Off the Record
Church Cuddles Up to State: Media's Glossy New Reality
In the late 1990s and early part of this decade, a young journalist named Andrew Essex was on the rise in Manhattan. He was a Talk of the Town editor at The New Yorker under Tina Brown; then a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly; then executive editor at Fairchild’s revamped Details. There were also stints at Us Weekly and Salon.
In 2005 things took a turn for Mr. Essex. He was hired to be editor in chief of a magazine called Absolute—one of those shiny luxury publications that straddle the line between advertisements and editorial and leave the reader (flipping through it idly in a shiny luxury condo lobby, perhaps) feeling glazed and hollow, not sure exactly why.
NYTV
David Gregory: NBC's Lame-Duck?
On the morning of Sunday, July 20, NBC News paterfamilias Tom Brokaw was wrapping up Meet the Press, where he has been anchor since the sudden and untimely death of Tim Russert.
The weekly round table had ended, and it was time to say goodbye to his guests, NBC political director Chuck Todd and NBC White House correspondent David Gregory.
When the segment ended, both reporters sat with their hands neatly folded in front of them and awaited the frugally dispensed approval of Mr. Brokaw.
“Thank you very much, David Gregory, our NBC White House correspondent and, of course, star of MSNBC’s The Road to the White House,” said Mr.
Pub Crawl
The Wood Workshop: How Critic Became A One-Man School
Mark Sarvas has read James Wood’s new book three times already. That’s a lot, especially considering Farrar Straus & Giroux, its U.S. publisher, only put it out yesterday. But Mr. Sarvas, a lit blogger (his site is called The Elegant Variation) who recently published his first novel, really, really likes James Wood. He has a Google alert on his name, even, and thinks this new book he’s written, a concise and spirited defense of realism called How Fiction Works, is going to be “a key text of this age.”
“It just feels fundamental to me,” Mr. Sarvas said Monday. “I’m going to urge it on anyone who’s thinking about setting pen to paper to write a novel.
Media
Moe Tkacik Off The Radar
That news about Moe Tkacik joining Radar? Never mind.
Apparently Ms. Tkacik has changed her mind and rejected her offer from Radar. She'll leave Jezebel and begin writing for her company's flagship site, Gawker.com.
Reached by Media Mob, Radar editor Maer Roshan who is currently not in the office, told us that the memo he sent out to the Radar staff announcing she was hired—writing that she will "bring her unique style and voice to a wide variety of topics from entertainment to politics, business and economy to world affairs. I'm confident that her strong reporting experience and her uncanny ability to analyze trends and events will allow the site to offer a broader perspective on pop, politics, scandal, and style"—was "probably" premature and claimed that it was not actually written by him, but his assistant. read more »
Fox News, Fox Television Stations Group, NBC Universal Filing Joint Copyright Suit Against Redlasso
The Media Mob has learned that NBC Universal, Fox News, and the Fox Television Stations group are filing a joint copyright infringement suit today in the Southern District Court of New York against Redlasso.
Redlasso is a privately held company that provides a free search engine targeting video and audio footage from stations and networks around the country and allows users to create embeddable clips of the resulting material. read more »
Did Record Have Torricelli 'Erased'?
Oh, and then there's this: couldn't find any articles about Robert Torricelli on the Record Web site!
Times A.M.E. Bill Schmidt Transfers to International Herald Tribune
Bill Schmidt, an assistant managing editor and 27-year New York Times veteran, is moving to the International Herald Tribune to become the paper's "Editor, Global editions."
Mr. Schmidt is the administration-man of the Times newsroom—the one who sends out emails reminding reporters to file their expenses—and he'll have a similar, if expanded, role at The Times' sister publication. Bill Keller writes in a memo, "He will be, in effect, the chief operating officer of the Trib newsroom, the principle liaison with the publisher and with the Executive Editor of The Times."
Memo after the jump: read more »
Torricelli v. Bergen Record II: 'These People Behave Like an Organized Crime Family'
Last time we checked in with former New Jersey senator Bob Torricelli he wrote that the Record of Bergen County was a very mean newspaper and he delighted in the recent announcement that the paper was shutting down its Hackensack office.
