Gawker
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twitterati
The Twitterati Give Their Divorce Lawyer a Porn Name
The problem with Twitterati isn't so much oversharing as undercaring. Laurel Touby's apartment woes, Lockhart Steele's porn name, and Penelope Trunk's divorce bill are as good as the media elite's tweets get! More »
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5
By Owen ThomasComment by JulesNoctambule: Penelope Trunk -- isn't she the one who stalked a guy about some comment he made and posted all about... 2 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
The Twitterati Would Gay-Marry Blue Bottle Iced Coffee If It Were Legal
Barbara Walters sending Twitter messages as she gets her hair shampooed is a sign of the Apocalypse. Run for the hills, kids — but make sure to get a frosty caffeinated beverage before you do! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by stanhalen: It's a comfort to have proof that it's the same all over. more » | Other threads
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Pedantic Web
Sad Web 2.0 Losers Ready for Web 3.0 (As Soon As They Figure Out What It Is)
Failed Internet mogul Alan Meckler is really excited about the Semantic Web, aka Web 3.0! And who can blame him, since he pretty much failed at versions 1.0 and 2.0? Meckler, who has run a passel of third-rate Internet websites since the early '90s, when he was best-known for trade titles like CD-ROM Librarian, now calls his company WebMediaBrands. Laurel Touby's Mediabistro.com is part of his collection. The boa-bedecked editrix reports breathlessly on Twitter that her boss has called the Semantic Web "the next stage of the Internet." More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Pope John Peeps II: the information in those documents will have to be turned into data that a machine can read and evaluate on... 1 Responses | Other threads
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the way we were
Laurel Touby: The College Years
As we learned that her assistant was laid off today, our attentions were drawn to be-boa-ed Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby. Coincidentally, a tipster directed us to some nostalgic photos from her young, frivolous college years. More »
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Comment by misslinda: The unicorn, the perm, the oversized Sasson sweatshirt, it's all just too much for me, I need a moment to... 5 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Dozens Laid Off at Mediabistro's Parent Company
We hear thatJupiterMediaWebMediaBrands, the company that bought Mediabistro for $23 million in 2007, has laid off 60(?) people [UPDATED below]. Most were tech workers and various parent company staffers. The lone Mediabistro casualty: More »
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Comment by belltolls: Can I use the name GalleyCat when you guys are through with it? 3 Responses | Other threads
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Media Crack
We're Cutting Your Salary to Bolster The Pizza Budget
In your risible Thursday media column: a new New Yorker publisher, Time Out NY cuts pay (with a pizza party!), Laurel Touby Twitters, and more: More »
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public relations
Private Jets: PR Poison
It used to be that private planes inspired hatred simply because their occupants were probably over-wealthy environmental hypocrites. But thanks to the recession, private jets are an even more radioactive populist issue. Fly and die! More »
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Comment by hypocriteoath: stupid corporate recession cutbacks? what exactly is stupid about cutbacks by corporations when they are in recession and performing poorly.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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videuhoh
Mediabistro's Christmas Video the Worst School Pageant Ever
Mediabistro has a disturbing tradition of "Merry Christmas" video-postcards. This year, Laurel plays Santa and if you have the stomach, watch the whole thing here. As our Christmas gift, we've got an almost-bearable 15-second clip. More »
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By SheilaComment by gladys_kravitz: Has Laurel never heard the phrase quite while you're ahead? Take the money and run, baby. 1 Responses | Other threads
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twitter
The Media Twitterati
We gratuitously mocked Times columnist Nick Kristof's Twitter feed last week. But the truth is that he's in good company. Lots of big-shot media people—including many Gawker "favorites"!—have Twitters, despite the fact that Twitter is proven to destroy journalism. We haven't been paying enough attention to their various tweets about this and that. After the jump, we condense the offering of five famous media twits into bite-sized packages: More »
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Comment by punkthis: Sometimes I feel like the only person who hates the internet. I don't want to put pictures of myself... 7 Responses | Other threads
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how things work
Mediabistro Thinks Pretty People Can Still Get Media Jobs
You all know the tale: MediaBistro started as a series of cocktail networking parties hosted by Laurel Touby, who then realized she could monetize a website by charging (voluntarily, at first) for job postings. Then came the classes, which are totally overpriced—especially when compared with nearly identical, yet much longer, journalism classes at the New School. (I've taken both!) Then came the seminars—would you pay $75 to watch dubious dating columnist Julia Allison and others talk about personal branding? MediaBistro makes money by getting people to pay them to learn how to break into journalism. But let's be honest: they're basically an expensive Learning Annex for people who want to work in the media but have no contacts or connections. So what's MediaBistro gonna do to make money turning the downturn, with MediaJobs disappearing left and right? How about desperate stunts: charging for cheesecake videos that cross the line: More »
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By SheilaComment by RachelSklar: Here's what I'll say here: (1) I knew no one in New York media when I took my first MB class.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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laurel touby
Laurel Touby Needs Help
Laurel Touby, the millionaire founder of Mediabistro—which totally exists to give freelancers the false hope of getting media jobs—has been called upon to give a speech about "Best Practices in Freelancing." Except she's forgotten everything about freelancing, because she's a millionaire now! So she needs you freelancers to help: More »
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Comment by es-ki-mo: @SarahHeartburn: I just filled up my cup for the 4th time today - same tea bag. Let's write a book of... 5 Responses | Other threads
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mediabistro
Mediabistro Scared Of Competition
Once upon a time, media bulletin board site Mediabistro had a talented, anonymous ad blogger called Agency Spy, who got good dirt and the occasional undeserved murder rap. The original Agency Spy left to start her own blog a couple months ago, but earlier today she put up a post saying the site was grinding to a temporary halt. Why? Because, Mediabistro multimillionaire founder Laurel Touby said, MB was enforcing a noncompete agreement against her! Seems pretty petty, Laurel, considering you're the second-richest internet media woman in New York now. The $23 million Mediabistro machine can't compete with one little alumnus? Tisk tisk. [Adscam, The Brief]
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Comment by BowlingAlleyLawyer: non-compete clauses exist in a lot of professions, and for very good reasons. I don't care how much she is... more » | Other threads
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dany levy
Dany Levy Is Richer Than You Think
Daily Candy, the email newsletter for women who like to buy things, was improbably successful. Former journalist Dany Levy founded it in 2000; it quickly became profitable, and she sold a controlling stake in the business to the private investment firm Pilot Group in 2003 for $3.5 million. Pilot Group sold the newsletter to Comcast last week for (an unbelievable) $125 million. But Levy, we hear, retained about a 20% interest in Daily Candy—which would mean that she walked away from the sale with $25 million. That would make her the undisputed internet cash queen of New York media. Take that, Laurel Touby! More » -
the internets
Reclusive Boa-Wearing Millionaire Online For One Night Only
Mediabistro maven Laurel Touby is doing a one-hour telechat for the website Spirited Woman. This is notable for two reasons: one, you have to gawk at the site's hippie-rainbow 1996 design. Two, they're hyping up her online appearance with this: "Laurel rarely does interviews." HAH. In 2008 alone, she's been quoted in the New York Times, Mergers & Acquisitions, Law and More, and a CNBC segment about middle-class milionaires.
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By SheilaComment by toastycakes: @if_i_only_had_a_heart: To be fair, those meta tags look a lot better scrawled in crayon on her Hello Kitty notepad. more » | Other threads
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the rich
Laurel Touby Is a Middle-Class Millionaire
Boa-wearing internet entrepreneur Laurel Touby shocked and awed the media world when she sold her freelancer-helping website MediaBistro for $23 mil, despite her famous More » -
request for information
It's A Circus
There's no Gawker correspondent at this week's Mediabistro conference—unless a tipster volunteers for the role. (Photograph: Julia Allison and sidekicks greeted attendees with top hats.)
