Gawker: Jon Friedman

Capturing Jon Friedman

Pareene — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:27:08 EDT

Jon Friedman, the superlative media columnist for MarketWatch, wants to say just one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? Web. There's a great future in the web. Just think about it. Friedman himself has embraced this "web," it seems, and now he has a little YouTube thing where he will explain the future of the media to you in one minute or less, every week. If you have never heard or seen Friedman, it is an enlightening experience! For example, now we understand why he doesn't "get" Anderson Cooper. But Friedman's is a reassuring message—that there is room for all of us on this "web," regardless of age, appearance, or ability to craft and present a compelling opinion. (Video after the jump!)

Jon Friedman Doesn't "Get" Anderson Cooper

Pareene — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:42:05 EDT

MarketWatch media guru Jon Friedman just doesn't get the deal with that Anderson Cooper fellow. You know the one, right? Infinite blue eyes, enveloping gaze, powerful (but gentle) arms, distinguished and shimmering silver hair? Works on CNN? Well Friedman thinks he's the bunk! People just like Anderson 'cause he's adorable, and warm, and kind, and earnest! Not for any good reasons! Or, as Friedman puts it: "Yes, CNN's Anderson Cooper has heart. He oozes empathy. He's clearly a good-hearted fellow and, by all accounts, as likeable as all get-out." YES, YES, BUT WHY IS HE SO POPULAR? And, more importantly, why don't people feel the same way about Jon Friedman?? (Click thru to see the t-shirt we just bought for Jon, btw.)

5 Years After Jayson Blair, Newspapers Too Broke to Care About Ethics

Pareene — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:34:18 EDT

Superstar MarketWatch media columnist Jon Friedman remembered recently that there was this young fellow who worked for the Times once who got in trouble for making things up and lying. It was a bit of a scandal! It happened five years ago this... season, so Friedman asks a couple folk what they think of the current state of media ethics. Salon's Joan Walsh says the Jayson Blair (for that was the fabricator's name) scandal forced writers and editors to remind themselves not to lie, or to maybe fact-check once in a while. Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell says the scandal encouraged more papers to issue corrections more often and not plagiarize so much. But a couple critics note that Jayson Blair is really the least of the newsmedia's woes in 2008.

New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta sees mixed results: "I suspect that serious felons like Blair have been deterred. But cheating and cutting corners has not been. Declining circulation, falling advertising revenues, and the swooning stock value of traditional news organizations, coupled with expanding consumer choices, prompts slashed newsroom budgets.

"This leaves fewer editors and fact checkers to police newsrooms. Worse, with business declining, the folks who sign our checks push for more sensational stories, more conflict, more sharp opinion — anything — to lift their news stories from the clutter. The business culture imposes itself on the journalistic culture. In the contest between the two cultures, business usually triumphs," Auletta wrote.

Whoa, way to bring us down, Ken! Slate's Jacob Weisberg is more succinct: ""I think the print media's credibility issues have been largely overwhelmed by its economic issues."

And, you know, with the Times culling a hundred reporters today, yeah, we'd have to agree that no one's paying attention to their "credibility" anymore.

Media ethics since the Jayson Blair bombshell [MarketWatch]

Jon Friedman Also Misses 'George'

Pareene — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:31:15 EDT

MarketWatch media guru Jon Friedman wants to know why you kids aren't reading three of his favorite magazines anymore: U.S. News & World Report, The Sporting News, and Fast Company. We want to know whatever happened to Collier's Weekly! And where's our new issue of The American Mercury? [MarketWatch]

Jon Friedman Says Something We Don't Really Object To

Pareene — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:20:21 EST

Marketwatch media person (and frequent target of Gawker ridicule) Jon Friedman actually wrote a thought that is sorta original and correct and interesting! According to him, MSNBC's ratings may suck, but they "stand out in one underappreciated category: embarrassing, mealy-mouthed apologies." He refers to David Shuster's suspension for his remarks about Chelsea Clinton (ably dissected down to the very last gruesome detail by Rachel Sklar here), which, along with Chris Matthews' half-hearted and partially reversed apology for being insane about Hillary, has MSNBC holding the early lead in the "apologizing to the Clintons" race. Of course, in the overall apology race, Fox did force anchor John Gibson to apologize for laughing it up at the death of Heath Ledger. But he didn't really mean it so that doesn't count. [Marketwatch]

Friedman: Ron Rosenbaum Will Save The Internet

Pareene — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:22:37 EST

Marketwatch media critic Jon Friedman's MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: "Who is your favorite writer on the Internet?" Ours is MarketWatch media critic Jon Friedman! Today he wants to introduce you to 61-year-old Ron Rosenbaum, who, writing at Washington Post-owned internet magazine of conventional wisdom plus occasional contrarianism Slate, "represent[s] a turning point in the evolution of online journalism." Finally, these new-fangled internet websites are hiring ultra-established, book-writin' old white dudes.

