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.

We were alerted to this item by NPR's public relations department, and we relay it to you with all deliberate speed: Justin Timberlake was photographed wearing an NPR t-shirt. Carl Kasell was then photographed wearing an 'N Sync t-shirt.


Keith Kelly has news about our favorite unnerving British ex-flack/ ex-celeb mag editor, Rob Shuter, former executive editor of OK!, is hooking up with the AOL pop culture site Popeater as a new Hollywood columnist. His column, Naughty and Nice, is slated to appear Tuesday through Friday." Rob Shuter has the evolutionary persistence of the cockroach!


News-and-museum combo The Newseum is laying off 13% of its staff, the second round of job cuts since the place opened just in time for the total collapse of the newspaper industry. These are the most predictable museum layoffs since...whatever is the auto industry museum. They probably had layoffs recently, too. [Related: the Miami Herald is down to a church bulletin.]


Rupert Murdoch is keeping busy: News Corp just finalized a deal to buy a 10% stake in Rotana, a Middle Eastern media conglomerate owned by Saudi Prince Waleed. Pay no attention the Australian behind the curtain, Middle Easterners! I guess this makes MSNBC and Al-Jazeera spiritual cousins.

And today in Mediabistro news:

POLITICO EXPOZAY: Our archnemesis Martha Stewart('s magazine, Martha Stewart Living, along with several other home decorating magazines) is involved in a scheme to "decorate" various rooms in the US State Department building. In bed with the warmongers, eh Martha? Why don't you just go over to Afghanistan and start kicking over mud huts one by one, yourself? Eh? We dare you to respond. Dare you!


Hey, that breakthrough new "iTunes for magazines" online magazine store thing that the world has been waiting for is close to happening, and Conde Nast, Hearst, and Time Inc. will all put their magazines in there, so you can buy them, on the internet. I am "going rogue" and saying that not too many people outside the magazine industry will care about this, at all.


Keith Kelly has this short week's layoff tallies, so far: 25 at Time Inc., some of whom we mentioned yesterday, and the prospect of up to 100 layoffs coming to Playboy following their deal to outsource non-editorial duties to AMI. Also, nearly 80 edit layoffs at the Toronto Star. This holiday season is shaping up to be just as merry as last year's, for the media!


The Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News are reportedly considering joining the Search Engine Media Wars and pulling their content off of Google. This would have an even more minimal impact than if News Corp. does it, so no biggie.

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.

A tipster tells us that three assistant managing editors have been laid off at Fortune magazine, presumably as part of the ongoing companywide Time Inc. layoffs. Mediaite confirms that the company did do a round of layoffs today. If you have more details, email us.
UPDATE: We hear five staffers were laid off at SI.com: Two associate producers, a copy editor, a producer, and a production editor, according to our tipster.


Gary Weiss got a peek at a BusinessWeek corporate post-layoff memo, in which the people not fired are referred to as "Individuals ineligible or not selected for inclusion in the restructuring program." Well. How Bloombergian.


Dave Eggers continues to save print! This time by producing a $16, 300-page "newspaper" with content "ranging from Stephen King's reporting on the World Series to explanatory graphics on subjects as diverse as the conflict in eastern Congo and how to make the perfect bowl of ramen." The whole thing sounds great. Except, of course, this six-month long niche literary project has absolutely nothing to do with newspapers or with the continued viability of print, which is dying as a mass medium, naturally, due to its obvious limitations.


From Roy Greenslade: "Twelve journalists were among 46 people murdered yesterday in the Philippines in what is thought to be the greatest loss of life by news media in a single day. Several of the victims were beheaded or mutilated in the massacre carried out by a huge force of gunmen."

Carl Kasell, the NPR newscaster known for saying things in that voice of his, is retiring from the morning newscast (but continuing to appear on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me). "The biggest change in his life may be not having to wake up at 1:05 in the morning in order to be ready for the network's 5 a.m. ET newscast." NPR has been literally trying to kill beloved newscaster Carl Kasell, all these years.


Not to get back on this subject again (please), but a tipster tells us there are still more AP layoffs going down, today: "one biz writer in nyc who was on vacation last week. two people in los angeles," our tipster says. We are hoping and assuming these are just leftovers that didn't get done last week.


James O'Shea was a Chicago Tribune editor who got pushed out as the entire company went to hell. Now he's starting up a rival Chicago news organization. But when the NYT asks him about all the BEEF he must have he says, "No, I don't have any interest in any of that." Ridiculous! On the internet, "news" is just a code word for BEEF. You will learn this soon enough, Mr. O'Shea.


What's this, one guy writing in True Slant defends the continued existence on earth and in our daily newspapers of NYT nature writer and most annoying essayist in the US of A Verlyn Klinkenborg? No. He is indefensible.

A "long-standing editorial feud" between a left-wing German paper and the right-wing paper Bild has culminated in the left-wing paper commissioning a huge artwork on the side of a building showing "Bild boss Kai Diekmann spreading his legs as his mighty manhood stretches across five storeys before the tip turns into a rearing cobra." If this isn't an idea that would suit Col Allan, we don't know what is. [Sexxxy pics]


A high school paper outside of Chicago wanted to publish some stories about students smokin and drinkin' and makin' babies, so the school spiked the issue, and now it's national news. The takeaway here is that the only thing dumber than school papers (I served on two!) is the reaction of school administrators to school papers.


Chris Roush has the latest updates on who's staying and who's going at BusinessWeek.


TVNewser says that Good Morning America staffers are wondering whether potential new GMA host George Stephanopoulos has the morning chops to pull of the big fluff interviews that would go along with job. Or will he be worried that it will undermine his fancy (alleged) "credibility" on his Sunday show? Let's be honest: With that hair, George Stephanopoulos was made for fluff. Also he is not a "journalist," so who cares?

When Bloomberg bought BW last month, expectations were grim—one preliminary report said that Bloomberg was planning to lay off the entire staff. Insiders told us at the time that was "nuts," (which it was), and made vague sounds about not being able to tell how many layoffs would be necessary.

Which was at least mildly hopeful! But the signs were pretty clear: BW's editor left immediately, Bloomberg started canning the magazine's celebrity columnists, and began the early stages of the layoffs on Monday. An internal memo at the time promised "a meeting (in person or by telephone) to learn next steps." Staffers got that yesterday. And 130 of them are gone, including many high-level writers, editors, and some of the mag's most visible columnists:

Most of the columnists were let go, including Inside Wall Street writer Gene Marcial, Media Centric columnist Jon Fine, tech columnist Steve Wildstrom, the longtime Business Outlook columnist Jim Cooper and tech writer Steve Baker, a 23-year veteran.

When you work for the media these days and your first instinct is that the future is dark, you're probably right.
[More on BW layoffs here]

We have two separate (unconfirmed) staff change rumors today, from tipsters. First, at SI:

At the ever-shrinking Sports Illustrated, the magazine's #2, exec ed. Mike Bevans, has privately announced that he'll be among the staffers taking a buyout. This marks the second Time Inc. purge in a row that M.E. Terry [McDonell]. has lost his aide de camp: last year it was David Bauer.

Second, we hear that the New York Post has replaced veteran police reporter Phil Messing with relative rookie Kirsten Fleming. Indeed, Messing's byline does not show up in a search since last month. Out tipster says, "The fear, of course, is that the writing is on the wall for Phil who is one of the more reliable and experienced police reporters in the city. He's old school. But the Post is rumored to be wanting to get rid of 10 to 15 reporters so everyone over there is worrying that their heads are on the chopping block." If you know more, email us.
UPDATE: Actually, another search for just Messing's last name turns up lots of recent bylines, so he's still hard at work, for now.


Oh Anthony Kennedy went on and on about how his office's demand to pre-approve his quotes in a school paper was misunderstood, but now the WSJ says he did the same thing once at GWU. Whatever. Just don't outlaw abortion.


There used to be a dozen analysts covering newspaper companies for Wall Street. How many are there now? Not so many! Now it's just Rick Edmonds, a dude who works for Poynter, trying to figure out how bad the newspaper apocalypse is. "My conservative estimate is that there is $1.6 billion newspapers used to spend annually on reporting and editing that they don't anymore." Journalism! Related: An incredible graph about magazines, and the money they are no longer making.


BusinessWeek media reporter Jon Fine (a good reporter!), currently on a months-long round-the-world vacation with his wealthy wife Laurel Touby, announces on Twitter that new BW owners Bloomberg have laid him off. One thing he can take solace in: His months-long, round-the-world vacation.

Ha, the fake Onion News Network has hired yet another real TV journalist, Suzanne Sena of Fox News (joke). Laugh now; they could totally get Lou Dobbs, if they tried.


Keith Kelly says the bulk of Time Inc's editorial layoffs could come next week—as many as 90 at the company's biggest magazines, to make up for the non-outpouring of buyout volunteers. So next week should be as sunny as this week, in media land!


A new study "finds that 74% of adults — nearly 171 million — in the United States read a newspaper in print or online during the past week." This is presented as a positive sign for newspapers. Left unsaid is the fact that 68% of those readers were reading "Family Circus."


Popular hero NY1 newsman Pat Kiernan informs us of this breaking trivia-related development:

For almost two years now, fans of World Series of Pop Culture have been asking me "when is the show coming back?" Since VH1 has set its priorities elsewhere, the short term answer is "I don't know." I'll keep trying.

In the meantime, my love of Pop Culture trivia can be suppressed no longer. Each weekday at 11:30 am ET I'll tweet a question at @patkiernan. I'll post it on the website at the same time at www.patspapers.com/trivia

It's tough to run a true trivia competition online because everybody can just Google the answers. But for those who respond with the correct answer I'll award a prize at random from time to time. Mostly it's just about writing some fun questions and creating a place for WSOPC fans to gather.

He tells us this week's prize is a $25 gift certificate and adds, "I'm taking the first 10 responses in the "Comments" section and choosing one at random, hoping to take away the incentive to obsessively press refresh and then google the answer." Don't fuck around with Pat Kiernan's contest rules.


Also in layoff news: We've been updating our AP Layoff List throughout the day, and tips keep coming in. Check it again if you haven't lately, it's long. And we hear BusinessWeek staffers are finding out about their own layoffs right now. Email us with info.

BW's new editor will be Josh Tyrangiel, the editor of Time.com. He replaces Steven Adler, who left BW last month after Bloomberg took over. One might reasonably speculate that Tyrangiel was a familiar name to Norm Pearlstine, the former Time editor who now runs Bloomberg's content. Funny Tyrangiel Wikipedia line: "In journalistic circles, Tyrangiel is postulated to be the successor to Richard Stengel, the current editor of TIME." Has inaccuracy been found on Wikipedia? From BW's own report:

In some media circles, Tyrangiel was considered a leading candidate to succeed Time managing editor Richard Stengel. According to sources, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was so impressed with Tyrangiel that he tried to recruit him to be come the editor of CNN.com, the online arm of the 24-hour cable news channel, but Time Inc.'s current editor-in-chief John Huey intervened and convinced Tyrangiel to stay at Time with the promise that he might one day succeed Stengel.

Separately, we hear (unconfirmed) rumors that the long-expected post-sale BW layoffs have now started. One tipster tells us: "No word yet on how deep, but seems like a lot... Sounds like edit and ad sales are tomorrow, all other business functions are today." UPDATE: "3 people in marketing and 2 in finance" have been let go, our tipster says.

And as for the effect of Tyrangiel's departure on Time, which is itself in the midst of cutbacks: A tipster tells us that the savings there from Tyrangiel's departing salary means fewer people will get laid off. Which is good news, because the tipster says that "the deadline for volunteers at TIME is tomorrow in new york. after that they'll move swiftly to lay people off in new york, london and hong kong."

We've contacted Bloomberg and we'll update when we learn more. Please forward all internal memos and tips on this here.

UPDATE: This is the memo that went out at BW yesterday—some believe the "meetings" it references will include layoff notifications.

