ludicrous amount of mutual suspicion and jealousy. (Valleywag had gotten wind of these plans last month.) An internal memo sent by CEO Steve Forbes to staff says that print and online sales and marketing will be immediately integrated, reporting up to an "office of the chairman" which includes Forbes.com publisher Jim Spanfeller, whom rumors had previously pegged as the head of the combined operation. Integration of the Web and print editorial staff won't happen until early 2009. Translation: No one in the newsroom will know what's happening to their job until next year. Here's the memo: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Drunken Economist: Ah Forbes. Think of it as Gawker Media in the Universe of Qward. I mean seriously. I'm expecting RealClear.Alicia.Silverstone next. Bizarro!... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Bob Cohn
Wired's No. 2 editor to take over The Atlantic's website
You've probably never heard of Bob Cohn, but he played a major role in saving Wired from running aground in 2001. As executive editor, Cohn was the low-key second-in-command to Chris Anderson. He pushed editors and writers to abandon Wired's too-insidery voice and craft a new kind of tech journalism aimed at curious outsiders. Trust me, that sounds great until you try to do it. Starting in January, Cohn will take editorial charge of TheAtlantic.com, reporting directly to editor-in-chief James Bennet. "It's a great website," Bob told me via cell phone just now. Translation: Change a-comin'!
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: What I always loved about The Atlantic was that average people didn't know about it and, instead, read the New... 3 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Christians will need to get their Science online
The Christian Science Monitor has been a guilty pleasure among secular humans since 1908. It's a solid, reliable news source, whether or not it adheres to the hidden agenda of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Starting in April 2009, the CSM will stop printing ink on paper every day, switching to a weekly format. The New York Times reports that daily circulation has dropped from 220,000 in 1970 to 52,000 today. Geez, that's Valleywag territory. Cheap advice to the Monitor: Get yourself a gossip columnist for the Vatican. His audition clip is after the jump. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Figaro: Horribly misleading headline, Paul. You obviously have NO CLUE about CSM. Hint: They're not a "christian" publication at all. Jeeez... pretty... 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Forbes.com, Forbes careerists gird for battle
David Churbuck, the founder of Forbes.com (and sweaty prep-school wrestling partner of Fake Steve Jobs blogger turned boring Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons), has weighed in on the chaos enveloping his former employer, the investor-friendly, snarkier-than-thou business magazine. Churbuck, like many Forbes alumni, seems to know more of what's going on than its current employees. The publication, now backed by Silicon Valley investment house Elevation Partners, is colliding together its Web and print editorial teams, and the result could be nuclear, as editors and writers scramble for position in the new order. Churbuck observes that the split between print and online had its roots in a plan to spin off Forbes.com in an IPO during the go-go late '90s; even after plans for an IPO were scrapped, the division persisted. Now, Elevation is pushing to consolidate the staffs, Churbuck says. Separately, a tipster reports several personnel moves happening at Forbes. Are they coincidence, or a sign of people positioning their own careers for the coming upheaval? Hard to say. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by damnedfool: totally not true about betsy -- she gave up the gig years ago because she didn't want it. more » | Other threads
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death of print
Forbes writers clueless on magazine's fate
A high-profile New York magazine company handing control of its flagship print property to a Web executive would be a great story about the transformation of media. Normally, writers at Forbes would be all over it — if it weren't happening to them. Yesterday's rumor about Forbes Media merging the magazine and Forbes.com — two distinct operations, housed in separate offices, whose managers don't get along — and tapping Forbes.com chief Jim Spanfeller to run the combination has provoked a collective wave of head-scratching from current and former Forbesians. Could it happen? One writer tells us that Forbes management has denied the rumor so unconvincingly that workers there are all concluding it must be true. "I work at Forbes. I'll be the last to know," says one. He disputes the idea that Forbes and its website don't work well together, giving several examples of Web and print writers crossing the line — but the fact that those are notable, rather than routine, just highlights Forbes's lack of cooperation. His note: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by nirreskeya: They don't get free coffee? That's horrible. more » | Other threads
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death of print
Forbes.com exacts revenge of nerds on Forbes
Most magazines keep their Web and print staffs apart, a legacy of petty rivalries, bureaucratic turf wars, and a fear of change. But Forbes Media has elevated balkanization into an art form. The two sides of the company barely speak to each other. The Forbes family tolerated this, but Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private-equity fund which counts Bono as a partner and now owns 40 percent of Forbes is not so patient. A tipster tells us that a "big shakeup" is coming, with the editorial staffs of both magazine and website getting "smashed together." More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wireless Joe: I'm waiting for this to happen in a lot of industries. In telecom (Verizon, ATT), management is run by... 1 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
San Francisco Chronicle now free to gossip bloggers
My constant raving about The Examiner is has paid off: The Chronicle now magically appears on my doorstep, 13 floors up, every morning. My neighbor doesn't get it, just me. Influencer marketing, or is the Chron trying to pump up its subscription numbers in Pacific Heights? I hate to admit it, but I might actually open the paper if I knew Violet Blue was hiding in there.
