conde nast, ; - Gawker

posts about #condenast more →
A Year Condé Nast Would Like to Forget
Hearst Is Amazingly Not Broke
The New Yorker, by the Numbers
Give Reporters the Most Luxurious Airline Seats or Give Them Death
Conde Nast Cancels Christmas Lunch, Hires Crisis Flack
Si Newhouse (Almost) Breaks Even
The Last Days of Gourmet
Si Newhouse Has Some Real Nice Art For Sale, Cheap!
Behold the Majesty of the New Conde Nast
Wired Loses Reddit Founders, Just Like We Warned

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

LoveHandles
11/11/09

In reply to Hearst Is Amazingly Not Broke
With less staffers, perhaps Current TV will have less of a chance of getting it's staff embroiled in international nuclear affairs? #media
Reply

LoveHandles was starred LoveHandles was unstarred

TheBusinessGuy
11/11/09

In reply to Hearst Is Amazingly Not Broke
With Drew Schutte, Conde has a smart, web-savvy guy running digital--finally. Let's hope that he, like Hearst, has a war chest. Let's also note that Conde Digital is not at 4TS and that, as surely as the luncheon seating plan, is a measure of status. #media
Reply

TheBusinessGuy was starred TheBusinessGuy was unstarred

Magister
11/11/09

In reply to Hearst Is Amazingly Not Broke
The Ombudsman wrote a Sesame Street piece about a Sesame Street piece. Unfortunately, nobody who was offended will ever hear of it. #media
Reply

Magister was starred Magister was unstarred

LoveHandles
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
Honestly, these numbers seem rather pedestrian, given the content. #thenewyorker
Reply

LoveHandles was starred LoveHandles was unstarred

snugbug
11/11/09

@LoveHandles: True. It's interesting that regular readers seldom realize the enormous effort that goes into producing complex articles like those in the New Yorker that flow, both on a logical and literal level, like liquid butter. The flow of the printed word is very different from the flow of the spoken word. Wordsmithing is way more difficult an art that most of us are aware of--but that's the point that the New Yorker illustrates so beautifully. You just read, and you're never aware of how much work it went into making writing come across so effortless on the page. #thenewyorker
Reply

snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

Monte Wooley
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
Bloated staff, unreadable magazine. No wonder Si loves it. So Proustian. A remembrance of things past. Tiny mummies live! #thenewyorker
Reply

Monte Wooley was starred Monte Wooley was unstarred

lionel-mandrake
11/11/09

@Monte Wooley: Unreadable? You're not saying very much about yourself, are you? #thenewyorker
Reply

lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred

Monte Wooley
11/13/09

@lionel-mandrake: what would you like to know? That I enjoy prose with blood in its veins? I like surprising story choices, not the utterly predictable kind? Yes, dear Mandrake, unreadable, to me, which obviously makes me a heathen to you. So be it. #thenewyorker
Reply

Monte Wooley was starred Monte Wooley was unstarred

FormerEnglishMajor
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
What is the ratio of writers to editors at other magazines? Is 2:1 a lot or the industry norm? (unless critics are considered writers as well, in which case it's 2.5 to 1).

And could someone, ANYONE, please explain to a non-journo what the difference is between a "copy staff" and an "editorial assistant"? #thenewyorker
Reply

FormerEnglishMajor was starred

Guggenheimlich
11/11/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: Editorial assistants are half-grunt work editors, half-personal assistants. Copy staff does way more fact-checking and style-proofing. Editorial assistants get the Plexiglass-reflected glory of their overlord; the copy staff gets to not live in terror of serving cold coffee. And if they have seven years of experience and a master's, slightly more than minimum wage. #thenewyorker
Reply

snugbug promoted this comment Guggenheimlich was starred Guggenheimlich was unstarred

snugbug
11/11/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: "Editorial assistant" is the entry-level staff position at magazines. You often start as an intern, and if hired, join in as editorial assistant. You occasionally get to do some fluffy, blurby-type writing that runs in print, but your job is to assist more senior writers with research, fact-checking, etc. No smart person ever spends more than a year as an editorial assistant--it's a threshold position by definition. You either get promoted out of it or drop out.

Copy staff means copy editors. Their main responsibility is to ensure that the flow of the printed word is both grammatically correct and in accordance with the conventions of journalism.

They review copy for grammatical accuracy, spelling, flag things such as "widows," faulty word breaks, etc. etc. Occasionally they have some last-minute input in fact-checking, but in Magazineland, the bulk of fact-checking is usually done by the time copy gets to a copy editor. It's a pretty technical job, complex yet not creative, but very essential. It's a career-type job as opposed to a mere station to something else.

