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?

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie enjoy boning in the grotto attached to their pool, according to Brad Pitt. But really, what's the use of having a grotto if you're not going to bone in it? [Sun]
  
  
• Many people have speculated that Lady Gaga might be a hermaphrodite, and then she came out recently and said "I have both a poon and a peener," and now this video of her "peener" popping out during a performance confirms it—Lady Gaga is a chick with a dick. [Bossip]
  
  
• American Idol alum Constantine Maroulis got his ass kicked at Cipriani Wall Street the other night after getting into an argument with another guy about Paula Abdul. Yeah, this is a great story. [Gatecrasher]
  
  
• Josh Lucas say that he hates LA because is the vortex of suck in the universe and he loves New York because New York is the world's golden vagina, but everyone already knows that, right? [Page Six]
  
  
• The Gods are smiling today because Paris Hilton and Douglas Reinhardt are reconciling to bring their tainted nether bits back together so that their bodies can once again form one giant human Petri dish. [Page Six]
  
  
• After being pronounced dead on the internet at least a dozen times, Patrick Swayze is looking like he's getting better. [Daily News]
  
  
• Leonardo DiCaprio is dating yet another Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Where does he find them all? Does he order them from a freaking catalog or something? [Page Six]
  
  
• Gotta admit it, Britney Spears looks pretty damn good in this white bikini. Britney's back baby! Or something. [Daily Mail]
  
  
• Queen Latifah enjoyed a lovely evening recently at a lesbian club on 14th street ordering bottle service for the friends she was sharing a table with. [Page Six]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Yes well there is a black fellow on the cover, I suppose. Here's the magazine's actual, revolutionary reporting of Tommie Smith and John Carlos' iconic black power salute on the medal podium:

Beyond Mexican riots and Mexican altitude, the third and what should have been one of the more obvious threats to Olympic peace was the likelihood of a demonstration by a small group of American Negro athletes led by John Carlos, Tommie Smith and Lee Evans. They had been hinting at it for months but communication between them and the U.S. Olympic officials broke down long ago, and the officials seemed satisfied to fill the void with a kind of tacit, Pollyanna belief in the surfacing power of harmony.

The Olympic 100 meters passed without incident because Jim Hines was the winner and Hines does not buy all that the militants try to sell. Then Smith won the 200. He won it in courageous style. He had torn a groin muscle in the semifinals and had to be iced down and taped from the waist to the bottom edge of his running shorts in order to continue. In the final, two hours later, Carlos held the lead with 50 yards to go. At that point, as he is wont to do when on the verge of victory, Carlos looked around. He need not have bothered. Smith, settling down in the stretch, was streaking past him. Carlos broke stride, and then when he looked to his right the Australian Peter Norman was passing him for second place. It was a fine race, one that Smith could be proud of, but he will not be remembered for his 19.8. He will be remembered for what happened next.

On the victory stand during the playing of the national anthem, Carlos and Smith made their now famous black glove gesture. They were booed. At a press conference afterward Carlos flayed into white America in a familiar soliloquy, demanding as he did that reporters quote him accurately or not at all.

Advertising: Bullshit as usual.

[Ads from Copyranter. The original SI story here.]

Like Brown, A-Rod saw news of his culpability leaked into the middle of President's Day weekend. But the Yankee slugger's apology was even more obscure, since he didn't release a statement.

News that Rodriguez apologized to SI's Selena Roberts was slipped into the middle of CNN's Reliable Sources as an anonymously-sourced scoop by host Howard Kurtz. How many people do you think were watching when Krutz said this earlier today:

KURTZ: Well, you know, Selena Roberts, who's a former "New York Times" reporter, I am told — and I can report this exclusively — that after that interview Alex Rodriguez called her to apologize.

But let's face it, Gregg, he's never had a great relationship with the press. Many journalists kind of resent him and view him as arrogant.

Not many. Which maybe is the point?

Rodriguez, in case you forgot, accused Roberts, on ESPN no less, of breaking into his home, being thrown out of his apartment and being cited for trespassing at the University of Miami. Roberts immediately denied everything and her editors backed her.

Roberts might have a decent libel suit on her hands, but suing would overshadow the book she's working on about the athlete, and hugely complicate her ability to cover him for SI. So she'll probably just accept the apology, and maybe leak word of it to, say, Howard Kurtz.

Rodriguez has reason to trump up charges against SI, which broke news of his steroid use Saturday, forcing the slugger's public admission of (some) guilt, and his apology. And the writer he complained about, Selena Roberts, strongly denied his accusation.

Accused stalker Roberts did have a reputation years ago of getting "carried away" — but only when it came to her writing. When Roberts was at the New York Times, prior to joining SI in 2007, her very purple prose was praised as "heart-stopping" and "incandescent" by executive editor Joseph Lelyveld. New York thought her sentences "occasionally overwrought" but still found her "the best sportswriter in town." And, at the other end of the spectrum from Lelyveld, some random fellow (*cough*) at the Observer quipped, "Sweetheart, get me rewrite!"

