We hear the panel planned simply to disqualify New York, and leave four finalists. It was only a last-minute appeal by one of the judges, Rosemary Ellis of Good Housekeeping, that won Esquire a place. And, yup, Good Housekeeping is part of the same magazine group as Esquire, Hearst. It was a generous gesture by Granger's colleague, and her fellow panel members. Esquire is commercially marginal, and Granger seems to have lost the energy he brought to the magazine a decade ago. Hearst tolerates the situation only as long as Esquire, a magazine with a glorious journalistic history, continues to bring prestige to an otherwise humdrum magazine group. There's not much prestige, however, in a single nomination obtained only by such lobbying.

Full episode: NBC

Earlier: America Ferrera Loves Her 'CosmoGIRL! Cover

Good Housekeeping, owned by the Hearst Corporation, is undergoing a broad-based effort to overhaul the image of its century-old brand. Its biggest selling point, Good Housekeeping says, is its years of accumulated trust, based on the lab and the seal, which, it says, set it apart from other magazines."The new institute allows us to be more visible as to what is behind that trust," said Patricia Haegele, Good Housekeeping's publisher. Among other things, the institute serves as the backdrop for television segments.

The institute and its gleaming 20,000-square-foot headquarters on the 29th floor of Hearst's new midtown Manhattan building will be part of a push to tout Good Housekeeping's product testing, serving as the backdrop for the magazine's regular segments on ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today." It will be the most visible sign of the magazine's efforts in recent years to emphasize its research — including expanding its work beyond issuing the seal of approval to qualified advertisers to rating products from linens to washing machines.

Polishing the Good Housekeeping Seal [NYT]
Good Housekeeping Touts Its Test Lab To Seek New Readers' Seal of Approval [WSJ]
New York Times' Story On Musical Youth Strikes An Awfully Familiar Chord [Idolator]

To: Hearstlink/Magazines/Hearst@Hearst
Subject: ELLEN LEVINE NAMED EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF HEARST MAGAZINES

News

Contact: Jessica Kleiman, Hearst Magazines, 212-649-XXXX, xxxx@hearst.com Letena Lindsay, Hearst Magazines, 212-649-XXXX, xxxx@hearst.com

ELLEN LEVINE NAMED EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF HEARST MAGAZINES

Good Housekeeping Editor-in-Chief Appointed to Newly Created Position

NEW YORK, May 25, 2006 ? Hearst Magazines President Cathleen P. Black today announced that Good Housekeeping Editor-in-Chief Ellen Levine has been named to the newly created position of editorial director for Hearst Magazines. Levine will be succeeded by Rosemary Ellis, currently senior vice president and editorial director of Prevention. Both start in their new positions on July 17th and will report to Black.
In her new role as editorial director, Levine will be involved in strengthening current titles and developing new titles domestically and internationally. She will also be evaluating opportunities for brand extensions, books, digital alternatives, cross-promotional magazine opportunities and monitor shifting consumer needs. Levine is no stranger to magazine development: Over the past 12 years, in addition to editing Good Housekeeping, she has been instrumental in launching new titles at Hearst Magazines, the most prominent of which was O, The Oprah Magazine in 2000, which made history as the most successful magazine launch ever. In addition, she has worked on the development of titles such as Weekend and Quick & Simple.

"Ellen has played an important part in cultivating and launching a number of our newer titles over the past several years, while still maintaining her duties as editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping, one of Hearst's flagship brands," said Black. "As our portfolio has grown to include 20 magazines, it makes sense to have Ellen take on a broader role at the company. As editorial director, she will be able to focus more of her energy on development, brand extensions and idea generation, all areas in which she excels."

In October 1994, Levine made publishing history as the first woman to be named editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping. During her tenure, Good Housekeeping received a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors in 1999 and was nominated for a National Magazine Award in general excellence in 2005. The magazine has also received many industry accolades, including Adweek's "The Hit List" in 2005, "The Big List" in 2003 and "The Hot List" as one of the top 10 magazines in 2002. In the last decade (1996 through 2006), the magazine's advertising pages have gone from 1,165.8 to 1755.2, an increase of 589 pages or 50.6 percent. At the same time, advertising revenue has gone from $184,812,200 gross to $481,079,300 gross, an increase of $296,267,100 or 160 percent.

At Good Housekeeping, Levine revitalized the venerable Good Housekeeping Institute and Good Housekeeping Seal, which is carried by thousands of consumer products. She also developed several innovative brand extensions,such as Goodhousekeeping.com, which receives three million page views per month; the Good Housekeeping Reports, syndicated consumer TV news segments carried on 118 stations across the country; a regular segment on ABC's Good Morning America; and Your Good House, a quarterly publication that focuses on home content. She has also helped develop more than a dozen Good Housekeeping books, including the current best-selling Supermarket Diet.

"It has been a privilege to have had this tenure as editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping, where I feel as though I have had a personal relationship with all our 25 million readers. Using the testing facilities of the Good Housekeeping Institute, we have been able to give women information they can trust month after month. Women can count on our original reporting to make smart decisions, whether they are hunting for long-lasting lipstick or searching for the best health care option," said Levine. "I believe there is unlimited potential for the Good Housekeeping brand through both the magazine and in the expanding new digital world."



Added Levine: "For some time now, I've been interested in taking a bigger editorial role at the company where I can fully focus on launching new magazines and fostering growth within our already stellar roster of titles. I couldn't be more excited to enter this next phase of my career at Hearst Magazines."



With her unparalleled record of putting the reader first, Levine has been widely recognized for her contributions to the magazine, including being inducted into the Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame in 2003. In November 2003, she received a Leadership in Media Award from the American Legacy Foundation for her anti-smoking accomplishments and a WISER Award from theHeinz Family Philanthropies. In 1989, she received the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, Inc. ? one of the communication industry's most prestigious honors ? for exceptional achievement. Levine also currently serves on the board of Lifetime Television.\

Levine started her career as a newspaper reporter. Her first magazine job was at Cosmopolitan. During her career, she has been editor-in-chief of three of the largest women's magazines in the industry — Woman's Day, Redbook and Good Housekeeping.



Good Housekeeping, founded in 1885, reaches 25 million readers every month. The Good Housekeeping Institute, founded in 1900, is the consumer product testing facility that evaluates products appearing in the magazine's articles and advertisements. Later this year, a brand new, state-of-the-art Good Housekeeping Institute will open in the new Hearst Tower in Manhattan. The Good Housekeeping Seal, established in 1909, is a highly recognized statement of the magazine's renowned Consumers' Policy. The Good Housekeeping Consumers' Policy, published in every issue of the magazine, states that if a product bearing the Seal proves to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping will replace the product or refund the purchase price. Thousands of products are covered by the Good Housekeeping Seal.

Good Housekeeping is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), and one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 20 U.S. titles and 145 international editions. In addition to its U.S. flagship, Good Housekeeping publishes 15 international editions. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (76.3 million according to MRI, spring 2005). The company also publishes 19 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.



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Oh, wait. Never mind. It's just a warmed-over version of the Good Housekeeping's February 2003 cover.

But, hey, we needed another one of those — about as much as a fish needs a bicycle. (Yuk yuk yuk.)

[Via Feministing.]

Winter 2006 [Ms.]
February [2003] Issue On Sale Now [Good Housekeeping]