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blog wars
Not Portfolio?
"Bethany McLean, co-author of a best-selling book about the Enron debacle, is leaving Fortune after a 13-year run to jump to Graydon Carter's Vanity Fair... It marks at least the third time that Condé Nast, which is headed by billionaire chairman S.I. Newhouse, Jr., has come calling on McLean, one of the higher-profile journalists at the Time Inc.-owned business magazine. Portfolio had tried to get her to jump ship a year ago when Condé Nast was launching its business magazine, but Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey intervened to help Fortune win that tug of war." [Post]
magazines
Purely Random People Coming Together: The National Magazine Awards
When I saw a tall, dark-haired, model-esque woman sliding through the pre-awards crowd at the National Magazine Awards in the Rose Ballroom on 60th St. last night, my canny journalistic sixth sense kicked in. "She sure doesn't look like a magazine writer," I thought. Later, she strode out on stage during the awards ceremony. It was Padma Lakshmi, supermodel. "Fiction. It can...raise fire in the loins," she purred. Half of the audience shifted in their seats. "The sharpest weapon an editor has at her disposal is her pen. (Pause). Or her tongue." It really drove home the primary question in everyone's minds: Isn't this supposed to be, like, a magazine thing? What the fuck are all these famous people doing here? And Julia Allison? An attempted explanation, and some terrible, terrible cell phone pictures to sum up the night, after the jump. More »
joanne lipman
No Guests At Portfolio's First Birthday
Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman is to ring the stock market's opening bell tomorrow morning at 9.30am, to mark the first anniversary of the Conde Nast business magazine. It's a distinct honor for Portfolio, or would be—but for one detail. Lipman will be kicking off trading not on the real floor but on the Nasdaq electronic exchange. The ceremony will take place at the Nasdaq's unpopulated "market site" round the corner from the magazine's offices—before an audience of bewildered Times Square tourists. (Easy dig: they may represent the confused business title's target demographic.)
bloglash
Oh, Snap! A Fashion Blogger's F-You Goodbye
Lauren Goldstein Crowe, the Portfolio fashion blogger, posted her last post today. She continued the grand tradition of bloggers on their way out: the big fuck-you last post. Noted was Moe from Jezebel and other alleged meanies of the internet, who she had been advised to ignore. But she couldn't help herself! More »
corrections
When Is Malcolm Gladwell To Be Believed?
Jeff Bercovici's deleted blog post on Portfolio.com—on the tussles between fellow Conde Nast writer, Malcolm Gladwell, and the fact-checkers—has reappeared again. Apparently, it wasn't so much censored as benched, pending additional reporting. So, what has Bercovici's additional reporting uncovered? Gladwell, author of anecdotally rich best-sellers such as The Tipping Point, now denies ignoring a fact-checker's warnings at the New Yorker, where he is a contributor. That would be the end of it, except Gladwell's credibility is shot. The pop science writer boasts that he inserts nonsense into articles for his own amusement, but Gladwell is inaccurate even in regard to his inaccuracies. His denial might be a denial; or it could just be another elaborate prank within a prank.
portfolio
It's Always The Cover-Up That Gets You
Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman should learn rule number 63 or web publishing: by deleting a blog post, one only draws greater attention to it. On Friday, the Conde Nast magazine's media industry terrier, Jeff Bercovici, wrote a typically niggling piece for Portfolio's website about best-selling fabulist, Malcolm Gladwell (displayed after the jump). According to Bercovici, the Tipping Point author is the bane of the fact-checking department at his day job, as a writer for the New Yorker, another title owned by Conde Nast boss Si Newhouse. There was nothing that controversial about Bercovici's item: Gladwell has himself drawn attention to his mockery of orthodox journalistic practice. But the post disappeared from Bercovici's Portfolio blog over the weekend. More »
from the mailbag
Portfolio Editor Taken To Point Of Ecstasy By Boss
An online staffer has written in with a fairly lengthy account of the continuing discontent inside Condé Nast business magazine Portfolio. The anonymous tipster said that "every last person at the magazine" except new managing editor Jacob Lewis is lined up against editor Joanna Lipman, deputy editor Amy Stevens and senior editor Kyle Pope. (And the ungrateful hacks wonder why they are being pushed out the door!) But the anger may only be strengthening Lipman's position. Condé Nast patriarch Si Newhouse has a big fan in Lipman, who recently told staff her initial meeting with the Advance Publications CEO left her "so happy she could have been hit by a truck." Now Newhouse is said to have embattled Lipman's back. Email from the Portfolio.com insider after the jump. More »
rumors
Contracts For 'Portfolio'?