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By Nick DentonComment by GeorgetownAvenger: @brechtgirl: Has Julia stopped purging? more » | Other threads
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party report
Wired celebrates 15 years of turning a cult into a culture (and back again)
MIDTOWN WEST — "You're a normal person," Wired editor Chris Anderson asked me at Wired's 15th anniversary party last night in New York. "What do you make of all this?" He nodded his head toward the four corners of the roof top, crowded with the Wired set. In response, I said something about the thick-rimmed black frames and all the scarves. But for reading-comprehension points, I should have said I felt like I was in the midst of a cult. Because that's what Conde Nast's Wired is all about, Anderson and Wired cofounder Louis Rossetto told us in their speeches: turning the cult of technology into a culture, but keeping it as fervent as a cult. That and covers of a nude Jenna Fischer and LonelyGirl15 in bed, of course. Below, photos of the faithful. More »
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Comment by Alaska Miller: How do I get an image to work, dammit. That's it, I'm giving up commenting for another month. more » | Other threads
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memos
Mediabistro Recruits Freaks To Liven Circus
Freelancer-helping website MediaBistro's upcoming conference, the unfortunately-named MediaBistro Circus, may not be coming along so well: boa-wearing propriestress Laurel Touby recently emailed, like, literally every single person she knows, begging them to register for "two days of inspired programming designed to bring very senior-level media people up to speed on what's happening in digital media." Another bad sign? Hiring circus freaks via Craigslist—on the cheap. More »
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By SheilaComment by The Wintour of Our Discontent: That whole "We have a limited budget thing" was way more convincing before Touby's carnival freakshow was worth an estimated... more » | Other threads
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the internets
Laurel Touby's Awesome Twitter: "Dining with two Bloombergonians"
Boa-wearing MediaBistro entrepreneur Laurel Touby has made the mediabaristas of New York City laugh, again and again, with her inability to use e-mail. (Then we remember that she sold MediaBistro for $23 mil—at which point all laughter abruptly stops.) So you can understand the concern we feel about her brand-new Twitter account. So far she's plugged her conference, announced gym plans, and given out her dining coordinates so people can "drop by and say hello": More »
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By SheilaComment by lizzybennett: @lawyergay: who? you might ask? Exactly. more » | Other threads
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reply all
"I just invited everyone in my Outlook Contact sheet. And you were in there!!"
Boa-sporting Mediabistro.com proprietress Laurel Touby continues unabated in her menacing campaign to misuse email—an invention originally designed to simplify communications. Her latest infraction: in order to promote an upcoming "Mediabistro Circus," she decided to save a little time by sending a mass email to her entire contact list—all 2,000 people. The message starts off with an apology to those who "hate my guts," which is a good sign that perhaps it would be better to pursue a different outreach strategy. The entire ill-conceived email, after the jump. More »
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Comment by Matthew_Maurice: This kind of reminds me of the emails I would get from LA club promoters "inviting" me to their super-exclusive,... more » | Other threads
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reply all
Internet Mayhem, Again
Remember last December, when Laurel Touby's inability to use the internet created mayhem? Now (or yesterday), months later, Animal gadfly Bucky Turco annoys everyone on that list again with the attached plug for a funny Pope-related thing on their website. No responses this time from Spiegelman, Bercovici, or Jared Paul Stern.
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By PareeneComment by Oh No I Di'n't.: "bcc is your best friend" Repeat 10 times, people. more » | Other threads
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medialite
Laurel Touby Has Outdone Herself Yet Again
Boa-wearing weird-lady Laurel Touby, CEO of MediaBistro (and windfall wealth recipient) stars in a completely ridiculous promotional video for the upcoming MediaBistro conference. It's called, inexplicably, MediaBistro Circus. Just as inexplicably, the video stars Laurel in a ringmaster's uniform and top hat, holding a fake "press conference" with a gaggle of reporters. Stunts like this make our job too easy, but then we realize she's a millionaire, so guess who has the last laugh? Click for the video. More » -
money changes everything
Jon Fine Would Rather Not Discuss His Billions of Dollars
Former Gawker editor Choire Sicha interviewed BusinessWeek's Jon Fine—husband of confused gazillionaire Mediabistro lady Laurel Touby—for this internet video thing called Bloggingheads. And he sorta made Jon uncomfortable! No one likes to talk about money, especially when they have lots and lots of it. "This short clip is my final, incoherent (and actually feverish) attempt at rehashing his wife Laurel Touby's complaints about her riches in the New York Times," Choire says. Enjoy Jon's hip Ramones shirt and admire his vast record collection, after the jump! More » -
the riches
Laurel Touby: Millions Of Dollars Don't Make You Smart
So Laurel Touby says she came home from the sale of her allegedly freelance-journalist-helping website Mediabistro.com with $9 to $11 million after taxes. (Really? What about those investors? Hmm.) She tells the Times: "'I had all kinds of illusions about how far the money would go and what I would enjoy, but they're not true,' Ms. Touby said. 'I thought, 'O.K., a car and driver and a new apartment and a whole new life.' In fact, I can only afford two out of three.'" Um, which two would that be? Anyway, here is an example of not to do with that kind of windfall: "She remains determined to buy a Manhattan loft apartment, which will consume half her money, and must still earn $100,000 a year to maintain it, she said." Wow, bad call, sister.