Friedman hopes Rosenbaum will "help class up the Internet, which is home to so much nonsense. (For a prime example, check out some bloggers' shameful rumor-mongering about actor Heath Ledger's death this week.)" Ha! Take that, you Mary-Kate Olsen rumor-mongering Internet hooligans at the New York Times city desk!

We do like Rosenbaum's writing, but he's hardly our favorite Internet writer. Has he ever written a sentence as dryly, subtlely hilarious as this? "As Rosenbaum has shown by tackling such unpopular subjects as Hitler, a journalist doesn't have to yell or preen or act like Mike Wallace on steroids to appear courageous." Finally, a writer willing to take on that sorely underreported "Hitler" fellow!

Ron Rosenbaum is Slate's ace in the hole [MarketWatch]

The 'Times' Bets It All On Graphics

abalk — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:40:16 EDT

Vivian Schiller General Manager, NYTimes.com: I just want to say one word to you—just one word.
Jon Friedman, Tool Reporter: Yes ma'am.
Vivian Schiller: Are you listening?
Jon Friedman: Yes I am.
Vivian Schiller: 'Slideshows.'
Jon Friedman: Exactly how do you mean?
Vivian Schiller: There's a great future in slideshows. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Jon Friedman: Yes I will.
Vivian Schiller: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.

'All the news that's fit to click' at NYTimes.com [MarketWatch]

Why People Care About 'Portfolio'

Doree Shafrir — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:30:24 EDT

Today endlessly irksome media columnist Jon Friedman writes: "It's still hard to believe that a monthly, which has published a total of two issues, can seem so important. Yet Portfolio has taken on the aura of a big-budget Hollywood production, where pandemonium appears to be everywhere. Unfortunately, the magazine raises comparisons with "Heaven's Gate" and "Gigli." ("Do you even remember the latter's plot line?" Friedman asks. Sadly, some people do.) Friedman trots out Portfolio's publisher David Carey and Conde publicist Perri Dorset to dismiss the hubbub and claim that everyone's just talking about their stories. And, for real? It's "hard to believe" that this magazine—for which Conde Nast crowed about spending $100 million and poached nearly every business journalist with a pulse and maybe one standout clip—"can seem so important"?

Also, hi, it's a magazine. Of course people in the "media beltway" are going to be interested in it! Particularly when everyone's got a friend who went to work at Portfolio and is worried about that friend's future, working for a hapless and megalomaniacal editor. And it's more than a little disingenuous, at this point, for Condé Nast to insist that it's so weird for people to be interested in how the magazine's doing. Their publicity campaign for the magazine was really something special.

As these things usually do, it all began with a press release almost exactly two years ago—August 24, 2005. "CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS TO LAUNCH NEW BUSINESS GROUP; JOANNE LIPMAN NAMED EDITOR-IN-CHIEF; DAVID CAREY NAMED PRESIDENT," the release trumpeted. At the time, Lipman said, "Condé Nast is the premier magazine publishing company, and I am delighted to be joining the team."

Things were quiet for a few months. Then, in March 2006, Lipman's BFF from the Journal, Amy Stevens, announced she was quitting the paper to become a deputy editor under Lipman, along with the Times's Jim Impoco. (We all know how that ended.) So, two relatively high-profile hires.

In April 2006, it was reported that David Carey was staffing up the ad-sales side of things; Carey also announced that he expected the mag to be "fully staffed," on both the business and editorial sides, by Thanksgiving of that year.

At this point, also, recall that Condé Nast was still deciding on a name, which in itself was a way to drum up press. So a story was planted in WWD on a Thursday in June 2006 announcing that the magazine was really close to deciding on a name, which would be announced the following Monday. Ah, the suspense!

As promised, on Sunday, June 4, 2006 (in time for Monday deadlines!), Condé sent out a press release announcing that, yes, the magazine had a name! It would be called Portfolio. Also, this:

Condé Nast Portfolio will feature the high caliber of writing, photography, and design that readers of Condé Nast magazines have come to expect. Early circulation efforts will capitalize on the company s newsstand authority, and will also take advantage of Conde Nast's existing relationship with millions of top management readers, as well as the database of American City Business Journals, a unit of Advance Publications.

Uh, yeah. That's not hyperbolic at all.

The next day, there was more coy "we don't know what the magazine will be about" stuff in the Post, except that as we pointed out, "Maybe the tab was tuned to the wrong station? Because the Times, Women's Wear, and Mediaweek somehow manage to get some details on that editorial thrust." Buzz! Let's create some!

Finally, there's the whole thing about other publications perhaps engaging in just a touch of schadenfreude, since Portfolio made so much noise every time the mag stole a reporter or editor. Take the June 23, 2006 announcement about former Time reporter Matt Cooper becoming Portfolio's Washington editor (at the time of his hiring, he was working as a Time.com editor):

Matt Cooper has been named Washington Editor of Conde Nast Portfolio, it was announced today by Joanne Lipman, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. His appointment is effective in September.

"Matt is one of the most brilliant political minds in the business," Ms. Lipman said. "He has also been an inspiration to journalists everywhere and we are delighted to have him as part of our team."