On July 4, the Record's Alfred Doblin responded. "Being lectured on meanness by the likes of Bob Torricelli is akin to Amy Winehouse leading a rehab retreat for substance abusers," he wrote. Fireworks!
Mr. Torricelli didn't care much for that. He writes today on PolitickerNJ that the Record's response had all "the sophistication of an adolescent rage." But he proceeded to have a bit of a tantrum himself! Choice nasty bits:
- "The Publisher of the Record, Malcolm Borg, is a convicted drunk driver. read more »
Report: Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Car
![Novak: "He's not dead, that's the main thing."](http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article-teaser/files/novak072308.jpg "Novak: "He's not dead, that's the main thing."")
According to Politico's Jonathan Martin and Chris Frates, syndicated columnist Robert Novak hit a pedestrian with his car this morning in Washington, D.C.
"I didn't know I hit him," Mr. Novak told reporters. "I feel terrible." As terrible as Mr. Novak feels, Media Mob is sure that the man he hit with his black Corvette feels worse. In a video on the site, Mr. Novak comes off as cagey and nervous as he exits a police car and is grilled by reporters. "He's not dead, that's the main thing," Mr. Novak said.
Jon Friedman Hot For New Nation Sex Column: 'Get it? Wink, Wink ... Smirk, Smirk'
Another week, another fabulous Media Web Minute from MarketWatch's ace media critic Jon Friedman.
In this episode, a smirking, almost laughing Mr. Friedman plugs The Nation's new "Carnal Knowledge" sex and politics column ("Get it? Wink, wink... Smirk, smirk," Mr. Friedman says of the name), praising it as "a good idea... It makes a lot of sense." Mr. Friedman to neglects to mention the column's author, JoAnn Wypijewski ("Think Maureen Dowd meets Anna Quindlen," per Mr. Friedman), whom he interviews in the accompanying column. Then again, the video is only a minute.
Times Will Raise Newsstand Price to $1.50
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and Janet Robinson reported grim second-quarter results today—ad revenue down another 10 percent versus the second quarter last year, net income down to $21 million versus the $118 million they made this quarter last year—and just dropped a small bombshell:
"We plan to increase the daily newsstand price of the Times from $1.25 to $1.50," said Ms. Robinson on a conference call with investors this morning. It goes into effect on August 18.
The paper last raised newsstand prices last July.
Lineup for July 23, 2008
What will become of 37-year-old NBC News correspondent David Gregory, wonders Felix Gillette, since "lame-duck presidents create lame-duck White House correspondents."
John Koblin looks at the new advertiser-friendly glossies on the horizon—WSJ from The Wall Street Journal, FW from The Washington Post, Manhattan and others—and notes, "the traditional, cozily amorphous job of the editor—rumpled visionary, bold procurer, acid social critic, lover of words!—is starting to look very different. Sort of...crisper... As envisioned by businesspeople, the New Editor seems a kind of bland, affable and well-connected creature … much like, well, a businessperson."
Is The New Yorker's James Wood becoming a guru for writers? Leon Neyfakh checks out the tips offered in Mr. Wood's new book, How Fiction Works, and asks, "Who will heed them? And will the fact that Mr. Wood has laid them out so plainly in this succinct volume—something few literary critics, to say nothing of book reviewers, have the heart to do these days—increase the likelihood that aspiring writers will eventually absorb and adhere to his standards?" Plus: David Carr.
Plus: Madonna's brother... Issac Mizrahi... The New Old Gays.
Sexton Says: 'Love Jersey'
The New York Times' Metro report will write more about food and sex than ever and it will write less about New Jersey than it has in years. This news officially comes in response to a reader's inquiry to Metro editor Joe Sexton: "Do you cover Jersey anymore?" Sexton's response in today's nytimes.com Q &A: "Ouch. But Jersey? Love Jersey."
After explaining that the Times' stellar local reporter David Kocieniewski would stay on the Jersey beat—presumably when Mr. Sexton isn't busy assigning him to investigative pieces on Charlie Rangel's real-estate ownership—he lays out Metro's future "pledge" to Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island now that the bureaus have been emptied out. read more »
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