None of which is to say Roberts was as over the top in her Rodriguez reporting. In an ESPN interview, the athlete claimed Roberts stalked him, was cited by Miami Beach police for breaking into his home last week while his daughters were sleeping, was thrown out of his New York apartment and was thrown out of the University of Miami for trespassing. SI said it stood by the story "and the professional manner in which it was reported."

And Roberts' denial cut to the chase:

"The allegations made by Alex Rodriguez are absurd," said Roberts, in the statement. "I've never set foot in the lobby of Alex's New York apartment building, never spoken to the University of Miami police, and never set foot on his home property or been cited by the Miami Police for doing so."

It sounds like Rodriguez is going to have to find some other way of distracting people from his problems. Given his proven ability to get onto the front of the tabloids, we're sure he'll think of something.

P6 today had an item today saying Dicaprio was lobbying for her to get the cover, and she would if she could keep her mouth shut about it. And just now, Coed Magazine said that it was in the audience at the Letterman show taping where it was announced. NOW YOU KNOW.

Basically the entire financial health of SI is riding on this issue, so I hope she's pretty and whatnot. [Pic via]

NYT editor Bill Keller, is answering reader questionsand the first sixtyeleven were basically: "Is your paper dying or what?" Keller (we like him!) gives a bit of the boilerplate optimism, with these highlights:

"The cash flow necessary to pay our bills — despite some of the nonsense you may have read elsewhere — is not about to run dry any time soon... I think in the next year or two, we must examine all our options with an open mind, test those that are testable, and make some hard choices. My expectation (and I remind you of the disclaimers regarding my business acumen) is that for the foreseeable future our business will continue to be a mix of print and online journalism, with the growth online offsetting the (gradual, we hope) decline of print."

The first sentence is questionable, and depends on how you define "any time soon." The second sentence is surely true. The last sentence features an overly optimistic conclusion. Still, we like Bill. Strong, competent face. [Related: The NYT has pension fund problems, like everyone.]

Because of the recession, no fancy sponsors would pay for Sports Illustrated's editor to go to the Super Bowl, so he was forced to watch it in New York with Lewis Lapham, Dan Abrams, and Richard Johnson! Sounds awful.

Agency Spy says Saturday Night Live got paid $3 million to license its MacGruber character for that Pepsi Super Bowl ad last night. That's the price of buying a full ad. Just saying.


Point-missing of the day: Forbes.com columnist Tunku Varadarajan writes about the Michael Phelps bong photos, "in a story such as this, we need to ask whether anything of value—to the readers, to society at large—was imparted by the News of the World's story, and, especially, by the salivating manner of its telling." No of course not. Jesus.

Hey, there's a new "grassroots" (ed note: psht) group dedicated to saving the newspaper industry by running ads. We applaud the goal, but it is, of course, doomed to fail, the decline of the newspaper industry being a problem that ads cannot solve. The group also has a website: "Unlike websites that feature negative, gloom-and-doom stories about newspapers, this website will be devoted to insightful articles, commentary and research that provide a more balanced perspective on what newspaper companies can do to survive and thrive in the years ahead." We encourage you all to read it, and then read this website, and draw your own conclusions.

We will be sure to save this one in the hyperbaric chamber in which Gawker Media stores valuable artifacts of the dying days of print media alongside last month's Esquire's Stephen Colbert cover homage to Esquire's 1968 Mohammad Ali cover and that New York Marilyn Monroe homage cover featuring Lindsay Lohan and Esquire's homage to that disturbing (if your mom ever told you shaving your face would make you grow hair there anyway) 1965 Virna Lisi cover featuring Jessica Simpson and also Esquire's February homage cover ripping off that 1967 Angie (yes that one!) Dickinson photo to which they already paid homage to back in 2003 when Britney Spears could sell magazines not named OK!…are we missing any? Most certainly!

It's not as if mid-century was such a golden age for magazine circulations. Esquire got up around a million during its heyday, sure, and now it's probably about 25% off that, but Sports Illustrated is actually significantly more widely read than it was in the seventies. But editors back them were at least a little less the prisoners of cover-testing and circulation departments. So it's no wonder that their more conservative descendents hark back to an earlier era when every tired cover gimmick was still new—and when Mark Spitz somehow convinced the International Olympic Committee to give him his medals on gold chains (check the photo) and the world was cooler then.

Red Sox ace pitcher Josh Beckett recently turned down Jordan's request for an interview for New York Times Magazine story. But even big stars in the 70s wouldn't dream of such a thing. Here's how he got a story on (now Hall of Famer) Catfish Hunter of the Oakland A's:

I checked into the A's hotel and went right down to the pool. I watched as Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Rollie Fingers, and Rick Monday eyeballed the chicks laying by the water. I asked one of the players which one was Catfish Hunter. He pointed to a shy, North Carolina country boy barely into his 20s with a chew of tobacco puffing out his cheek. I introduced myself to Catfish and said, "I'm here to write a story about you for Sports Illustrated." He nodded. I said, "Can I drive you to the park?" He nodded again.