So yeah, isn't that funny that people are paying attention to how the magazine's doing? Can't imagine why that might be the case.

Conde Nast's Portfolio Is Reaching A Point of No Return [Marketwatch]

Jon Friedman Loves Julia Allison

abalk — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:10:05 EDT

Much like the many men who want to do Julia Allison but don't want to be known as having done the charming Star Editor-at-Large, plenty of reporters want to write a story about Julia Allison, but don't want to be known for having penned a profile of the bubbly media figure. Marketwatch's Jon Friedman finds the perfect solution to the dilemma: Pretend it's a happy piece about a stupid weblog, and then, with that window-dressing in place, Allison it up! It's a charming, self-inoculating strategy, and who are we to begrudge the guy? Julia Allison, like it or not, is traffic! Think about that when you write your angry comments about why we're giving her so much coverage, okay?

After some earlier unpleasantness, Jon has started to read Gawker again. This is probably all because of Doree Fucking Shafrir and her news stories.
Gawker is witty again! This may have something to do with Managing Editor Choire Sicha's outlawing the word "twat." Every day he cuts and pastes a replacement for it, in the form of the more erudite "ladyflower."
Jon "suspects" that we'll say that we hated reading this column. Jon is incredibly astute.
But onto the good stuff! Julia, Julia, Julia!
"A touchstone for Gawker is Julia Allison, one of the most media-savvy twentysomethings in New York. As a fixture of the cocktail-party circuit, Allison has developed an intense — if bizarre — following as Gawker's resident 'it girl.'"
One editor - we promise you it wasn't us - calls her "our Paris Hilton."
Gawker readers cannot get enough Julia.
Gawker commenters are mean about Julia, but whatever; she knows that you're all "very frustrated people."
"Allison's goal is make it in New York. How many 25-year-olds you know have two agents at the William Morris Agency?"
You hear that, you jealous little people? She has two agents. And she's now been profiled in a Dow Jones publication pre-Murdoch. Mark our words, if there's still a nightly news program ten years from now, Julia will be anchoring it. And you know what? Good for her. We like Julia. So what explains the appeal? And the hate? Here's our personal theory:

Ms. Allison is completely honest about her fame-seeking ways and doesn't pretend to be anyone that she's not. When you interact with the folks you do in this world, it's nice to occasionally deal with someone who has absolutely no pretense. We can see where people might feel like she's trading on — and getting famous from — her looks, rather than her talent, which is, you know, so unusual. She's also attained her level of "fame" in front of your eyes, in real time, so she's somehow easier to criticize. Also, the whole sex columnist thing... welI think it speaks to the fact that we have fucked up attitudes about women and sex — and especially women who write about sex, which means, gasp, they KNOW ABOUT IT — in this country, and that probably colors the reaction. Anyway, as mentioned before, commenters somehow fail to realize that every time they complain about Julia, and add to the pageviews she generates, they are pretty much ensuring more Julia and making her better known. And maybe that's the appeal.

Or maybe it's just that she has a great ass. Either way.

Gawker gets respectable — and remains humorous [Marketwatch]

Conrad Black Even Swears Like Nixon

abalk2 — Mon, 21 May 2007 10:20:26 EDT

In an interview with the Guardian, Conrad Black calls his fraud trial "bullshit" and announces that he's at war with the U.S. government. The paper also has an excerpt from Black's forthcoming biography of Richard Nixon, which praises the former president's "surpassing dignity." Read into that what you will. [Guardian]

Fashion mag ad pages sales: Count Vogue, W, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie Claire, Lucky, Men's Health, Men's Journal, and (maybe) Details and Teen Vogue as winners. Your losers: Esquire, InStyle, Seventeen, Cosmogirl, and Maxim. [WWD]

San Francisco Chronicle to cut 100 jobs, or 25% of the staff. [WSJ]

The business magazine segment is getting too crowded. That's bad news for titles like Business 2.0. [AdAge]

AM New York, Metro take their battle to the web. We've just realized that the guys at the subway entrances shoving their papers at you are the real world equivalent of pop-up ads. [NYT]

Time Warner shareholders passed resolutions calling for more control over the company's decisions. CEO Dick Parsons says the board will "carefully consider" the proposals, which sounds a lot like "no way in hell" to us. [WSJ]

Former Bloomberg employee Jon Friedman says that Bloomberg has nothing to worry about from the recent Thomson-Reuters merger. [MarketWatch]

Simon Dumenco: "The print-media industry is not only filled with f—k-ups, it coddles them." [AdAge]

Who reads England's Daily Mail? The paper says "web-savvy early adopters," the paper's critics say "troglodytic, white van-driving bigots." [Independent]

Former veep Dan Quayle wrote a book review for the weekend Wall Street Journal. Insert your own spelling joke here. [NYT]

Is Jane Pratt headed west? The former Sassy/Jane editor has put her townhouse on the market for $3.65 million. She once had sex with Drew Barrymore, you know. [NYM]

