Media | The New York Observer

Denise Oswald Lands at It Books

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:05:28 -0500

Denise Oswald, former editorial director for indie publisher Soft Skull Press, has landed a new job as a senior editor at HarperCollins imprint It Books.

The Observer broke the news that Soft Skull would close its two-person New York office late last year, leaving its operations in the hands of the Berkeley-based publisher Counterpoint, which acquired Soft Skull in 2007.

Before heading to Soft Skull, Ms. Oswald worked at Faber & Faber, where she...

It Lives! Old Gawker Site Found in Attic with George Foreman Grill, Croquet Set

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:21:48 -0500

Still missing the old Gawker? With the fun and simple blog-style navigation (just scroll down!) and the prominent bylines and adorable little hit-counters blazing away on the right-hand side?

It was a bit weird, but it worked. In fact, it was really starting to grow on us just around the time Gawker Media honcho Nick Denton unveiled that godawful redesign, which led to a system failure, commenter revolt, and traffic plunge, followed by a series of quiet...

Marco Arment Prefers Customers To VCs

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:17:51 -0500

In the current climate, it would be easy for Instapaper creator Marco Arment to raise a couple million dollars in order to scale his business.

But Arment isn't interested in chasing user growth like most startups. He would prefer to build something his users care about a lot, enough to actually pay for it themselves.

“If you can go without funding, you can be a one or two person shop without a whole level of bosses,”...

Two More Times Opinion Editors Decamp for Bloomberg News

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:23:35 -0500

The New York Times has lost two more opinion editors to Bloomberg News, according to a Bloomberg spokesperson.

As Mixed Media heard, Toby Harshaw, a longtime opinion editor and Mary Duenwald, David Shipley's former editor, are confirmed to have joined the new Bloomberg View editorial page, helmed by Shipley, who was deputy editorial and op-ed page editor at the Times and Jamie Rubin, former U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary.

The Times opinion page lost all-star...

Daily News Copies The Daily's Nude Therapy Non-Story

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:20:28 -0500

Today the New York Daily News ripped off The Daily's naked therapist story, which ran Monday. New York dailies run virtually identical stories all the time, but this case seems exceptionally bad because:

1. It's not actual news, or even a trend (the woman featured in both stories, Sarah White, is naked therapy's sole, pioneering, and self-promotional practitioner).

2. We doubt the Daily News would have run a fluff piece the Post already ran two days...

Robert Thurman's Art of Detachment: Tibet House Prof, Pre-Concert, Forgives Groupon

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:02:48 -0500

When it comes to the world's most oppressed peoples, there's no such thing as bad publicity. That seems to be the thinking of Robert Thurman, cofounder and president of the cultural-preservation charity Tibet House, which is holding its annual benefit concert at Carnegie Hall tomorrow night. (Interested parties may buy tickets by appearing at the Carnegie Hall box office, or calling Carnegie Hall at 212-247-7800.) Mr. Thurman told The...

NYT Goes Gilt With Daily Deal Email, TimesLimited

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:24:57 -0500

What better way for old media properties like the NY Times to beef up their bottom line than to jump on the bandwagon of daily deal sites that have been heating up the tech sector.

Market leader Groupon recently closed a massive funding round and New York's Gilt Groupe was just reported have hit that magic $1 billion valuation.

The NYT's offering, TimesLimited, seems closer to Gilt than Groupon. It lets advertising partners offer deals on...

TV Journos—Walters, Zahn, Bartiromo—Descend on Four Seasons

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:31:40 -0500

"Money Honey" Maria Bartiromo was here last week with a gentleman. It must have been a very serious conversation because they were talking intensely; maybe it was about the future of her workplace, the New York Stock Exchange.

TV journalism's orginal glamour girl, Barbara Walters, also stopped by for lunch this week, bringing Mrs. Rudy Giuliani along as her guest.

To complete the newsroom triumvirate, Paula Zahn came in on Monday with another woman and sat...

Open City, Closed: Acclaimed Literary Journal Says Goodbye

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:30:36 -0500

After 20 years and 30 issues, Open City is ceasing publication, co-editor Joanna Yas told The Observer.

"These things are not institutions," said founder and co-editor Thomas Beller. "They're always razor's edge things."

Ms. Yas and Mr. Beller decided to shut down the journal after multiple sources of funding pulled out. They hadn't expected issue 30 to be the swansong.

"The vibe of the last party," said Mr. Beller, "showed me that the magazine has had a...

Wait, Wait, Don't Date Me! Tuning In and Striking Out with the Listeners of WNYC

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:58:48 -0500

"When I bring a guy home, he has to measure up to Kai Ryssdal," said the brunette. "The only guy close on NPR is Jad from Radiolab."

"When Kai Ryssdal talks about money--oh, Jesus!" said the blonde, of the host of Marketplace. She mimed a swoon.

"Kai's gotten me through a lot," said the brunette. "I work in the fashion industry, I spend all day with women, and at 6:30 when I get home, I need...

Was a Vanity Fair Editor Secretly Working for the Church of Scientology?

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:05:58 -0500

Gawker.com, where the author is employed as a staff writer, declined to publish this story.

Did the Church of Scientology use a Vanity Fair contributing editor to infiltrate and gather intelligence on the cult's enemies in the media?

John Connolly is a well-known, and well-liked, character in New York media circles. He's a former NYPD detective and stock broker who landed a third career as an investigative reporter for Vanity...

Anjelica Huston to Publish Memoir With Scribner

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:51:09 -0500

Anjelica Huston--the only Hollywood heiress we know of to win an Oscar and get implicated in Roman Polanski's trial--is set to write a memoir for Scribner, for publication in 2013. Big names bedeck the project, which Nan Graham, Scribner editor-in-chief, will edit and acquired from Bill Clegg. Everything you'd want to hear about will be mentioned in the book--or so promises the press release, which drops the names of father John Huston and longtime...

Hearst Will Now Help You Pay Your Bills

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:46:20 -0500

George Kliavkoff went to Hearst back in 2009 to help the company figure out how to build or buy some new digital properties.

Turns out he liked one of these projects so much, he's going to start running it. Manilla, a cloud-based system for helping people manage bills, comes out of stealth today and will be managed by Kliavkoff. When folks switch from paper to digital billing, companies save money. Manilla will earn money by...

Sunday, Bloody Sunday! Lindgren's Times Magazine Front of Book Butchery

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:00:00 -0500

Last week WWD reported that the new New York Times Magazine editor Hugo Lindgren had put his first signature, redesigned issue to bed. It will hit newsstands on Sunday, March 6. And since yesterday's edition read like a group memorial service, we can expect whatever shows up to look entirely new and different.

The front of book housecleaning rumored to have been enacted by Mr. Lindgren and New Republic young gun Greg Veis was thorough:

"I...

Beast Dish! Andrew Sullivan Joins Tina Brown

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:12:15 -0500

Amid the social media flurry of the Academy Awards tonight, former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan quietly announced that he will move his blog, The Daily Dish, to Tina Brown's News Beast in April. "[T]here are some opportunities you just can't let pass by," he wrote on TheAtlantic.com. Mr. Sullivan will also write columns and essays for Newsweek proper.

Mr. Sullivan moved The Daily Dish to The Atlantic from Time in 2007, brought on to...