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By Paul BoutinComment by dotbombing: @Paul Boutin: Really? I might toss it out my 13th floor window if she was hiding in there... Though... 3 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
Scoble kills newspapers
"What's killing the newspaper business — with thousands of jobs lost and even the Washington Post Co.'s reporting its first loss in 37 years — is its inability to reach people like me." — Fast Company videoblogger Robert Scoble, in a column some Fast Company editor wrote for him, in which Scoble goes on to relate all of the ways he obsessively consumes newspaper articles online.
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By Owen ThomasComment by macbeach: I'm quite sure he reads information that originated with the Washington Post, even if he is too dumb to know... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Blaise Zerega
Portfolio editor goes startup
The only thing more foolish than joining a startup right now is staying at a print magazine. Portfolio's San Francisco-based deputy editor, Blaise Zerega, has left the Condé Nast business magazine. He's now the president and COO of Fora.tv, an online-video startup which collects clips of those boring public-affairs speeches we all dread attending, but go for the mingling and cocktails that follow. Not clear how Fora.tv will reproduce mingling and cocktails online. One other thing notable about Fora.tv: Its address, 1550 Bryant Street. That's the same building where Zerega and I worked at the old Red Herring, back when it was a respectable chronicler of the technology business.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Our Lady of the Massacre: Well that's hardly shocking. Everyone in San Fransisco is in a startup. 1 Responses | Other threads
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arianna huffington
Why the Huffington Post will never be Vogue
Most bloggers seem to be mentally competing with the newspaper media model of The New York Times. Were they to visit the average newspaper office, they'd quickly realize what they really want: A glamorous magazine job. That seems to be Arianna Huffington's thinking, too. Gawker writer Ryan Tate has a long, delicious post about Huffington's workplace quirks. But his kicker applies to any blogging biz: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by lottalance: stupid is as stupid blogs = the Huffington Post A nice little place to put so many self-important blow hards. ... more » | Other threads
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Adrian Holovaty
Newspaper-killing Google aims to hire newspaper-saving programmer
Adrian Holovaty is going to save journalism, darn it, if the industry likes it or not. And he may soon be doing it at Google. The search engine has long suffered from a tin ear in its relations with writers and editors — the people who create the content it indexes. Holovaty gained fame for linking up Google Maps with local crime statistics to create chicagocrime.org, one of the first mapping mashups. And he gained cred in the journalism world by melding programming and reportage at the Washington Post. Most recently, he's been pursuing the same goal at his own local-news startup, EveryBlock, which he funded by winning a contest held by the Knight Foundation. And now Google wants to buy Holovaty's startup, we hear. Holovaty says that he's had no conversations with Google, but did have lunch with a friend at Google's campus last week, which he stresses was "a social matter." The effort to buy his venture — there's no "deal," Holovaty tells us — has hit some kind of unusual hitch. It's not clear what the holdup is. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sggrf: as I read this any conversation with Google leaves Adrian looking cagey. more » | Other threads
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death of print
300-strong newsroom unable to put out email newsletter
Even after last year's cutbacks, our local rag, the San Francisco Chronicle, has some 300 editorial employees and managers. You'd never know it from reading the newspaper, which seems mostly filled with wire copy these days. Online, too, evidence of the Chronicle's bench strength is scant. Consider this note sent to subscribers to the Chronicle's "Top o' the Bay" newsletter: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by mpantone: The Chron has Spots. That's all that matters. more » | Other threads
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Fri Jul 10
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