Oprah Cancels Presidential Election

abalk2 — Mon, 07 May 2007 10:36:36 EDT

Oprah Winfrey endorses Barack Obama. Hell, if she can move copies of The Road she can probably sell anything. [NYT]

Both the News and the Post have padded their circulation numbers. [AdAge]

Jeff Bewkes, likely successor to Time Warner's Dick Parsons, sees a bright future for HBO, noting popularity of OnDemand. [B&C]

HBO CEO Chris Albrecht on demand with Las Vegas PD after domestic violence incident following DeLaHoya/Mayweather bout. [LAT]

At the Conrad Black trial, the government's star witness—Black's former right-hand man—prepares to testify. [NYP

CNet reporters who were spied on by Hewlett-Packard have filed suit against the company. [NYT]

Thomson's bid for Reuters raises regulatory concerns. [FT]

Media buyers to mags: Give us issue-by-issue circulation guarantees or we take a hike. [AdAge]

Vibe: Everybody's leaving. [WWD]

Boston free daily starts printing material from bloggers. You get what you pay for, etc. [NYT]

Conde Nast CEO Chuck Townsend: leisurewear model. [WWD]

This newspaper industry: Giving it away for free is a bad idea. Except that people are starting to realize the value of top-tier brands. (And Tribune.) "There's a gold rush on." [Boston Globe]

Simon Dumenco gets letters, a few of which don't even refer to him as a muppet! [AdAge]

Guns & Blammo

abalk2 — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:00:29 EDT

Garden & Gun has less than auspicious debut, arriving as it did just a few days before decidedly unpicturesque massive gun violence at Virginia Tech. [NYT]

Big media looking to buy the shit out of keywords for internet search terms in an attempt to drive traffic. [WSJ]

Radar feels ripped off, as Chilean mag runs with something resembling one of their stories. Somewhere Kurt Andersen has a laugh. [NYT]

Selfless Tribune execs decline bonus money, content themselves with the mere $65 million they'll get when Sam Zell completes purchase. [Trib]

Jon Friedman slavishly praises Dave Zinczenko's brand management, gives Men's Health editor lesson in non-subpar oral. [MarketWatch]

Vogue publishing director Tom Florio claims Men's Vogue "launched" Barack Obama. Take that, David Axelrod! [WWD]

Media Bubble: Conrad Black Trial Begins

abalk2 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:52:32 EDT

Conrad Black's fraud trial starts today. [Chicago Tribune]

It's bid day for the Dennis Media properties: If you're not too embarrassed to own Maxim, Stuff, or Blender, go for it! [NYP]

Suzanne Grimes, who left Conde Nast Media Group yesterday, is joining former boss Mary Berner at Reader's Digest; they expect Cookie publisher Eva Dillon to follow. [WWD]

Tom Scocca is unimpressed by The Economist, idiots who want to have their own. [NYO]

TMZ is coming to.... D.C.? Hmm, remember that show K Street? Yeah, that wasn't very good. Was weird though! [WP]

Some analysis on the Viacom/You Tube lawsuit: Google needs to start kissing big media ass. [FT]

Jon Friedman thinks there's nothing funny about rape, which suggests to us that he's just not doing it the right way. [Marketwatch]

Deposed publisher Judith Regan may be striking a TV deal in Shanghai. (?!) [R&M, third item]

In strange twist, OJ book may see light of day, to satisfy his debt to the Goldmans. Ah, brokeness, the great artistic force of our time. [Reuters]

Media Bubble: Maer Reports To Yusef

abalk2 — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:32:22 EST

Surly Maer Roshan only talks to Yusef Jackson. Yusef talks to Ron Burkle. It's called plausible deniability. You know, allegedly. [NYO]

Martha Stewart finds a way to write off her upcoming trip to China: It's a fact-finding mission. [NYP]

Cablevision can't do anything right. [NYT]

Jon Friedman's political analysis makes Jon Friedman's media criticism seem incisive and original. [MarketWatch]

New trend for magazines? Web video! It's like reading, except you watch it. [WWD]

Hillary Clinton mean to Asian press, Asian press mean to blacks. [AP]

Charlie Gibson is kicking Brian Williams' ass. [Hollywood Reporter]

The line on the Wall Street Journal has always been "best news organization in American newspapers, worst editorial section." That divide will now be tested, as Tunku Varadarajan moves over from the crazy, nut-ass, batshit insane editorial side to become assistant managing editor of the newsroom. Let's see how that goes. [NYO]

Media Bubble: Meth Mag Sales Slaves Of America

abalk2 — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:30:18 EST

Holy crap, Ian Urbina did a lot of work in this piece on kids who just want to sell magazines but wind up hanging out with meth-addicted prostitutes. Only 11 months and one week until the next Pulitzer deadline! [NYT]
The Post is all broken up about that fireman fuckup the News ran last month. Seriously, you can feel Keith Kelly's deep, deep compassion. [NYP]
Meanwhile, the Post's Col Allan pulls a Uriah Heep act. [NYO]
"What Wired does well on a consistent basis is force the readers to think." So it's sort of like the opposite of a Jon Friedman column. [MarketWatch]
New political editor at Times; deeper web integration at political desk. [LAObserved]
Helen Thomas not seated in front row of White House briefing room for first time since the Fillmore administration. [The Politico]
Getty looking to expand. [NYP]
Rodale: Likes abs. [WWD]
Brian Williams bans tabloid news and we love him more each day. [TVNewser]