November 16, 2009

To: BusinessWeek Employees

From: Norman Pearlstine and Chris Walters
Bloomberg/BusinessWeek Integration Report #3

We are pleased to provide a progress report as we enter the last two weeks of the integration process.

Since our previous update on November 5, we have met or spoken with hundreds of you at departmental roundtable discussions. Thank you for your candor, insight and thoughtfulness on ways to make BusinessWeek even better. We took away many new ideas and better clarity on each department's priorities, concerns and accomplishments. In turn, we hope you took away a sense of our respect and excitement for the future of BusinessWeek.

At the same time, a selection process has been underway in many areas. This week, BusinessWeek staff members (except in Europe and countries where local requirements govern the process) will be invited to a meeting (in person or by telephone) to learn next steps. During the first half of the week, meetings will be held with Marketing, Communications & Events; Circulation and Production; Finance; Technology, and Digital. The remainder of the week will be spent with Sales and Sales Development, and Editorial. You'll be notified of the time and place separately.

One-hour information sessions will be scheduled on Thursday and Friday for U.S.-based employees receiving offers from Bloomberg to learn about benefits, policies and programs. Additional new hire orientation and terminal training will be provided after December 1. Employees outside of the U.S. will also receive similar information in the near future.

If you are moving to a Bloomberg office on December 4, you will receive information on logistics, your new address and general telephone number, and moving boxes. BusinessWeek marketing will provide electronic "change of address" cards to notify clients of your new location. Your "businessweek.com" email address will remain in effect.

Along with McGraw-Hill, we are striving to make the process as smooth and respectful as possible. We are very mindful that this transition will be emotional for everyone, and ask for your continued patience and consideration.

Sincerely,

Norman Pearlstine
Chief Content Officer

Chris Walters
Integration Leader

[Tyrangiel pic via]

What's this? Keith Kelly says that Hearst is sitting on a $1 billion "war chest," and that the company "is said to have revenues over $7 billion and to be profitable — as well as debt-free." Hey Hearst, Conde Nast is calling—they want to know what your secret is! For making money! Haha! Man. Somebody should definitely have the Hearst CEO repeat that one to Si Newhouse at some point. At a party or something. Just slide right over and lay it on him. That would be so funny.


Current TV is laying off 80 staffers, about a fifth of its work force. Interesting quote from them! "This re-organization was not the result of a need to cut costs. Current Media will have its most profitable year." That's a new sort of explanation, for this type of thing. Our condolences to the departed.


Conde Nast is doing something related to the internet! Says here Conde is "embracing magazine Web sites more as enhanced platforms for the titles' editorial missions rather than simply as companions to the print product." Does that mean they will have good magazine websites instead of not so good ones? Time will tell!


The Ombudsman of PBS is now forced to write columns on the topic of whether Sesame Street characters are biased against Fox News. People are stupid.

Glenn Beck survived his appendicitis surgery and issued the following real statement:

Glenn and his wife Tania are so thankful for all the kind words, prayers and support from everyone. Well, almost everyone. Those compassionate loving liberal bloggers were bummed things didn't end differently for Glenn.

We hear the microchip-implanting portion of the operation went just fine Fuck, that was supposed to be a secret.


A tipster sends us more on the layoffs at Essence we heard about yesterday: "Essence relaunched their digital services last week via the re-design of its new website. 18 of the 20 people who worked extensively on this until, the day of launch (10.29), were let go yesterday without previous notice. In addition to digital, essence laid off several within their sales division. Severances were extended to those who had been there over a year, however, no warning or notice was provided to senior staff members.Their method was distinctly different compared to People and Sports Illustrated, for example. It was calculated and underhanded... Apparently a lot of pissed off people there."


Keith Kelly says that the hardest-hit magazines in the Time Inc. layoffs with be Fortune and Sports Illustrated, with about 40 layoffs each. Idea for avoiding this: ... ah, we got nothing. Sorry.


"Weird," "Bizarre," and other synonyms come to mind as we inform you that, starting Monday, the dying San Francisco Chronicle will be printing on "magazine-style glossy paper." What the fuck? I really don't know.

