Great Magazine Die-Off marches on: National Geographic Adventure is folding. NatGeo tried to sell the mag, but apparently didn't get any good offers. The spinoff lasted ten years in print, and it'll continue on the web. The closure comes with 17 layoffs.


A tipster tells us that there were more layoffs at ALM yesterday—"one third to one quarter" of the staff in the real estate group was canned, our tipster says, taking the division down to around 20 people total. If you know more, email us.


Slight change at the Dallas Morning News: The editors of the sports, entertainment, real estate, automotive, travel, and other sections will now directly report to sales managers! Well. So much for that paper.


Attention ladies and fellas: Town & Country is getting "sexier." Not only is there a lady showing off her legs on the new cover, but WWD reports that the editor "plans on running more provocative travel pieces (the January issue has a story on Marrakech)," where there are lots and lots of prostitutes.

Owner Radio One announced Giant is folding in print, although it will continue in some form online. No word on layoffs yet. They paid a mere $270K for Giant in 2007, so the financial loss is not as terrible as it could have been, in a cold, corporate sense.

The lesson is: Rumors are always true.

Not really! But usually they are.

The mag's closure will come with about nine layoffs. Its final issue hits newsstands on Dec. 25, and will be there through March. InStyle will continue to publish other similar types of spinoffs (i.e. InStyle Hair), but no mas for the weddings.

Conde Nast folded Elegant Bride and Modern Bride last month, and its flagship Brides is having problems of its own.

Condolences to the layoff victims.

We heard rumors this morning, and now Hachette has confirmed it in a press release.

"It is with a feeling of sadness that I make the announcement to close one of our magazines," says Lemarchand. "However, we believe the best strategy in the upscale shelter segment is to boldly focus our resources and investment on ELLE DECOR, which is the ad-page leader within the U.S. market. Despite the downturn in ad pages that has affected all magazines, the ELLE DECOR brand has multiple opportunities for growth across all platforms."

No word yet on the number of layoffs. If you know more, email us.

UPDATE: One (unconfirmed) tipster tells us that the entire editorial staff is being let go, and the business staff will be absorbed into other publications.

Ad Age's Nat Ives got Townsend on the phone. So rest easy, remaining Conde staffers: Townsend says there are "zero" mag shutdowns to come. Now all you have to worry about is being laid off in the coming rounds of painful 25% budget cuts at almost every title!

Townsend also said that the shuttering of Gourmet was a financial necessity:

It was operating as a burden. In the middle of this decade it was a profitable business, but having two of those businesses did not help the situation. And the dominant business — particularly with the consumer — is Bon Appetit, which emerged as the considerably stronger business.

Sorry, foodies. Tough times, fancy dies. (And Ruth Reichl's Twitter doesn't make it sound like she's coming back).
[Pic via]

This, then, is the fallout from McKinsey. The company had floated the idea that its turnaround could be accomplished without any magazines going under (if you're keeping score, Michael Musto's rumor of five mag deaths beat Keith Kelly's rumor of zero), but that was always impractical. Gourmet and Bon Appetit both had horrific recent ad declines; it was logical that one of them would go.

Cookie is a bit different—Conde boss Chuck Townsend actually honored the mag for being one of the company's few bright spots last year, ad-wise. But the parenting mag apparently wasn't well-established enough to weather the recession. And the bridal mags—brand extensions always disappear when times get tough. The brides of America will soldier on. Our condolences to the newly jobless. The full internal Conde memo, below.

From: "Townsend, Chuck"
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2009 10:16:52 -0400
To: Conde Nast Publications-All
Subject: Announcing Changes within Condé Nast

We have now completed an extensive review of our business – an important undertaking given the dramatic changes in the U.S. economy. The review has led us to a number of decisions designed to navigate the company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of coming opportunities.

Condé Nast's success comes from the ability of our publications to attract readers with a wide range of interests, as well as advertisers who value them. But in this economic climate it is important to narrow our focus to titles with the greatest prospects for long-term growth.

As a result of our review, Brides will increase its frequency to monthly to solidify its position as the most important brand in the bridal category, and Modern Bride and Elegant Bride will close.