Someone Stole Jon Friedman's Thesaurus

abalk2 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:20:14 EST

Count Marketwatch media critic blatherer Jon Friedman as unhappy with the newest member of "The Today Show" team. Jonny thinks that Tiki Barber was a little too petulant during the press conference announcing his hire. On the other hand (and with Friedman, there's always another hand), it might not make a difference. Barber has something: a certain je ne sais quoi, an element of... well, we're not sure. Jon?

Barber offered star power and a megawatt grin. He'll have to raise his game for the "Today" show, even if the never-ending program puts him on in its final hour, when the pressure for getting big ratings has diminished a bit.
What the heck. NBC can live happily even with Barber displaying a testy side. He has what every TV network craves: instant star power. When I attended Fox News' 10th anniversary party last fall, Barber always had a crowd around him. Men and women gawked alike at him because he represented football royalty — and he stood out in New York, the media capital of the world.

With plans to expand the "Today" show, NBC needs all the star power it can muster.

Right, that's it. "Star power." Remember that phrase, kids. We're guessing you'll be hearing it quite a bit in future columns.

NBC hopes Tiki Barber can boost 'Today' [Marketwatch]

Media Bubble: DO NOT MAKE IT LIVE!!!

abalk2 — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:10:05 EST

"Time Inc. has selected Stockholm's Bonnier Group as the winner of the auction for the right to buy 18 of Time Inc.'s magazines. There was no immediate word on the price that Bonnier will pay, but the terms are in place and a deal should close within a month." That's what AdAge said, but then they pulled it. So who knows? [AdAge]

Fired WSJ employees can at least take comfort in the fact that Dow Jones execs are sharing the pain. Oh, whoops, they're totally not. [Reuters]

Time M.E. Rick Stengel has offers out to NYT'sTom Friedman, Maureen Dowd, Adam Liptak, and Sarah Lyall, Weekly Standard's Matt Labash, TNR's Ryan Lizza, Slate's Dahlia Lithwack and Jim Holt, New Yorker's Peter Boyer. Well, there are plenty of empty desks. [NYO]

Rupert Murdoch jumps into the Tribune bidding. [The Age]

Jon Friedman on both Radar "scoopmeister" Jeff Bercovici and the NME. Our cups runneth well and truly over. [MarketWatch]

ABC's Elizabeth Vargas says she wasn't pushed out of the anchor slot. Nah. She just tripped and fell into a doorknob. You know how it happens. [TVNewser]

Anderson Cooper: "the Paris Hilton of television news," according to Fox. We guess that would make Bill O'Reilly its Kim Kardashian. [NYT]

Next up from Jared Kushner: The Jersey Observer? We can already see the couples therapy column: "Not for nothin', George, but ya treat me like shit and I'm sick of it." "Fuck you, Hilly, go make me my fuckin' Taylor Ham and Cheese already." [NYP]

Media Critic's Finger Firmly On The Pulse

abalk2 — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:30:15 EST

Noted without comment.

[W]hy did "60 Minutes" feel the need to include in Sunday's show a melodramatic segment dealing (again) with the Duke alleged-rape case? The program showed the furious parents of the accused lacrosse players sounding off before a national audience....Then again, maybe I'm in the minority here. Perhaps America craves the spectacle of furious mothers railing against a flawed legal system.

Jon Friedman

60 Minutes "made Nielsen's top-10 list by delivering its best audience in key demographics in over a year last Sunday," CBS notes in a press release. The newsmag had 14,470,000 viewers and delivered an 11.2/16. "The broadcast finished at #6 in viewers and #5 in households to make the weekly top-10 list for the fifth time this season. In adults 25-54, 60 Minutes (6.0/12) had it best delivery since Jan. 8, 2006 and best adults 18-49 (4.9/11) delivery since Dec. 11, 2005." Scott Pelley had an interview with President Bush and Lesley Stahl had a double-length segment on the Duke rape case...

