Gawker: valleywag, jon fine

The Twitterati Give Their Divorce Lawyer a Porn Name

Owen Thomas — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:33:27 EDT

The problem with Twitterati isn't so much oversharing as undercaring. Laurel Touby's apartment woes, Lockhart Steele's porn name, and Penelope Trunk's divorce bill are as good as the media elite's tweets get!

Boa-bedecked media horror Laurel Touby was stymied in her real-estate quest by husband Jon Fine's raging metrosexuality.

Bicoastal tech execuwrangler Brooke Hammerling outed Gawker alumnus Lockhart Steele as a non-porn star.

TechPresident blog blowhard Micah Sifry waxed Foucauldian.

Brazen divorcist Penelope Trunk contemplated barter.

Technology Review Twitterer-in-chief Jason Pontin thought about the poor, but only for 140 characters.

Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

The Twitterati Pop a Pill for Demyelinating Immunoglobulin

Owen Thomas — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:30:44 EDT

It's a horrible disease that threatens everyone's well-being! No, not the swine flu, silly — we're talking Twitter. Alan Meckler, Jon Fine, and Patrick Gavin were among today's victims:

Politico's Patrick Gavin didn't really regret the error.

BusinessWeek media columnist Jon Fine felt someone else's pain.

Web micromogul Alan Meckler took his chances with the swine flu.

Chicago Tribune writer Kevin Pang warned of the threat of pork consumption.

Freelance writer Janet Rae-Dupree fell victim to another stupid Twitter twend.

Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

Facebook's Redesign Drives Twitterati to Drink

Owen Thomas — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:43:31 EDT

Who knew New Yorker writers used Facebook enough to hate its new look, as Susan Orlean does? In other trivia, Tricia Romano got sauced, Olivier Knox developed a crush, and Jon Fine revealed his ignorance:

Susan Orlean of the New Yorker deigned to contemplate Facebook's redesign.

BusinessWeek's Jon Fine caught up on year-old Viacom trivia. (Yes, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's son works at Google. Duh.)

Washington Times Web columnist Amanda Carpenter wasted time on Twitter to announce she was not wasting time on Twitter.

Former Village Voice writer Tricia Romano began drinking early.

AFP correspondent Olivier Knox confessed to a mancrush on Wired editor Adam Rogers.

See something worth noting on Twitter? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

We Read Twitter So You Don't Have To

Owen Thomas — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:42:38 EST

Twitter is supposed to save journalism 140 characters at a time. Media people love it, and we love media people, so let's take a look at what the Twitterati have to say for themselves.

Entertainment Weekly founder turned new media curmudgeon Jeff Jarvis couldn't remember how old he is.

Ex-Huffington Post editor Rachel Sklar got peeved about words.

Time political writer Karen Tumulty's plane was late.

BusinessWeek media columnist Jon Fine was in Los Angeles checking out the menfolk.

New York Times writer Matt Richtel keeps pretending to be a prostitute.

Anyone else's tweets we should keep an eye on? Send us their username.

BusinessWeek screws up, and Condé Nast doesn't care about the Internet

Nick Douglas — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:00:00 EDT

BusinessWeek's story on the purchase of Wired News is worse than useless. Writer Jon Fine (pictured here in his New Media glasses) rushed out a piece as thoroughly researched as a Gawker Media blog post.

For example, Fine wonders why Wired sold its magazine to one company (Condé Nast) and its web site to another (Lycos). A writer of his caliber should know that Wired had no choice but to split its properties, because no media company would take the site, and no dot-com would take the magazine. Condé Nast was so uninterested in the Internet that it let Lycos handle its magazine's web site — a decision everyone later regretted.

He also says that Wired News and Wired Mag shared offices for eight years. Wrong again — the remnants of the once-mighty Wired News just moved across the hall from the Mag a few months back, only to hear endless "You think this is a Holiday Inn?" jokes from the Mag staff.

But Fine's real sin is quoting Condé Nast dealmaker Steve Newhouse (the boss's son), who says the purchase is all about Web 2.0. Bull. Web 2.0 doesn't care about Wired, and to be honest, Wired doesn't really care about Web 2.0 (its editor's Net-centric "Long Tail" book notwithstanding).

Newhouse did not pay $25 million for eight writers at a dying news site. Newhouse paid $25 million to wrest his magazine's web site away from Lycos.

Update: Fine posted a correction. If he sends me his address, I'll mail him a copy of Wired — A Romance.

Steve Newhouse on Wired and Wired News [BusinessWeek]
Earlier: Condé Nast bought Wired News: What that means [Valleywag]