Gourmet magazine will cease monthly publication, but we will remain committed to the brand, retaining Gourmet's book publishing and television programming, and Gourmet recipes on Epicurious.com. We will concentrate our publishing activities in the epicurean category on Bon Appétit.

Finally, Cookie magazine will be discontinued, and resources that had been dedicated to its publishing will be invested elsewhere.

The editorial and business staffs of Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Gourmet, and Cookie all have earned their magazines large and devoted followings. We have been proud to publish these titles, and we are grateful to the staffs for their hard work and dedication.

These changes, combined with cost and workforce reductions now underway throughout the company, will speed the recovery of our current businesses and enable us to pursue new ventures. In the coming weeks, we hope to announce initiatives to develop digital versions of our brands that will make use of new devices and distribution channels.

Condé Nast is now in its 100th year of creating the most respected and iconic brands in the publishing world. These changes will ensure that our unique publishing company will continue in its preeminent position for many years to come.

To: Time Inc. Employees
From: Sylvia Auton
Re: Southern Accents

After much deliberation, we have decided to close Southern Accents. The September/October issue will be the magazine's last, but SouthernAccents.com will continue to operate.

Southern Accents is an elegant, sophisticated brand that has resonated with its devoted readers for many years. However, in this difficult economy, we must focus our investment on our biggest and most profitable brands, so we have had to make this difficult decision.

I want to thank the many talented and hard-working Southern Accents staff for producing such an admired and well-loved publication. We hope to retain as many of these talented individuals as possible and will encourage hiring managers to consider them first for any open positions.

Sylvia Auton

Update: The New York Post's Keith Kelly follows up on the memo and reports that the closure will cost about 20 people their jobs.

Some McKinsey engagements of the recent past:

• Enron: That, as documented in Condé Nast's crown jewel The New Yorker, went well.
• Wal-Mart: McKinsey argued that laying off senior employees was good business. Circuit City was then inspired to lay off 3400 workers!
• White & Case: Mega law firm. 70 layoffs.
• Cablevision: 80 layoffs at MSG.
• First Boston: Hired McKinsey to advise on rebranding and layoffs.
• NYC Schools: Instituted a hiring freeze

Wikipedia sums up Vibe unexpectedly well:

The magazine owes its success to having a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more narrowly on rap music or the rock & pop-centric Rolling Stone and Spin. It also differs from the more staid Essence, Ebony or Jet publications by attracting younger readers of many ethnicities.

It was essentially the black version of Rolling Stone, and its readership grew broader as hip hop became pop music. (Kind of fitting that their last issue had Eminem on the cover). But Vibe hasn't been doing well for a while now; in February, the magazine cut its circulation and frequency, and salaries. Now the music industry is crumbling, and the magazine industry is crumbling, and the music magazine industry is really crumbling.

The recent dead include Radio and Records, Performing Songwriter, and Blender. Vibe probably had the most demographically diverse readership of any major music magazine. Now, the hip hop magazine world is ruled by the shaky Source and XXL, with strong online competition; the trade music sector is still topped by Billboard, incredibly shaky as well; the pop music mag sector is ruled by Rolling Stone, which is a shell of its former self; and Spin, Fader, Paste, and everyone else are just trying to protect their own audiences from the free, and many times much better, online intruders. Hard times.
[Jeff Bercovici at Daily Finance with the scoop.]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.UPDATE: We're waiting to hear back from Vibe ourselves, but their latest Twitter message pretty much confirms the worst.

UPDATE 2: Here are the statements from Vibe's editor, and a staff memo from the CEO. From editor Danyel Smith:

On behalf the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It's a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine's sixteenth anniversary, it's a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you.

Danyel Smith
the former Chief Content Officer VIBE Media Group
& Editor in Chief, VIBE

Staff memo from Vibe Media CEO Steve Aaron:

Dear VIBE Team:

It is with a heavy heart that I share some tough news, VMG is closing down effective today, June 30th.

It's been an 16 incredible years since VIBE's inception. There are very few magazines with the richness of history and breadth of talented visionaries who created the powerful lens in which VIBE viewed and shaped urban music and culture.

Ever since I first set foot in this courageous company, I've regarded myself as incredibly fortunate to be be involved with this remarkable brand and group of individuals whose performance has never been nothing short of outstanding. We finished 2008 in an improved position versus the prior year, and accomplished so much, including:

* Editorial Awards
* Editorial transformation into content dept
* New Ad accounts being broken
* The Most Mag Launch
* Award winning re-design
* Profitable digital operation
* VIBE.com growth and improvements and programs such as Best Rapper Ever, #1 Stan, etc
* Mobile VIBE launch
* Micro-site development Mostmag.com to start off.
* V Sessions
* Improved PR coverage

Unfortunately, over the last several months, a confluence of events has obviously posed VMG to exceedingly serious challenges.

* The collapse of the capital markets has impacted us greatly. Over the past several months, we have actively pursued investment resources while working intensively with our bank to find a solution. But the deal market right now remains very poor and at the end of the day, the lack of investment resources to restructure the huge debt on our small company has made this outcome become a reality.
* The print advertising collapse hit VIBE hard, especially as key ad categories like automotive and fashion, which represented the bulk of our top 10 advertisers, have stopped advertising or gone out of business. It's also unfortunate that in a recession many companies reduce the multi-cultural campaigns. These facts, coupled with the continuing decline of the music industry not to mention the newsstand wholesaler consolidation in early 2009 all negatively impacted our business in a significant way.
* The relentless economic situation has depressed our growth initiatives on the digital front. To be clear, VMG has made significant improvement in this part of our business, but not at the accelerated pace required to offset the devastating effects of the most severe recession in our lifetime and the accompanying print losses.

I want to thank you all for your hard work and commitment, and for all of the adventures along the way. I'll miss this place a lot, but I'll miss you all and the magic you create.

Vibe will be remembered as a shockingly brilliant content company that everyone can be proud of and I look forward with great excitement to all of future endeavors you all pursue.

With great affection and respect –

Steve Aaron

former CEO of VIBE Media Group

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Respected Israel newspaper Haaretz did something different on June 10: they had their reporters take the day off, and they "sent 31 of Israel's finest authors and poets to cover the day's news." How'd that go?

The TV review by Eshkol Nevo opened with these words: "I didn't watch TV yesterday." And the weather report was a poem by Roni Somek, titled "Summer Sonnet."

As expected.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The Boston Globe is spending up to a million bucks on an ad campaign to promote itself, even as it's cutting tens of millions from its budget. Yea, ad people will tell you it's an investment that will pay for itself, blah blah. We're not so sure. How about running a million bucks worth of ads in the Boston Globe, then? Bigger news hole, too! Oh and more Boston people are interested in maybe buying it.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Tim Russert's death. Read some reminiscences from his pals, here. He was not so bad compared to the current menu of options.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.AVN Media, the king of porn industry trade magazines, is consolidating four of its six monthly magazines into one. Let's hope Novelty Business Magazine is not finished—in these times, Americans need novelty more than ever. Especially the children.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Goodbye, Nickelodeon Magazine. Viacom is folding the kiddie title and laying off 30 people thanks to you, the thieving internet hordes. Just remember, even if your magazine has a circulation of a million, you will still be destroyed. Condolences to the fallen.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Apocalyptic newspaper news roundup! One Colorado paper is saving money by using all-volunteer photographers. How about a volunteer publisher instead, hey! Elsewhere: editors who worked for Sam Zell think he's an idiot, a newspaper delivery guy stole $200K from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe newsroom is threatened with a 23% pay cut if they don't accept the company's offer to cut their pay, in a different way.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Forbes somehow calculates that Glenn Beck is the most "ultrafamous" celebrity in all of the media. All of it. Which might make you mad until you remember that Forbes writers are now expected to make up 8 listicles per day, each.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Have you often asked yourself: "Why does the New York Times call its readers 'Users,' rather than 'Readers?!?'" Well, that question has now been answered for you. It's because all New York Times readers are on heroin.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Nielsen is folding 35 year-old trade mag Radio & Records, which is, as a tipster says, "Not a shocker in the slightest, considering the state of both radio and records." Also folding: Nashville-based mag Performing Songwriter. Neither playing music nor writing music nor writing about either is lucrative any more. Condolences.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The union representing the Boston Globe newsroom votes next Monday on whether to accept the New York Times Co's proposed financial cutbacks, which the company says are necessary to save the paper. A Globe reporter emailed the newsroom to try to "gauge sentiment," as they say, for a story he's working on about the vote. He got one particularly interesting response, from a political reporter who thinks that actually shutting down the Globe would bankrupt the NYT Co:

Why don't you examine whether the Times Co. can really make good on its threat to shut down the Globe without bankrupting the New York Times Co.? According to their SEC filing, it cost $31 million to close Billerica, with a fraction of the employees we have here at Morrissey Boulevard. To pay all the severance obligations of the 1,400 union employees (plus the managers) would bankrupt the parent company, it's pretty clear. The Times has something like $34 million in unencumbered cash and cannot borrow money (without going to Mexico and paying usurious 14-percent interest rates).

Firing people is expensive! Closing the BG to save money and going broke because of it would be...ironic? If you have more info on the theoretical math, email us.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Harvard Crimson editors used to get calls from media big shots offering them jobs, but now they only get calls from reporters looking for quotes about how bad they feel that they can't get jobs in the media any more. Sad.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Earlier this week we got a tip that Surface magazine had been forced to leave its downtown offices and move in with parent company Quadra, because it couldn't afford the rent. We asked the boss, Don Hellinger, who said: "The consolidation of the employees and management of Surface, Tokion and Inked has been planned since the acquisition of Surface was completed. No layoffs or employee terminations have occurred and there are non planned." Then we asked him again if Surface had to vacate due to brokeness, and he said: "The lease was in the name of Surface Publishing LLC. Quadra Media didn't have an interest in that lease and I'm not familiar with the details." Hmm...

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.A white paper full of recommendations for saving the newspaper industry has been released. Which would be unremarkable, except for the fact that this paper was produced for last week's murky meeting of newspaper execs that raised some eyebrows for coming pretty close to the line on antitrust issues. The recommendations are pretty standard—the two biggest being charge for online content, and "aggressively" enforce copyrights. So, that's what you will see happen in the newspaper industry soon, no doubt about it. Just as you suspected.

The inVocus media blog got confirmation from Niche Media that the magazine has "ceased." That sounds so final!

Trump Magazine was launched in late 2007 as a joint venture by the Trump brand and Ocean Drive Media Group (now Niche Media Holdings LLC), targeting affluent readers in major U.S. markets. The quarterly magazine saw early success, cashing in on the booming advertising market for yachts and other high-end commodities.

Oh, I think I see the problem: there are no more "affluent readers in major U.S. markets," nor is there a "booming advertising market" for anything, much less "yachts and other high-end commodities," and furthermore Donald Trump is a wispy-haired goon who may or may not have any money, it depends on how many good feelings he has on a given day. So this magazine death may have dropped his net worth by billions.

[inVocus]

The Great Magazine Die-Off hits the gay porn world: Mavety Media Group is mass-folding Playguy, Torso, Honcho, Inches, and the 34 year-old Mandate. RIP to the "After Hours Gym Fuck" issues. A good eulogy is here.


"Want to Make a Killing on Wall Street? Buy Newspaper Stocks." Is the headline of a story that's wrong.

Semi-late pass, but Chevron went and hired a former CNN correspondent named Gene Randall to make a fake news video telling its side of the story, about why it poisoned the rain forest, to offset a 60 Minutes report on the same subject. We haven't watched it but we're sure it's persuasive. In other news, Gene Randall is now disgraced.


Slate is spinning off its womanly XX Factor blog into a new site. JEZECOMPETITION.

Turns out that the best radio station in the UK is the one at Brixton prison. It only broadcasts to 800 inmates but it's up for as many awards as the BBC. Awesome.

So in our second installment of my singular video mission of getting The Roots to not only be house band for Fallon, but also America, and Gawker, we have ?uestlove discussing the paranormal depths of his magazine collection, Puffy's relationship to new media, and the sobering consequences of having a band-member who Tweets 100 times a day.

The Roots Interview Pt.2 from weekendvids on Vimeo.