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e-mail slips
how things work
Exciting Job Opportunity INSIDE!
Hey, looks like the content-providing news site Examiner.com is hiring! More »
from the archives
The Making Of Julia Allison
Wired magazine's special issue on micro-celebrity includes a cover profile of Julia Allison, the college dating columnist who's garnered such internet fame. (Well, actually, the cover of Wired is about as much attention as she's ever drawn, so the article is self-fulfiling.) Anyway, I didn't remember the reported anecdote of my "meeting" with the then-editor of Gawker to demand coverage of this protostar; a trawl through the archives was called for. Here—in email, blog posts and comments—are those fateful days in late 2006 that gave the web Julia Allison. More »
this thing looks like that thing
The Backhanded Art of the Unflattering Cover
Hey, Julia Allison's on the cover of once-important lifestyle rag Wired! Ms. Allison, who's moved beyond the "dating columnist/celeb talking head" thing to become a noted dater-of-rich-nerds, is the subject of yet another of those interminable stories about becoming Internet Famous in Three Easy Steps. We haven't read the piece, except that we already did in a different magazine like a month ago. More importantly: editors and contributors who perhaps have some doubt as to your value as a cover model may undermine the honor with unflattering photoshop work and coverlines. ("Even if you're nobody," eh?) Just ask right-wing comedienne Ann Coulter. And consider yourself warned.
conflicts of interest
Times Fawns Over Own Insider's Book -- Again
Times editors can't stop lavishing praise on books linked to their corporate overlords — and one corporate overlord can't seem to keep her family members from enjoying the fruits of this self-dealing. Times board member Lynn Dolnick yet again has an immediate family member whose book is featured in her newspaper, and yet again there is no disclosure of the connection to the board or to publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who is Dolnick's cousin. And this time, the newspaper really went to town. A book by Dolnick's husband Edward about Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren got an early review ("engaging"), an "editor's choice" recommendation, a special plug on page A4, and a friendly write up on the Paper Cuts blog ("delightful book"). And the Times is not likely to be making any apologies for the situation, judging from its handling of Lynn Dolnick's last nepotism controversy. More »
how things work
Learn To Translate Reporters' Lies And Threats!
Us Weekly's lead story right now is a rather substance-free bit on Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo shopping for a birthday present for his girlfriend, pop tart Jessica Simpson. But Us is doing its best to drum up something better; a reporter sent a vaguely ominous letter to Romo's dad encouraging him to talk, because "Jessica Simpson’s side is controlling the media right now." Which is actually very good reporting! Any journalist worth his paltry salary knows how to use veiled threats, scary insinuations, and bluffs (lies) to get reluctant sources to speak up. We've compiled a handy translation guide; how to decode the most common threatening reporter doublespeak, after the jump: More »
how things work
Crist In Closet, Off Table
Florida governor Charlie Crist is maybe gay, but now he's engaged to a woman, so that he can be John McCain's Vice President. Brilliant GOP political operative Roger Stone explains: "Politics runs on rumors and innuendo, and questions about bachelorhood persist. Getting engaged takes that off the table." See? Now no one will ever call him gay again. Roger Stone's record of political genius continues! [PalmBeachPost]
how things work
Absolutely Nobody Returns Mike and Juliet's Calls
The low-budget Morning Show with Mike and Juliet (Julia Allison used to be a frequent guest, if that's any indication) tries so hard to report the news we need. Problem is, no one will return their calls ever! It's pretty bad when even Chuck E. Cheese doesn't think you're important enough to give a statement. They're forced to report failures like this almost daily, as this video demonstrates. (Thanks to Intern Shannon for the clip!)
rumormongering
We Figured Out Which "Well Known Author" Needs a Woefully Underpaid Assistant via Craigslist!