Does this help? #thenewyorker
Reply

snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

snugbug
11/11/09

@Guggenheimlich: I disagree, based on my experience. Editorial assistants don't ever do any sort of editing work, ever--be it line-editing of copy-editing. They seldom write, for that matter. And I think you're confusing editorial assistants with personal assistants to the editor in chief. The latter are glorified secretaries.
Reply

Edited by snugbug at 11/11/09 1:10 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

FormerEnglishMajor
11/11/09

@snugbug: Hugely. So that would mean the E.A.'s don't get paid much (one step above intern?) while the copy editors would - could they try to replace the latter with the former to cut costs or is that above an EA's pay grade...?

Big help. If I could heart you again, I would.

When you are not in publishing, the titles/duties are a complete mystery as to hierarchy, job content, etc. #thenewyorker
Reply

FormerEnglishMajor was starred

pssshwhatever
11/11/09

@FormerEnglishMajor: The EAs get paid next to nothing, copy staff gets paid...next to next to nothing. A lot of publications have drastically reduced copy staff in order to cut costs already, but I don't think the two jobs will be melded together - most EAs wouldn't be effective at it, it's not an easy task and it takes some real experience to be a good copy editor. Like a previous poster pointed out, EAs are transient by definition and they either move up or move on.

I have some friends that work at small publications that now have no copy staff and that farm out their editing to a separate service, but I'm not sure how common that is at bigger publications. I work for a website, and they expect me to copy edit my own stuff. Which, honestly, is next to impossible to do in any effective way. Having fresh eyes on a piece of writing is a big help. But as HamNo would say, this is how we live now: with tired eyes and grammatical errors. #thenewyorker
Reply

pssshwhatever was starred pssshwhatever was unstarred

Guggenheimlich
11/11/09

@snugbug: I bow to your wisdom. I should have disclaimed that these were wild guesses from someone barely with a foot in Bookland. So, then, what DO editorial assistants at magazines do? Just go to meetings and read submissions? #thenewyorker
Reply

Guggenheimlich was starred Guggenheimlich was unstarred

snugbug
11/12/09

@Guggenheimlich: In the classic pyramid scheme of a magazine masthead, EAs are pretty much gophers. The magazine world's equivalent of PAs (production assistants) in film and advertising. You do whatever needs to get done--from rounding up items for a photo shoot to harassing PR for shopping credits to fact-checking, etc. They do NOT go on coffee runs, though, and in that sense, differ from interns. I suppose you can say EAs are little balls of coiled promise, whose latent potential is recognized on the condition that they put in some unglamorous grunt work before they are afforded the privilege to write or edit things of any consequence. #thenewyorker
Reply

snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

naugahydeinplainsight
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
Six with "makeup" in their titles but seven with "web," plus a blogs editor and a multimedia producer. Go, go Eustace! #thenewyorker
Reply

Baroness
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
They need a lot of makeup- have you seen those ghastly pale lit-nillas? #thenewyorker
Reply

Baroness was starred Baroness was unstarred

manchops
11/11/09

In reply to The New Yorker, by the Numbers
wow, the weird part is I know someone who freelances there three days a week as a researcher and she's not even on that masthead!
I do worry about the timeliness of publishing this thing right now though. I worry for everyone in magazine's jobs. #thenewyorker
Reply

manchops was starred manchops was unstarred

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/11/09

@manchops: Jobs? At magazines? #thenewyorker
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred

Tremonius
11/11/09

@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: There used to be magazines. It's hard to imagine how it was then.

Fitzgerald in The Saturday Evening Post; Hemingway in True, the Man's Magazine; Isaac Asimov writing for Playboy; Carl Sagan a regular in Parade. Everybody with gravitas back then traded it in for the huge numbers reached by the pop press.

Now both gravitas and numbers are gone. Isn't there a Greek tragedy on this feature? #thenewyorker
Reply

Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred

lionel-mandrake
11/11/09

@Tremonius: There still are jobs at magazines, just not at Nast or Hachette. #thenewyorker
Reply

lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred

Dirty_Terry
11/11/09

@lionel-mandrake: You're right. There are jobs...WORKING FOR THE SCIENTOLOGY MAGAZINE. #thenewyorker
Reply

Tremonius promoted this comment Dirty_Terry was starred Dirty_Terry was unstarred

Tremonius
11/11/09

@Dirty_Terry: I see the comically-named "Freedom" is looking for experienced dirt-diggers in Tampa. #thenewyorker
Reply

Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred

lionel-mandrake
11/11/09

@Dirty_Terry: Or, apparently Hearst, with its $1B war chest. #thenewyorker
Reply

lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred

onebadclam
11/09/09

In reply to Give Reporters the Most Luxurious Airline Seats or Give Them Death
Business Class to Switzerland? Oh, the humanity! As someone who spent years flying coach in and out of Cincinatti and Indianapolis may I hear them cry me a river? And not the "good" coach, either. The seats in the back, next to bathroom and galley, that don't recline. #media
Reply

onebadclam was starred onebadclam was unstarred

Pesti-Esti
11/09/09

@onebadclam: The problem was they were on the plane to write about the first-class seats. It was the reason for the flight. #media
Reply

onebadclam promoted this comment Pesti-Esti was starred Pesti-Esti was unstarred

onebadclam
11/09/09

@Pesti-Esti: Still, give me that assignment with Business Class seats and I'll give you 2K words by end of day Tuesday. #media
Reply

onebadclam was starred onebadclam was unstarred

raincoaster
11/09/09

@Pesti-Esti: So? I've written about some of the world's greatest jewels and I didn't even get Swarovski keepsakes! #media
Reply

raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred

Pesti-Esti
11/09/09

@raincoaster: I honestly don't know why they had to fly them anywhere. Couldn't they have written about the seats on the ground? Set up an extra one in your New York office and reporters can come by and see it. My point is only that, if you are going to fly a bunch of journalists to Switzerland so they can experience these wonderful new seats, it makes no sense to not let them sit in the seats. #media
Reply

Pesti-Esti was starred Pesti-Esti was unstarred

raincoaster
11/10/09

@Pesti-Esti: Airlines are incredibly greedy, though. If they thought they had the slightest chance of selling those seats, they'd have pushed the reporters back to the cargo hold, I'm sure. My father was an airline mechanic, and changing the seats around is a big, BIG deal. Very expensive. They couldn't just bolt them to a few rows of business class. And no airline on Earth is going to give away first class seats when it thinks it can sell them, not only because they're greedy but also because first class passengers kick up a HELLUVA stink when they realize they can't get a seat in first class. #media
Reply

raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred

Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
11/09/09

In reply to Give Reporters the Most Luxurious Airline Seats or Give Them Death
I'm traveling to China soon. I can't wait to read Car & Driver & Bicyclist Pinned Under Fender. #media
Reply

TableNein
11/09/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: And I look forward to reading Dissident Bride's Top 10 ways to make conjugal visits a honeymoon to remember. #media
Reply

TableNein was starred TableNein was unstarred

raincoaster
11/06/09

In reply to Conde Nast Cancels Christmas Lunch, Hires Crisis Flack
I don't know. Does Details publish in Peru? #christmasiscanceled
Reply

raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred

The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx
11/06/09

In reply to Conde Nast Cancels Christmas Lunch, Hires Crisis Flack
I understand Vogue is opting for a potluck lunch in the office. They'll feast on thin gruel and hot water with sugar substitute.
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle promoted this comment Edited by The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx at 11/06/09 1:00 PM

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/06/09

@The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx: How is that different from the other 364 days of the year? #christmasiscanceled
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred

The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx
11/06/09

@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: They're adding the gruel.
Reply

Edited by The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx at 11/06/09 3:58 PM

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/06/09

@The_Lovely_Miss_Bronx: Of course, you're right.

[instantrimshot.com] #christmasiscanceled
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred

OnBackground
11/06/09

In reply to Conde Nast Cancels Christmas Lunch, Hires Crisis Flack
Notwithstanding what the Post says, Sheehan isn't really a crisis PR guy - he's more of a media/debate trainer. Also, he's usually only on board for a day or two and then goes away to another client. #christmasiscanceled
Reply

OnBackground was starred OnBackground was unstarred

AzureTexan
11/06/09

In reply to Conde Nast Cancels Christmas Lunch, Hires Crisis Flack
Lo, in these PC times, the problem with canceling Christmas lunch is that you then have to cancel Hanukkah tea and Ramadan happy hour. #christmasiscanceled
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle promoted this comment AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/06/09

@AzureTexan: You left out Kwanza #christmasiscanceled
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred

AzureTexan
11/06/09

@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: Well, I had a good reason: To cancel Kwanzaa would be to violate kujichagulia* (self-determination, in Swahili), which just seems like a really mean thing to do at Christmastime.

*No, I totally and completely did not look that up on Wikipedia. #christmasiscanceled
Reply

AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/06/09

@AzureTexan: Excellent point. #christmasiscanceled
Reply

If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion