Media junkies everywhere, young and old, this is crack-like goodness. Kaplan's supposed to be on the show to talk about a new compilation book from the New York Observer, but that's passed over pretty quickly for the good stuff. There's even a clip spliced in of former New York editor Clay Felker, who died last year, discussing what makes a great editor. Some of the more compelling lines:

• Sadly, his only swipe at the New York Observer's (Michael Corleone-esque) owner Jared Kushner was a passive-aggressive pawing: "(Jared's positioning it) a little bit different than where I live." Classy, but like Jared, I wanted more blood.
  
  
• On his departure: "I thought I had driven the car as far as it could go."
  
  
• "I have an evangelical mission to save the part of the print media that I love. Which is, to me, sophisticated, arcane, a little bit of a throwback to the 20s, but also a 21st century medium that the internet was a direct assault on."
  
  
• "All my mean friends on the internet say you can't put the genie back in the bottle..."
  
  
• "Tina (Brown) is a lot stronger than I am."
  
  
• "(The best New York editors) come from outside and bang on the door to try to understand it. The really great ones are desperate to understand New York City and are desperate to say what they don't know."
  
  
• On how long it takes him to spot a great reporter: "About a day."
  
  
• "I don't know what's going to happen. I have close friends who work in various (what I like to think of) as information supermarkets. Aggregation has undermined the American news process...It separates the news item from the news story. It's (by definition) a shallow landscape."

Interestingly enough, Kaplan at one point talks about the future of journalism returning to a pay model with a new medium—like, say, an Apple Tablet—that could shut out the broad sheet altogether and create a narrow outlet through which people would have to pay for something like, say, the New York Times (who are more or less cozying up with Apple in anticipation of the Tablet's 'impending' release).

I'd rather leave the futurism to someone else, but this kind of thinking seems a little reckless. Sure, the New York Times is pretty, and has great content, but isn't the information at the heart of every New York Times article—gathering it, compiling it, fact-checking and editing it—where a lot of the money is? And you can't charge people for information. A New York Times exclusive is only an exclusive for the minute or two before someone else has posted their Google-landgrab headline reporting on the New York Times' reporting.

Nevertheless! Kaplan's maybe-changing old-school methodology and the quality he put into his work is going to be interesting to watch as he tries to move whatever products he continues to move forward with as time goes on, which is to say nothing of whatever direction the New York Observer's going to take as well.

1. Poetic musing.
2. Material from watching Dave's show.
3. Material from a profile of Letterman that Kaplan wrote 28 years ago.
4. Analysis, which is just something—hopefully persuasive—the writer makes up.

That's it! If you're not as good a writer as Peter Kaplan, though, your writearound may suck.
[Pic: Flickr]

If you haven't already read Carr's piece, and we highly suggest that you do, here's the gist of it: One night last week, Carr went out to two parties in the city. One was the New York Observer's farewell to longtime editor Peter Kaplan, the other was an Internet Week-themed event hosted by Guest of a Guest and College Humor. What Carr reported on in his story were basically his thoughts and feelings as he experienced them stepping into these two seemingly diametrically opposed parts of the modern media world on the same night.

The two parties and the people who inhabited them could not have been more different existing within the same ecosystem. The Observer party for Kaplan was held at a swanky Fifth Avenue locale in Midtown, the Century Club, that's long been a favorite haunt of big name New York City writers and journalists. The other party, the Guest of a Guest/College Humor party, was held on the rooftop of a chic hotel, the Hotel on Rivington, on the Lower East Side.

At the Observer party, Carr made note of the "aura of elegy" that seemed to be hanging in the room over the course of the night. At the Guest of a Guest/College Humor party, Carr noted that there was "no elegy on the roof deck of the hotel, only thumping techno, a hot tub and hordes of young people staring at the lights of Midtown in the distance."

Again, two opposite worlds existing within the same ecosystem feeding off the same food sources, one which appears to be dying slowly with each passing day, the other growing and thriving rather vibrantly.

We highlight David Carr's column today not for any reason other than it struck us as a simple but poignant portrait of the state of media today. We felt sort of moved by it, and we can easily see it being something that will be read in the future as a sort of stick in the historical water showing exactly where the tide of the media world was at this moment in time. It was, we think, an incredibly accurate and somewhat moving snapshot.

With all of that said, we have to add that reading Carr's piece made us feel a bit sad. As we write this, we're surrounded by remnants of the old media world. Strewn all about the floor around us are copies of the New York Times, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and New York Daily News, not to mention the latest copies of Esquire, Rolling Stone, and the New Yorker, as well as a couple of recently purchased books. We love all of these things, we love the way they feel to the touch and the way we feel inside when we touch them, and each day we try to wrap our brains around life without them, but we just can't seem to do it. On the flip side, we're completely ingrained into the tapestry of the internet, the very beast most often credited for the ongoing decimation of the old media world, so we obviously have a huge stake in the survival of the new media world as well.

In short, we're torn over all of this. We wish we were smart enough to come up with a solution that would allow both worlds to coexist and thrive, but we just can't seem to do it, nor does anyone else seem to have a viable answer at this point. We also realize that things die and that these things dying is hard to accept and is often the cause of tremendous grief, even though the death of these things usually means that some other things will be granted lives. Regardless of how hard it is to accept the possible outcomes, it will certainly be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the future.

The one thing we are sure of is this—-That David Carr, though we don't always agree with him, is one of the best around at chronicling what is taking place right now within the modern media ecosystem.

In One City, Two Soirees Ages Apart [New York Times]

Graydon Carter, who was the founding editor at the Observer, noted that Kaplan lasted far longer than he thought he would: "I think it's one of his great accomplishments that he managed more than a dozen years with Arthur (Carter)...My version was the black-and-white sketch of what he did, but he gave it color and vibrancy that I never got a chance to."

New York Times rich people reporter Alex Kuczynski couldn't get an in at the place for a while: "'I was like 23 or 24, and I kept sending these blind pitches to the masthead, signing them Alex Kuczynski. And, finally, after a year, Peter apparently stands up in a meeting and says, "Somebody call this guy Kuczynski.'" He also put a little bit of juju on Kucznski's tenure at the Times: "When I left for the Times, he kept smacking his forehead. "Alex! Alex! Alex! You're making a huge mistake!" He has this habit of smacking his forehead. "You'll never write in the first person. You'll never write about yourself. You'll never write with color. You'll never use any interesting language. Or at least I highly doubt it."

Finally, former Observer senior editor and (as of recently, former) Rolling Stone deputy editor Jason Gay remembers one of Kaplan's more distinct skills: "His gift for headlines is unmatched. Do you remember the piece George Gurley wrote about Ann Coulter, where she joked about Timothy McVeigh neglecting to bomb the Times? Peter stared at the screen for hours trying to come up with the exact right line. We'd settled on a pretty lame headline, but at the last minute, Peter's face looked like it was about to explode. "COULTERGEIST!" he said."

Kaplan's on his way to Conde Nast Traveler, where his first day as creative director is Monday. He served as a mentor to many a New York reporter, "many of whom now populate the city's more remunerative newsrooms," writes Oxfeld, and it's true - even current Gawker managing editor Gabriel Snyder is among them. Snyder's tribute to Kaplan's legacy on this site is here, Oxfeld's piece is here. Both are must-reads for New York Media junkies. The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Kaplan - who oversaw the Observer's flimsy entry into the Internet Age - is inevitably going to have to work with Traveler's digital strategy; he claimed in the aforementioned Snyder post that he's excited about this, but really, you gotta wonder what's in it for him other than a steady paycheck, and more time with his family (the original reason he gave for leaving the Observer before speculation arose that owner and heir-about-town Jared Kusher pushed him out). That could well be enough for Kaplan, who nobody's ever accused of being lazy or phoning it in. He's worked for a long, long time, and he's probably tired. But for a guy who spends that kind of time in the newsroom, reporting on a world he loved as much as he influenced and covered, isn't he going to get restless? Kaplan's story in New York's media timeline, and his reach on it, can't quite be over yet. Not like this, anyway.

Peter Kaplan at the Observer: An Oral History [Daily Intel]

Women's Wear Daily:

People close to Kaplan said that being freed from a news-driven weekly paper would allow him more time to reflect on new ideas. Further, while Traveler has little in common with the Observer, Kaplan knows the title well, having worked there during the early Nineties under then-editor Tom Wallace, who is now editorial director of Condé Nast.

[WWD]

The rumor is that Kaplan might move on to a gig at Conde Nast Traveler, but that doesn't appear to be the reason he quit the NYO, which he loved (and which loved him!). In WWD today, Jacob Bernstein runs through some of the tension between quintessential Manhattan journalism guy Kaplan and Kushner, a born-rich kid of a real estate felon who, honestly, doesn't know much about papers. Although he still has "ideas" about how the NYO should operate:

Last year, sources said, Kushner went on a yacht trip with his girlfriend (and now fiancée) Ivanka Trump and the media baron Rupert Murdoch and came back with what a few sources described as a "big head." It wasn't the cause of Kaplan's departure, but it was one more ripple in an already complicated relationship.

Toward the end of the year, with the economy in free fall, sources said Kushner began to pressure Kaplan to make budget cuts. Kaplan was upset by the situation.

Which is all Kushner's prerogative, of course, blah blah blah, but come on, the pay at the Observer is notoriously shitty already, and if Kushner was really that concerned about profit margins he never should have bought the paper in the first place. Duh.

Kushner also didn't show up at Kaplan's going-away drinking night. Come on, dude.
[WWD. Pic: NYP]

Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke wrote yesterday that Kaplan might have been an excellent editor for the New Yorker, or Portfolio, if he hadn't been too busy sharpening the Observer to campaign for the jobs. David Carr's New York Times story on Kaplan ended with a quote from a former underling who mused it only seemed natural that Kaplan should be "running a major publication in New York."

But after 15 years sweating newspaper deadlines on top of the Observer — a longer tenure than any other editor at the paper — it would make sense if Kaplan relished the chance to work at the slower pace of a glossy travel monthly.

WWD reports Kaplan is set to assume the number-two slot at Traveler recently vacated by Ted Moncreiff.

The young millionaire owner of the Observer Jared Kushner, meanwhile, gave the Post a quote that makes it sound like Kaplan was pushed out:

We decided about a month ago that it was time for him to move on.

The "we" in that sentence is Kaplan and Kushner, but the implication is still basically the same: Kushner wanted this change as much as Kaplan did. That Kushner would highlight this as Kaplan is leaving either points to a serious lack of tact on his part, a cache of interpersonal animosity that's been kept hidden from public view, or (probably) a combination of both those things.

But, with his contract up for renewal in June for the first time since 28-year-old real estate scion Jared Kushner bought the paper in 2006, he decided to step down. Now, the paper belongs to Kushner. (Kaplan said he has agreed to consult on the search for his replacement.)

He told his own paper that he made the decision to quit because "I wanted to take care of my family." But talking with us, he didn't sound like a man who was on the verge of retiring. "New York and the media and me are the most fun combination I can think of besides my kids," he said. "I would like to be able to see whatever cultural foundations that made up New York Observer hop ahead into the new world."

But as the proving ground for an entire generation of reporters and editors (full disclosure: Kaplan gave me my first job out of college), the Observer has been one of New York City's cultural foundations, introducing both a cast of characters (the "power elite," as he often put it) and a mode of covering their squabbles, mores and foibles that has been duplicated everywhere from prestigious newspapers to lowly gossip blogs.

It always seemed to be an awkward match when Kushner became Kaplan's boss — like a fox buying the henhouse. His dad, Charles, and his conviction on corruption charges had been richly covered in the Observer, and the editorial changes he made after the purchase — bulking up coverage of real estate business and local politics — only seemed to further entwine the paper more heavily in the spheres of influence his family most cared about.

After work, Kaplan was more likely to catch the train back to Westchester than join the city's social conga line. Last night, as his prized editor was closing his last paper before quitting, Kushner was attending a Tribeca Film Festival party with his fiancee Ivanka Trump. (That's him in the pic on the right.)

The biggest task on Kushner's plate when he became publisher — figuring out how to bring the paper into the Internet era — has also been his biggest failing. The paper has been crowing about its recent award nomination — on its site, the motto "Nothing sacred but the truth" has been replaced with the stirring "2009 Webby Nominee Best Newspaper Web Site" — but its recent redesign has made it virtually unnavigable. It's frustratingly difficult to find anything that isn't featured on the front page. After last week's amazing Hipster Grifter feature caught traction, its writer Doree Shafrir established a dedicated page for her mid-week web-only follow ups. I saw it once, but I can't find it now. (Ah, here it is.) As the New York Times' David Carr noted, that opened the door for us to run wild with follow-ups as the meme spread.