Yesterday, we brought you news of an anonymous "well known author" seeking a $12-an-hour assistant via Craigslist. Kind of like Carrie Bradshaw's on Sex and the City, she explained, but you'll be paying your own taxes, doing "occasional light housework," and commuting up to White freaking Plains. She's been on the Tyra Banks Show, and stipulated that you had to be a girl—woman, whatever—without a criminal background. Through the collective wit and wisdom of the commenters, it was deduced that the author is probably: More »
making it
How to Hate Your Boss 2.0
US News tells us what to do if we love our job (but hate our boss)—or if we hate both! It's fairly oldfangled: "Write a journal about it... Rereading the entries at a later, less emotional time helped her gain perspective." Whatever, that's for teen girls. The cutting thing to do would be to keep an anonymous blog about your boss on the Internet (once you're OK with eventually being fired for it.) More »
how things work
The Media Cool Kids: Never As Cool As You Think
Internet freedom advocates—a group that includes just about every blogger—are up in arms at the revelation that Boing Boing, the incredibly popular this-and-that blog, has purged its archives of all the works of Violet Blue, a blogger who also contributes to Gawker sex site Fleshbot. The reason for the disappearance is unclear; but whatever it is, it can't fit in well with Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow's free speech crusading. But you can file it under one of the great universal truths: Media People (of all stripes) Are Touchier Than Anybody. More »
blind item guessing game
Which "Well Known Author" is Seeking an Assistant?
This Craigslist-ad placer and "bestselling" author has been on the Tyra Banks Show, is willing to pay you $12 an hour (after you pay your own taxes), and just in case you didn't know what an assistant to a "well known author" does: "Did you see Sex in the City? Did you remember the role played by Jennifer Hudson where she's Carrie's assistant? Well, that's what I'm looking for." Oh, and don't reply if you are too good for "occasional light housework." (Even Louise from St. Louis organized Carrie Bradshaw's apartment!) Um, what else? More »
media
9 Ways to Scratch and Claw Your Way to the Middle
Yesterday, a reader asked us: just how the hell does one get a media job in this town? Good question! Even the recently-graduated Ivy Leaguers have it bad, notes the Observer today. ("You've got 21-year-old girls being hazed by their 25-year-old bosses, and the assistants have college students that they're totally hazing.") And that if you get a job. We rounded up the best comments into a list of servicey advice that's actually useful! More »
how things work
How the Hell Do You Get a Job In Media In This Town?
People ask me this all the time, and I'm perhaps the worst person to consult. After being fired from a doll store and a telemarketing company, I started some internships (at age 26), which eventually turned into the incredibly glamorous job of blogging by the pageview. So what's a young, smart person just arrived in New York to do? A jobless and confused reader needs our help! "I moved to NYC in January. Gawker is about media news and that happens to be the field I am getting myself into. But I have one important question, how in the world does that happen in this city?" More »
secret tapes
How Donald Trump Deals With Unflattering Gossip
So this is how the gossamer-haired property developer safeguards his public reputation. Radar's Neel Shah has unearthed a taped call from Trump to a gossip columnist who reported the famed womanizer was a bad date. 62-year-old Trump denies neither the womanizing nor his pattern of caddish behavior; but cleverly and credibly points out that he'd never waste time on a woman already half his age. Here's the short-fingered vulgarian's response: "And by the way, based on her picture, I would never take her out. She looks like a fucking third-rate hooker. I mean gimme a break... I mean, Chaunce, come on, I have good taste in women.... She's not a good-looking girl.... I mean she's a 35-year-old Penthouse Pet? That's pretty pathetic. I thought it was Playboy? I never took her out."
how things work
The Secret Incompetence of Literary Magazines
"You know how Gawker is always ragging on Bard College, how they're so weird and all?" asks a reader. Why yes, we do! Bard College, the liberal arts school located 120 miles north in Annandale-on-Hudson, "puts the 'liberal' in 'liberal arts,'" according to the Princeton Review. We used to have a delightful column from a Bard student, all about skinny jeans and crying! "Well, I sent [a dark short story] to their literary magazine [Conjunctions]... Bard rejected it because they were too busy preparing their issue on the topic of DEATH. They further suggested I resubmit something else and—for good measure—they stuffed the whole article back into my SASE. It came with 51 cents postage due."
how things work
The Future Of The Music Industry Is 15 Pop Bands
Because the music industry is an even worse place to invest your money than the newspaper industry at the moment, everyone is looking for the next big thing. The closest they've come is "360 deals," where artists get a huge check in return for a big cut of all their different revenue streams. First, Madonna signed a contract like this with Live Nation for $120 million. Then Jay-Z signed a contract with Live Nation for $150 million. Live Nation wants to sign 15 more artists to contracts like this. Then everybody else in music can quietly retire. Hope you like the Jonas Brothers a lot! More »
how things work