TVNewser

'60 Minutes' interview with Bush was too brief [Marketwatch]
Best Demo Delivery In A Year For 60 Min. [TVNewser]

Media Bubble: Trees Falling in the Forest

abalk2 — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:00:40 EST

Here come the layoffs at the Philadelphia Inquirer. [NYT]
The Times might feel confident enough that everyone's forgotten the whole Jayson Blair thing to ditch the Public Editor position altogether. [NYO]
Gerry Levin's "inner poet" turned out to be some dude who runs a spa. [NYP]
That Allbritton online politics thing scores another defection; this time it's Ben Smith of the Daily News, who snared yesterday's scoop on the stolen Giuliani documents. [NYDN]
Radar's John Cook, Jeff Bercovici get all Woodward and Bernstein on some dude who wrote a mean thing in Brit Hume's Wikipedia entry. [Radar]

Diane Sawyer's not going anywhere. At least until June. [NYT]
Liberty Media's John Malone looking to pick up some Cablevision assets. [NYP]
Union representing WSJ reporters and editors takes out ad in NYT lambasting its own paper. [WWD]
Did the Times use a source who had an interest in the direction of the story he commented on? We're shocked. [Brooklyn Vegan, first comment]
We hope Jon Friedman isn't as quick to pull the plug on his loved ones as he is on Katie Couric. [MarketWatch]
WaPo's Richard Cohen makes HuffPo's Rachel Sklar fear for her decayingg ovaries. [ETP]

Media Bubble: YOU Are Kind Of Creeping Us Out

abalk2 — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:30:51 EST

Dean Baquet wins the coveted Observer Media Mensch of the Year award. This follows hot on the heels of a bunch of other bullshit made-up media awards by organizations you've barely heard of, and comes a day in advance of our naming Chris Mohney's right testicle Gawker's Blog Ball of the Year. [NYO]

Bryan Keefer, semi-erstwhile Voice editor Erik Wemple: doucherati. [Wonkette]

"Time Inc. axed 27 mid-level and junior employees from its consumer marketing department." We're having a hard time coming up with less interesting media news. [AdAge]

CNN's Jon Klein, entire viewing public, not fans of old ladies. [Jossip]

Caroline Miller, whose tenure at New York we would have been much kinder about had we known that she'd be succeeded by Adam Moss, working on a "news Web site" with noted asshat Michael Wolff. [NYO]

If you really care about deputy editors at the NYT's Editorial page, feel free to click on this link. [NYT]

Website exclusive: Bloggers unattractive. [Radar]

"Instead of living up to the high mandate of its own editorial policy, Time responded with a non-choice, awarding the Person of the Year to an abstraction. By giving the award to "You," it effectively gave the award to no one. In dong so, it has insulted its readers with the assumption that they are too vain and gullible to know the difference." Hahaha, they said "dong." [CJR]

Speaking of Time, Managing Editor Richard Stengel justifies Jon Friedman's existence: "If you're not making some percentage of the people unhappy, you're not making an interesting choice." [Marketwatch]

Speaking of Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel, that's one scary-looking dude. [Kausfiles]

Correction of the Day: "A chart on Sunday comparing biographical and personal points about Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, two like-minded New York leaders with a warm relationship who could find themselves at odds once Mr. Spitzer is sworn in, misidentified one of Mr. Bloomberg's favorite foods. It is saltines, not sardines." [NYT]

Media Bubble: All in the Family

abalk2 — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:50:30 EST

The Chandler family, former owners of the Los Angeles Times, are unhappy with the way Tribune is selling itself off. [NYT]
It's the Family Issue of the Observer, and if you think we're going to delve too deeply into it, you grossly overestimate our commitment to this feature. Anyway, there's something about the Sulzbergers and Newhouses and something else about the Rubenstein flack clan. [NYO]
Jeff Immelt is proud of NBC. Really! Why are you laughing? [NYP]
Liz Smith has three fewer days a week to prattle on about Ann Richards and whatever current starlets she's obsessed with. [Radar]
Couple more defections to that Allbritton online thing. [NYT]
Bonnie Fuller on the hot seat. [NYP]

Jon Friedman: "To surpass Fortune, Portfolio must be, above all, SURPRISING." What the fuck, Jon Friedman? Seriously, how does this guy get paid for this shit? Nice use of caps for emphasis, though. It shows he's SERIOUS. [Marketwatch]
If there's a hell below, we're all gonna go, but the English are going first. [Guardian]
Subpar oral-sex provider Dave Zinczenko has the most commented-upon blog in Yahoo! history! You hear that, you bitches at Radar? [NYP]
Correction of the Day: "Because of an editing error, an obituary on Sunday about Sid Raymond, a comic actor, rendered one of his jokes incorrectly. It was about a son who sends a prostitute to his widowed father, still a self-proclaimed ladies' man in his 90s. The prostitute tells the father that she is his birthday present and promises to give him 'super sex' (not that she promises to give him whatever he'd like.) The father replies, 'I'll take the soup.'" [NYT]
Corrections of the Year. [Regret the Error]
In case you care, David Schlesinger is the new EIC at Reuters. There's no link yet, but if you're really curious, e-mail us and we'll forward on the press release.

