Check it out, some food blogger went and ate at the New York Times cafeteria and gave it a respectable two star rating. "It was an ok fried chicken, but honestly I prefer Popeyes because they have better skin," he says. "The pie was everything that you could ask for in a company cafeteria dessert." Something for the Hobo NYT to be proud of.


Slate media curmudgeon Jack Shafer reveals he's way crazy! "Blessed as I am with insomnia, I get up and read the front pages of the major dailies at about 2 a.m. every day." Does he go back to sleep afterwards? Does he stay up for six more hours and then go to work? Does he smoke lots of meth? Uppers, downers, an Elvis-like cycle? Tell us more about this bizarre wee hours news addiction. We like Jack Shafer, good fella!


Grub Street suggests the restaurateurs that should have been on Graydon Carter's annual New Establishment list, if not for the fact that Graydon Carter is himself a jealous restaurateur.


Media success story! Examiner.com has bought NowPublic, a "citizen journalism" site, for around $25 million. That is a lot of scratch, for citizen journalism! The citizen journalists will themselves receive $0.


Need to rent out a $20,000 penthouse in this ridiculously poor real estate market? Rent it out to a magazine! Hearst is renting a badass apartment in Soho for its Esquire "Ultimate Bachelor Pad," because money is no object when it comes to publishing brand extensions, or ultimate bachelors.

The Hobo New York Times, desperate to find some way to pay for its employees' out-of-control texting habits , has started a wine club. Red wine, white wine, whatever kinda wine you need. This was announced in an embarrassingly long sort of rewritten press release that is billed as a story in the paper's media section, but non-bylined, doubtless to save any reporter the shame of being associated with it. It notes, defensively: "Other publications have started wine clubs."

So there. Watch as the marketing copy keenly pivots into the unique selling proposition by taking advantage of the brand halo effect:

Just as readers expect The New York Times to bring them the world's best journalism, wine enthusiasts can be assured that it has chosen an organization that will make The New York Times Wine Club the best wine experience.

All very embarrassing.

[Pic of Pinch Sulzberger at work, via Adie Reed's Flickr]

The New York Times Company on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $39.1 million, up from $21.1 million in the period a year earlier, as another steep drop in advertising revenue was largely offset by aggressive cost-cutting.

A lot of the profit was a result of an income tax adjustment in the company's favor. Still, they would have eked out a non-loss. Which is impressive! Analysts thought the company would lose four cents a share; instead, it gained eight.

The bad news: Ad revenue in the quarter was down 32%. Which is a lot! Internet revenues, which are the future, fell 14%. And overall revenue fell more than 20%. The profit, such as it is, is largely a result of $140 million in cost cuts.

Living the hobo life requires sacrifices, like accepting any ad no matter how nasty, and banning text messaging, and rethinking canned beans. But cost-cutting can only go so far before you cut yourself down to nothing. What the NYT Co. really needs is a new business model.