Time Inc. layoffs: People magazine is looking for eight buyout candidates. The memo below went out to staff today:

From: Larry Hackett
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:02:00 -0500
Conversation: Staff announcement
Subject: Staff announcement

As part of a broad Time Inc. cost savings initiative, I regret to announce
that People magazine will be making cuts in its editorial staff. We are
looking for 8 volunteers to accept severance packages among the
following Guild-covered job classifications:

Staff Correspondent
Reporter-Researcher
Writer-Reporter
Writer-Editor

I strongly urge each of you to contact People's human resources
representatives... for details regarding your
particular package.

The call for volunteers expires on November 19th. If necessary, we will
then follow the guild contract procedure for conducting involuntary layoffs
in these Guild categories.

If you have any questions, please see me or your department heads.

A tipster tells us the Time Inc. layoffs struck Essence today. We're told the mag had a total of 18 layoffs, including "the entire web team." If you know more, email us.


Oh, and Time Inc. has decide to fold Fortune Small Business, a spinoff mag that was actually owned by Amex and sent directly to cardholders. Eleven layoffs there, reportedly.


Did you know that Al-Qaeda is bucking the current media trend, by publishing magazines? It's true. And the latest one has a nice grenade on the cover, proving they know how to move copies. Read all about it here, then explain why you did so to the NSA.


Hello, Vogue has a new publisher! Her name is Susan Plagemann, and Conde Nast lured her away from Hearst. John Koblin says that her hiring—and an accompanying broadening of Tom Florio's responsibilities—follows the recommendation of McKinsey, to ensure "a clearer bureaucratic structure is now in place." Everything is different now.

Of an initial cull of 15 to 30 sales and marketing folks at Time Inc tonight, a large chunk came from Sports Illustrated, a Time Inc. executive told the Times' Stephanie Clifford. The bigger news is an estimate of the total jobs to be shed; prior reports stated only that the company wanted to shave $100 million in costs mainly through layoffs.

The executive estimated the total number of layoffs as being between 400 and 500 people. The largest percentage of layoffs are expected to come from the news division, which includes Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, this executive said.

That's a worrisome number of job applicants out on the street, to be sure. But as we said last fall of the firing of another 600 staff, it's still relatively modest (about 5 percent) against total of 10,000 or so Time Inc. employees. What Time Inc.-ers should really be worried about: That the company is delaying real change and will thus have to do this again next year as it did in Oct. 2008, September 2007, January 2007, December 2005 through April 2006, etc.

UPDATE: A spy tells us that Time Inc. will offer those who accept buyouts an additional 13 weeks of pay — three months! — in addition to two weeks of pay for every year of service. That's according to talks with the Guild. The two weeks per year was also offered last year, but without the 13-week bonus. Writes our tipster, "A lot of people are expected to take packages...." We would. How many rich buyout packages can print media possibly have left in it, anywhere?

Alas! The BBC is cutting the pay of its top execs by 25%. How poor shall they now be? "The BBC currently spends about £79 million ($129.4 million) on pay for its 634 senior managers and nine most senior executives." Over $200K each, on average. Urchins.


Michael Wolff: "I picked up a recent column in the Spectator by the British writer Rod Liddle, who, next to me, is the best columnist in the English language." Ho hum, Michael Wolff. Ho hum.


A tipster tells us that Newsweek has shut down its L.A. and Dallas offices. Hmmm. We heard back in February the magazine was shutting down its LA and San Fran offices. So we're not sure how new this is. Or how it will affect the Historical Jesus. We've asked Newsweek to clarify for us, and we'll update when we know.
UPDATE: Newsweek tells us, "The Dallas office remains open. The LA office remains open. We combined the western region sales so it is run out of San Francisco instead of LA." Clarity on staffing levels, TK.
UPDATE 2: "The Dallas office was reduced by three and we still have a sales rep there," they say.


Keith Kelly says that the upcoming $100 million Time Inc. cuts will work out to about 540 layoffs. That's roughly the same as last year's monster Time Inc. layoff round, give or take 50 employees or so. Time Inc. will give, rather than take.