The perpetually khaki suit-clad Kaplan has always prided his salmon-hued paper's reporting above all. He is no fan of the commentary-heavy Internet. (One of the maxims I remember him repeating is, "attitude is cheap, reporting is expensive.") But whatever he does next, it sounds like it will be digital. "I want to think about some stuff in the media that is interesting to me in terms of the new world," he said. "We're at this incredible moment and I would like to be part of the inculcation of what happens next."

[Pic via]

The rumor started going around fast this afternoon; Nikki Finke broke the news, followed shortly by the NYO's own story. Kaplan has been at the paper for the past 15 years, following earlier stints at the NYT, the Charlie Rose Show, and as a magazine editor.

"I had a little newspaper in New York City! You can't beat that. No matter who you are. I had a little newspaper in New York City. That's as good as it gets. It's better to have a little newspaper in New York City than a big newspaper in New York City. Because then you only have to report and write for the people you care about. And nobody else."

Hear hear. The same goes for blogs! We wish Kaplan the best in his family man-ing and other endeavors.
[Related: Jared Kushner denies our earlier post saying he wants to sell the Observer. Pic via]

For instance, neither Gawker nor its counterparts have ever properly examined the extent to which Bushnell even penned those original Sex And The City columns—upon which the HBO show was based—during the 1990s. The name was the idea of Peter Kaplan; and the Observer editor said ten years ago that there was "blood on the floor" after some editing sessions. But veterans of the weekly say it went beyond that: the columns owe more to Peter Stevenson, executive editor of the Observer, than the rambling drafts that Bushnell submitted. One hopes she secured an equally competent ghost-writer for the blog-bashing new novel.

"I was shocked by the ending," said Peter Bogdanovich, the movie director and film historian who played Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, Tony's therapist's therapist. Mr. Bogdanovich said he had shot another scene that didn't make the final episode, in which he was comforting an exhausted, bereaved Dr. Melfi.

Tony's Blackout [NYO]

When Weiss approached Kaplan about starting to get paid for the blog (he asked for $25,000—a year), Kaplan turned him down, but offered him a bi-weekly print column.

Closing the door, Peter said, "We're going to have a grown-up conversation." He told me that the owner believed in Israel, and so did he. Israel may do a lot of bad things, but it was still a force for good. I interrupted, "My wife said to me the other night, you can't expect a guy who doesn't believe in anything you're saying to give you $25,000 a year to put it out." Peter nodded, "That's right."

But Peter felt committed to me as a writer. He didn't want to lose me from the paper and offered me a biweekly column. Kushner had "winced" at the prospect, but Peter was the editor, and he wanted me in print. I could write about American politics, Obama and Hillary. I could go around the country during the campaign and have fun.

Yes, but what about my hard-earned views? Israel and the Mideast were crucial pieces in American foreign policy. Jewish giving was the largest factor in Democratic campaign financing. Peter had never squelched my views, but how free would I be as a writer, knowing what I knew about the bosses' feelings?

Mondoweiss, Chapter One [American Conservative]

He's not carrying any of the old sacks of dead weight experience that a lot of publishers carry with them.

New owner plans big profits for NY Observer [Crain's]
[Photo: Getty Images]

Many U.S. newspapers, including The Washington Post, have decided not to print them. In New York yesterday, four editors at the alternative Observer newspaper quit after managers refused to publish the cartoons.

The managers were pleased, however, with the wanly placed exclamation marks.

Earlier: Danish Mohammed Cartoons Claim First Victims
Related: For Sale: Fabulous Pink Money Pit [NYT]

Alas, Keith Kelly isn't on crack right now — the information is all true. But the situation isn't necessarily as bad as the column might suggest. Observer publisher Arthur Carter has seemingly lost interest in his media hobby — he's kind of ghostlike nowadays, and he's not really keen (per usual) on kicking in the paper's deficit. The more nasty amongst you might even say Carter's ambivalence is making the whole situation a lot worse than it need be.

So, by shopping around the paper, Kaplan could potentially be saving the Observer from its master. And if Wasserstein makes the purchase, he'd be like Daddy Warbucks, rescuing Little Orphan Observer from cruel Carter's dirty orphanage.

[Ed: Our apologies for spinning this into a happy ending. It feels strange to us, too.]

Swimming Upstream [NYP]