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By ChoireComment by EdithHeadsChignon: It's the Mediabistro's version of the Red Hat Society, for women "of a certain age" more » | Other threads
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we've got to get out of this place
Laurel Touby's Inability To Use The Internet Creates Mayhem
Last night, Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby wonderfully displayed her utter inability to use email. (Once again, we question how this woman founded an internet company and sold it for $23 million.) Rebecca Fox, Mediabistro's managing editor, had sent out an email alert that News Corp. had bought Beliefnet.com. Rebecca did not bcc the email list—and so her boss Laurel replied to all. Which started a most unholy email chain!
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thanksgiving
A Gawker Thanksgiving
Every year Gawker commenter and ad sales guy (and the best argument for abolishing the divide between editorial and advertising) LolCait has a super special Thanksgiving in his mind. There all of his and your favorite characters meet and dreams come true. This year Laurel Touby hosts.
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By Joshua SteinComment by PimpMyCouch: I am far too late to this party, but this is top-notch. LOLCait, any way you could also do this... more » | Other threads
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awkward moments
Accepting her Min award this afternoon for being one of the most intriguing people of 2007, Mediabistro.com's Laurel Touby asked the audience: How many people found their jobs on Mediabistro? Two people raised hands. One of them looked at her boss and mouthed the word "Sorry." "Oh!" said Touby from the stage. "Three people!" Then she said something about boas.
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By Joshua SteinComment by zingbot: She needs to read "Smart Women, Bad Choices". more » | Other threads
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party report
Founders Club, MC Hammer take over SNL studios
Digital media types here in New York are always looking for a reason to celebrate their own achievements. A couple of months ago, a few of them began calling themselves the Founders Club and decided to start holding mixers around town. Last night, NBC hosted the latest in the series on the set of Saturday Night Live. Who showed? Mostly wantrepreneurs looking for a VC teat to suckle, of course. But I also ran into Digg CEO Jay Adelson, pictured above; a definitely not-pictured angel Ron Conway, who dodged my camera; a Facebook "founder"; and MC Hammer. More » -
party favors
So just how awesome was Laurel Touby's Mediabistro "Golden Boa" party that her husband Jon Fine is still nursing his hangover via Facebook? This awesome:There were free drinks, lots of girls in feather boas, and Laurel Touby telling everyone how awesome she is. But the gift bags were the worst things I have ever seen. I don't think there's a problem with not having a gift bag at all, if your other option is to have a shitty one. But the bag was horrible. Other than a pen and a CD sampler, the only things in it were ads for Mediabistro classes and programs and a "coupon" for ten percent off one of their October courses. Oh, and a little book called the "NYC Guide to Parking Garages."
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By Joshua SteinComment by malvones: I didn't know Lisa Frank made adult-sized glasses. more » | Other threads
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tragic comedy
New York's Funniest Reporter Competition Was No Laughing Matter
Proceeds from last night's New York's Funniest Reporter competition, of which I was a judge, went to benefit Operation Uplink, which helps our servicemen and women keep in touch with their families back home. I reminded myself of this many, many times in order to keep from bolting for the door. Pictured above: the lowest point of my life.
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By Emily GouldComment by Trackback: Sean L. McCarthy has got it made. Blogger of comedy for The NY Daily News, New York's Funniest... more » | Other threads
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invented award ceremonies
Honorees Will Actually Attend Mediabistro's 10th Anniversary Party!
Mediabistro, the little $23-million media company that could, is turning 10! So they're throwing themselves a party tonight, with a special extra: The Golden Boa Awards, which recognizes 10 media stars from "from within the 10 verticals that mediabistro.com serves," according to the press release. Mmm, verticals. Each lucky honoree will go home tonight with an actual bronzed feather boa—provided, that is, that they show up—in honor of nutty genius and former owner and for-now senior vice president Laurel Touby. But which of these 10 "media stars" might you see if you crash? More »
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By MaggieComment by swashbuckled: It's sort of sad that she and Jon Fine both built careers around wearing architect's eyeglasses and pretending to be... more » | Other threads
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success stories
Laurel Touby: Desperate, Lonely Freelancer Is Also Face-Blind
The Voice has a great profile of Mediabistro millionairess Laurel Touby today; it includes two of our favorite Laurel anecdotes ever. What you need to know about the former desperate freelancer: More » -
the smart set
Laurel Touby, Entrepreneurial Einstein
There's been a ton of buzz—much of it envy-laden—about Laurel Touby in media circles since the $23-million sale of MediaBistro to Jupitermedia was announced last week. Writing in New York, Simon Dumenco thinks the jealousy is misplaced: Touby is actually some kind of mercantile Mensan.Turns out Touby was, no kidding, a secret business genius. She cornered the market on media-job listings and generated a Learning Annex-esque set of classes with all the can-do sense of possibility contained in women's magazine cover lines ("Writing Travel Guidebooks: Live the Dream: Travel, Write and Get Paid," "Career Reinvention Toolkit," "How to Write Chick Lit"). Meanwhile, Touby was collecting lots and lots of cash from the out-crowd: thousands across the country, in media markets large and small, who pay $49 per year for an annual MediaBistro membership and a piece of the dream.