Media Bubble: Ironies Abound

abalk2 — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:20:13 EST

A group of Columbia journalism students allegedly cheated on an ethics exam. There go those cushy Voice gigs. [Radar]

They're not striking just yet at the Philadelphia dailies, although that may have changed by the time this item posts. [NYT]

Daily Show/Colbert Report executive producer Ben Karlin is leaving both shows, will be replaced at TDS by current head writer David Javerbaum. [Variety]

Another "whither newspapers" piece from Jack Shafer. You know what the best part of Jack Shafer's column is? That link at the bottom to "Shafer's hand-built RSS feed." It's like a big, glaring, "Fuck you, Slate!" Anyway, whatever, thought we'd share. [Slate]

Jon Friedman doesn't understand why people call Nick Kristof "sanctimonious." He seemed perfectly modest when Jon interviewed him! Honestly, how are Friedman's ears so fucking big when there's plainly nothing in between them? [Marketwatch]

The idea of a member of the Murdoch clan attacking anyone else for "megalomania" is as ironic as, well, cheating on an ethics exam. [Guardian]

Media Bubble: Here Is The Internet

abalk2 — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:50:32 EST

We think it's kind of tacky to mock a Parkinson's patient for writing a doddering, fogeyish column about the Internet. So we'll let Wonkette do it. Anyway, our guess as to the mystery journalist is Kaus. [Slate]
Boo hoo hoo, Washington Post reporters now have to go through the same appraisal system everyone else in the white collar world goes through annually. [NYO]
Allison Benedikt officially named Voice film editor. [The Reeler]
Military fantasist/departing Cond Nast Steve Florio to open a restaurant. Damn it, Graydon, see what you started? [NYP]
Tribune wants to delay its buyout, presumably because no one was dumb enough to pay the premium on what they're selling. [LAT]
"Tomato-haired beauty" Maureen Dowd "has the greatest job in America." Also, she is not Tony Dungy. There's a reason some stuff is only published on the Web. [The Nation]
Jon Friedman is the meat in a Julia Allison/Melissa Lafsky sandwich. Yes, there's a reason we didn't throw the picture up here. [ETP]
We're just gonna quote Romenesko on this one: "Dobbs overdose." [Mother Jones]
What we need more of is Tory Burch profiles. Thanks for making that dream come true, Vanity Fair. [WWD]
Portfolio should just buy the Wall Street Journal and be done with it. [NYP]
"Fuck IvyGate." [NYO]
Correction of the Day: "An article and headline on Saturday about the Staten Island Museum, which is celebrating it's 125th anniversary, referred incorrectly to one item in the museum's collection of curiosities. It is a four-legged - not four-headed - chicken." [NYT]
Bonus Correction: "An article last Wednesday about Jim Leff, a founder of the Internet discussion group www.chowhound.com, misstated the number of continents on which the food writer Mimi Sheraton has searched for bialys. It is five, not two." [NYT]

Media Bubble: This Is The Sound Of Someone Losing The Plot

abalk2 — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:00:26 EST

Is Rupert Murdoch losing it? Surprisingly, a rival paper thinks yes. [Telegraph U.K.]

Time C.E.O. gives employees a week's vacation, with the possibility of much future time off as well. [NYP]

NYT won't sell Boston Globe to Jack Welch. Yet. [BG]

Washington Post reprints article which ran in Foreign Policy six weeks earlier, which is nice for the author, since now people might actually read it. [FP]

Blah blah blah new media will destroy traditional media. [NYO]

Jon Friedman turns out to be as irritating about sports as he is about media. [Marketwatch]

California court rules that blogs and ISPs can libel with impunity, provided they got their slander from someone else. [SFGate]

Christmas comes early: Nancy Grace sued. [TSG]

Even in Norway people are sick of free newspapers. [WSJ]

Media Bubble: Private Parts

abalk2 — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:10:46 EST

Guy who told Murdoch to buy MySpace quits. [Guardian]
Private equity firms love them some media conglomerates. Latest example: ClearChannel, the company that has spent the last decade making sure radio sucks, which was snapped up for a kajillion dollars yesterday. [NYT]
Energetic new media entrepreneur out at AOL. [Valleywag]
WSJ employees will not be allowed to wear shorts no matter how much they piss and moan about it. [NYP]
Those who aren't getting fired by NBC are leaving voluntarily. [NYT]
Marketwatch rewrites Jack Shafer's Digg story a scant five months later. [Marketwatch]
Dave Zinczenko, whose name will forever be associated with subpar oral sex, rides the Borat wave. [NYP]
The English: "paedophiles, drunkards and hooligans." Sorry, this is news to whom? [Guardian]
Why can't the Times be fun like the Drudge Report? If you guessed Jon Friedman, you read this feature way too often. [Marketwatch]

We're Rubber and Jon Friedman is Glue

abalk2 — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:30:16 EST

Over the last few months on certain blogs, Marketwatch media transcription service has been called a "douchebag," compared to a child molester, mocked about his appearance, chided for his inflated sense of importance, and even taunted about his writing style. Not to mention the repeated assertions that he essentially peddles conventional wisdom and rarely says anything of interest. Well, in a piece about Men's Health EIC Dave Zinczenko, (and isn't that an innovative choice of topic), Big Jon gets his revenge. It's a subtle dig, and he utters under the guise of defending the Zinc man, but we can tell it's really all about him. How does Friedman dispose of the derision so frequently flung his way?