WE HEAR that Portfolio is pushing its staff writers into contracts. As it stands, writers at the magazine are considered full-time and get appropriate benefits. That would change if they became independent contractors who regularly write for the magazine. [Boy would it ever!–day ed] Rumor has it that senior writers Sheelah Kolhatkar and Kevin Gray have already been talked to and the magazine is trying to get rid of office space. Jesse Eisinger probably won't get screwed because he's a real financial writer and also subject to Joanne Lipman's adoration. Update: a tipster writes in with more details, after the jump. More »
magazines
The Evolution of Portfolio's Covers
Portfolio magazine's highly conceptual covers were commercially foolish, but rather brave. The cityscapes and factory floors of the Conde Nast title's first four issues paid homage to an earlier, more confident era of magazine publishing, in which editors could survive a bad month on the newsstand. And then, spooked by low sell-through numbers, Joanne Lipman panicked. January's Spy vs Spy cover could have been borrowed from the defunct Business 2.0; February's How Fat Won, illustrated by an overloaded burger, is a bogus trend story more often found in Newsweek. The latest shows a man's black shoe treading on a woman's red stiletto reminiscent of nothing more than a classy fetish magazine. Provocative? Pathetic? Discuss.
portfolio
'Portfolio' Revolving Door Round Up
Portfolio assistant managing editor Ann Powell is leaving the magazine. Her job was basically to nag writers to file their stories, which was especially miserable at Portfolio with the whole newspaper people not knowing how magazines close thing. Word is that she's going to Reader's Digest. How old school! The magazine also did not renew the contract of contributing editor Nancy Hass, despite the fact that she's married to senior editor Bob Roe. It's just like that Patty Smyth song, but with nepotism instead of love.
joanne lipman
Look Who's Toxic Now
Congratulations, Portfolio, on that lovely advertising spread for Apple's ultra-thin laptop on pages 2 and 3 of last month's issue. Whatever anybody's said about the magazine's editorial leadership, nobody doubts the Conde Nast title's appeal to advertisers. Ah, but then, again, there's that editorial leadership. Flick forward to Portfolio's feature on corporate polluters: Apple is among the magazine's 'Toxic Ten'. First of all, the magazine was ridiculously unthinking to include any computer company along with industrial giants such as Alcoa. More damning: Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman also forgot one of Conde Nast's golden rules: give an advertiser the opportunity to pull out of an issue containing a critical article. It's both polite, and politic. Apple is said by insiders to be furious, as is Portfolio's outgoing publisher, the normally unflappable David Carey, a rising star on Conde Nast's business side, and someone the embattled Lipman needs on her side. ENLARGE»
Fort Polio Defection Watch
Shazna Nessa, former executive multimedia producer for Portfolio.com, has left the shaky Conde Nast business-like title and returned to the AP, where she worked before. [AP]
Shazna Nessa, former executive multimedia producer for Portfolio.com, has left the shaky Conde Nast business-like title and returned to the AP, where she worked before. [AP]
portfolio
When In Doubt, Attack!
Well, this is one way for Conde Nast to display its determination to make Portfolio a success. The business magazine's editor, Joanne Lipman, may have lost the confidence of her staff; and the title sells well under a fifth of the copies sent to newsstands. But conglomerate Conde Nast, which has committed $100m in one of the biggest magazine launches in recent years, is launching Portfolio in the UK. Lipman may be sacrificed, but too much money and prestige is invested for Conde Nast to allow the magazine to fail.
portfolio magazine
Another Novelist Who Should Stick To Fiction
So how is Portfolio magazine doing with its newly topical covers? The concept illustration, a golden gas nozzle, leaking more gold, is attention-grabbing. And the cover story (teased with a Boom!) is tantalizing: business is thriving, oil deals are flowing, McMansions are rising... in Iraq. We're not the most generous judges of Joanne Lipman's Portfolio, and the dissection of the lavishly funded Conde Nast title is a monthly ritual. Even if we were fair, we'd have to say: author Denis Johnson's feature, like Iraq itself, promises much and doesn't deliver. Why not? More »
fort polio
For Big Spenders, By Big Spenders
Dana Thomas' gig at Portfolio sounds wonderfully cushy. The former Newsweek writer, now European editor at Conde Nast's business title (she asked for the title because it sounded "very grand"), went on a "couple-thousand" shopping spree after she signed her contract, according to the New York Observer. We suspect, however, that Joanne Lipman's extravagant magazine, which is funded to the tune of $100m, will waste more on the forthcoming opus by Jay McInerney. More »
'Portfolio' Snags 'Newsweek' Fashion Guru, MemoPad Gets Confused
In yet another example of Portfolio's tossing around their coin, the flagging Conde Nast title has now snagged Dana Thomas, the Paris-based Newsweek fashion correspondent. Thomas is the author of Deluxe, an inside look at the decline of the luxury brand, the bestseller of which we were big fans. We're guessing Thomas herself wasn't a huge fan of the errors in the WWD MemoPad item about her big move today. Her upcoming book tour is headed to Australia, not Argentina, and if luxury execs have complained about the book's inaccuracies, they're only talking to WWD.
In yet another example of Portfolio's tossing around their coin, the flagging Conde Nast title has now snagged Dana Thomas, the Paris-based Newsweek fashion correspondent. Thomas is the author of Deluxe, an inside look at the decline of the luxury brand, the bestseller of which we were big fans. We're guessing Thomas herself wasn't a huge fan of the errors in the WWD MemoPad item about her big move today. Her upcoming book tour is headed to Australia, not Argentina, and if luxury execs have complained about the book's inaccuracies, they're only talking to WWD.
fort polio