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we get letters
Laurel Touby's Dad Does Not Hate Gay Pimps!
Yesterday, we noticed a column by Mediabistro queen and new millionaire Laurel Touby's dad, Frank Touby, from something called The Bulletin, which is up in Torontonia, in Greater Canadia. We called it "a great lunch read"—it's about how gay newspapers are pimping in the flesh trade. Apparently Frank did not appreciate our praise, and has written to let us know how much he does not appreciate it! More » -
the old model
Laurel Touby's Dad Hates Gay Pimps
While doing a bit of research today, we were guided to this delightful essay from over the winter by new Mediabistro-selling millionairess Laurel Touby's dad, Frank Touby, who's a columnist up in Canadia.Turn to the back pages of Now, or Toronto Star's sister publication Eye, or Quebecor's Toronto Sun, or some of the gay publications and you will see what whoremongers these unabashed corporations truly are. Their pages are rife with ads selling intimate sexual acts with girls and boys, women and men. These corporations are pimps by definition.
Oh, it goes on! A great lunch read. More » -
end times
Mediabistro Sells For $23 Million, And It Is 1997
A woman with a boa and a dream and a bad laugh has emerged from the hubbub of the internet triumphant. "The kids at Gawker are going to go crazy tomorrow," predicted LA Observed last night. Well, yes. We are. Like, we might have to be put in protective custody. For Mediabistro, everyone's favorite amalgamation of freelancer message boards and half-hearted blogs, which gets 50,000 unique visitors a month, has been acquired for $23 million by Jupitermedia. (That's $38 for each person who came to their website last year!) We don't know what to say except: Wow. Holy hell, wow. There's something really wrong with the economy. I guess we have to say congratulations to Laurel. It seems like if we had any brains at all we would have done that ourselves.
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acquisitions
Mediabistro sells to Jupitermedia
Jupitermedia (owners of photo provider Jupiterimages and a fleet of websites) just bought Mediabistro, a site for media professionals that includes specialized job ads, articles, and insider media news, for $23 million. Mediabistro's a small service —exceedingly small, with some 50,000 unique visitors a monthI can't even remember why I made this obvious error; Mediabistro gets six million pageviews a month. — but one well known in the journalist scene. And it's apparently more familiar to those at the Gray Lady than new parent company Jupitermedia. Contrary to the New York Times report, the company hasn't owned JupiterResearch for years. A more ironic divestiture, given the purchase of Mediabistro: Having sold tech jobs board Dice.com in 2005 for $200 million, Jupitermedia is now buying its way back into the recruiting business, adding Mediabistro's media-job listings to its JustTechJobs website. More » -
media
Media Bubble: Lady Black Strikes Again
- Lady Black flips out on Canuck media outside hubbie Conrad's court date, calls producer a slut, claims "I used to be a journalist!" Oh my God, when? [CP] More »
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By ChoireComment by raincoaster: That remark of Babs's is particularly amusing in light of her own storied past. more » | Other threads
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laurel touby
Over 200 People Applied to be Laurel Touby's Assistant. 200. Think About That for a Minute.
Not only did they suffer the indignity of actually, you know, applying to do Laurel Touby's dirty work, but then they had to be reminded of it in a mass patronizing e-mail she sent out to rejectees. Oh, the indignity:From: mailer@mediabistro.com (Laurel Touby | mediabistro.com)
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Comment by Trackback: Never has a feathered boa'd media cocktail party hostess looked so good. Mediabistro.com, the media and creative job listing... more » | Other threads
laurel touby
New York, 8:41 PM
Thu Jul 9
43 posts in the last 24 hours
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