Zinczenko has thrived despite the blogs' juvenile jibes, which often contain all the wit of a little kid who thinks it's funny to ring your doorbell and run away.

Nice work, Jon. That's sophistication. You're a regular Oscar Wilde.

Zinczenko shows how magazines can survive [Marketwatch]

Jon Friedman: "You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to?"

abalk2 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:05:01 EDT

Today's Jon Friedman column concerns Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who appeared at this week's American Magazine Conference. It's the platonic ideal of a Friedman column, regurgitating the conventional wisdom while offering the meaningless on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand assessments (he actually uses the phrase "on the one hand") that have become his stock-in-trade. Our favorite part, though, comes when Friedman meets the man himself at a dinner:

I have to admit it: I gaped and gawked at him along with the other 20 hard-bitten journalists at the table.

There are a lot of things we would call Jon Friedman, but "hard-bitten" is not one of them. Nor, for that matter, "journalist." Who was he dining with, the "Life in These United States" editor from Reader's Digest and the guy who reviews litter boxes for Cat Fancy?

Obama fails to wow a magazine conference [Marketwatch]

Media Bubble: What Would Jesus Expense?

abalk2 — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:50:11 EDT

• You ever get so incapacitated by the incredible number of jokes that you could possibly do about a story that you just bury it in a linkdump? Because sometimes we do. [FBW]
• The dog ate the Times' and the Trib's homework. [NYT]
• Network television as we know it is apparently dead. This is what happens when you put Jeff Zucker in charge of things. [WSJ]
• Mean Dan Abrams won't answer sweetie Rachel Sklar's questions concerning long overdue canning of Crosby, Carlson. [ETP]
• Jesus Christ, Crown will buy anything. [NYP]
• Did you know that the magazine industry is starting to embrace the Web? Of course you did. But confirmation from Jon Friedman always makes it seem a little more legitimate. [Marketwatch]
• Sheryl Stolberg is gay for Tony Snow. [NJ]

Media Bubble: The Man Can't Bust Our Music

abalk2 — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:40:43 EDT

• Music industry decides that illegal downloaders are people too. Which means they can be marketed to. [WSJ]
• Or sued. [Reuters]
• "By contrast, I don't know anyone who comes to a Web site out of a feeling of obligation. People gravitate to the Internet because they want to, not because they need to. The public's rallying cry might well be, in Nirvana's memorable words: 'Here we are now, entertain us.'" Okay, now Jon Friedman is starting to freak us out a little bit. [Marketwatch]
• Time Warner Cable files for $100 million IPO. The company will be listed on the NYSE some time in the next three weeks between the hours of nine and four. [Reuters]

Media Bubble: Tripped Up

abalk2 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:30:49 EDT

• That Cathy Horyn correction? It was a big "fuck you" to Styles editor Trip Gabriel. [WWD]
• Time is an important magazine that must innovate if it wants to stay relevant. This burst of obviousness brought to you by, yes, Jon Friedman. [Marketwatch]
• Friends of Janice Min want you to know that putting Whitney Houston on the cover of Us Weekly was Jann Wenner's idea. Jann Wenner's bad idea. [Radar]
• Jack Shafer wants more and better rowbacks. [Slate]
• Fired Fox news baseball analyst Steve Lyons isn't racist against Hispanics; it's the Jews he can't stand. [USAToday]

Media Bubble: Dick Parsons Pissing On Chad Hurley's Parade

abalk2 — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 12:50:59 EDT

• Dick Parsons to GooTube: "Good luck. Also, we're going to sue your socks right off your ass." [Guardian]
• LBO speculation sends Times stock soaring. [NYP]
• Jon Friedman discovers David Remnick, an obscure editor who toils in the service of a literary New York magazine one rarely hears about. [Marketwatch]
• Newsweek knows your ignorant American ass doesn't want to deal with complexity. [Wonkette]

Fake News Helps Friedman Hit His Stride

Jessica — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:20:05 EDT

Talented media reporter/secretary Jon Friedman plays it close to the vest this week with a cagey, contemplative piece on an oft-overlooked player's comments at a classified event: Jon Stewart's chat with David Remnick at the New Yorker festival. (God only knows what sort of deep cover Friedman had to undergo to nab that score.) The intrepid reporter goes out on a limb, declaring that Stewart has "an uncommonly sophisticated understanding of journalism" — but it takes one to know one. Friedman's so sophisticated that he effectively conveys Stewart's impact within only the first few words of every paragraph! You don't even need to read a whole sentence to get the point:

• "Stewart dispelled..."
• "Stewart lamented..."
• "Stewart probably* surprised..."
• "Stewart, who answered questions..."
• "Stewart professed..."
• "Stewart noted..."
• "Stewart will continue..."
• "Stewart jumped over the lazy dog..."

The Media World According to Jon Stewart [Marketwatch]

*"Probably!" We're in awe of his dogged style! Like any great reporter, Friedman always questions the obvious before he states it.