Another current Hall of Fame pitcher, Tom Seaver, wasn't any harder to get:

I called the Mets, told them I was an SI writer, and asked for Seaver's home number. They gave it to me, gratefully. I called Tom, told him what I was doing, and he invited me to his home in Greenwich for lunch. We ate in the afternoon on the porch of Tom's farmhouse. He barbecued a huge T-bone steak, cutting out the filet for me and the sirloin for himself. Then I drove him to Shea Stadium in a rainstorm in my old Corvette with the T-top that leaked. Water dripped on Tom's forehead. He looked up and said, "Why don't you buy a Porsche?" I said, "Because I'm not Tom Seaver." Water dripped on his head. He laughed. "That's a fucking fact."

But today, even jerks like steroid fan Jose Canseco screw with him!:

Jose was, well, Jose, reneging on our arrangement only after I'd flown to L.A. at his request. Why should he have wanted to talk to me? He had by then written his second magnum opus and was scheduled to appear on David Letterman and Howard Stern.

So he wrote a story about what a jerk Canseco was, and Will Leitch ran it on Deadspin. Blogs win!

[Slate]

Leon Spinks is good at spitting between his teeth.

Stop poking Al Unser, lady!

George Foster is always ready to sneak up from behind and hit you with a bat.

Occasionally, basketball players will pull each others' shorts down, just for fun.

You don't want to meet Nancy Lopez in a dark alley.

The portal is making a strong play in sports with original content. Yahoo already dominates the world of fantasy sports; adding real reporting to the mix, though, could boost Yahoo's pull with advertisers. The site has 20 sports writers, up from four two years ago. In fact, Yahoo is the most popular sports site on the net according to Nielsen/NetRatings, with 22 million visitors last month compared to ESPN.com's 20 million.

How does old media feel about this? A sports editor at the Washington Post says "we're used to being a destination, not a steppingstone." Get used to that feeling of being stepped on.

Unless, that is, you work for the national desk of a major newspaper. Remember Yahoo's disastrous experience with original news reporting: Kevin Sites's Afghanistan war-reporting diary hasn't been updated in a year. And people still giggle about former Yahoo media exec Lloyd Braun's proposal for an online news show with puppets. Sports is a good business bet, with talent getting rewarded competitively. Hard news? As the TV broadcasters figured out long ago, that's a sure money-loser.

• Sports Illustrated and Dasani water team up for world's biggest blowjob billboard. [NYP]
  
• AMI: "That fucking dog keeps eating our financial statements." [AdAge]
  
• David Carr ponders the future of MTV. [NYT]
  
• Tribune put itself on the market too late, and now it's gonna suffer. Much like those of us who have been waiting for the Tribune story to end. [WSJ]
  
• Remember how everyone though Bruce Wasserstein had lost it when he stepped into the Carl Icahn/Time Warner thing? Well, guess who's laughing now. [NYP]
  
• If YouTube has lost Simon Dumenco, then they've lost, well, Simon Dumenco. [AdAge]
  
• Jimmy Kimmel's twenty viewers will continue to enjoy his comic stylings through 2009. [B&C]
  
• Websites of all stripes hungry for Oscar-related traffic. [NYT]
  
• TV causes short-sightedness, obesity, premature puberty and autism in children. On the other hand, it keeps them quiet for a while. [Independent]

BLOODBATH AT 1271 AND BEYOND;
'MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE'
IS MASSACRED
Time Inc. Wields Unmerciful Ax

Two years ago, Ann Moore, Time Inc.'s Chief Executive, was hailing its employees as its "most valuable resource." Thursday, after completing a year in which it notched a profit of about 18%, Time Inc. announced plans to slash almost 300 jobs company-wide, more than 100 of them Guild-represented.

In a world where Time Inc. continues to have layoffs, justifying them as "business decisions" and playing to Wall Street, we have become casualties in a war of profits. When is the top going to start sharing the pain?

The only hint of good news to Guild-represented Employees is that the job cuts will be conducted under the terms set down in the Contract that was due to expire on February 1. The severance-pay formula designated in the pact is the one that will be followed. When talks began in January, the company balked at the usual agreement to keep the current Contract in effect while a new one was being negotiated. At the most recent session held on Tuesday, January 16, Time Inc. agreed to extend the current pact until March 22.

The staff cuts were made in a series of meetings on Thursday except at SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, where the compensating day for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday was being celebrated. At SI, where Guild officials were told that up to 22 positions we represent are going to be sliced, the traumatic news was delivered in an email.

Hardly a Moment's Notice
Guild officials are normally given advance notice of details of a layoff. This year, Time Inc. officials apparently decided a half hour's notice was enough, scheduling a meeting with the Guild at 9:30 a.m. and a series of meetings with employees in the Time & Life Building starting at 10. In Miami it was even worse: Four members of PEOPLE magazine's Miami Bureau were told at 9:30, during the management announcement to the Guild in New York, that the operation there would close.

The Grim Elimination Numbers
What the Guild was told was that at TIME magazine, the company will be seeking "up to 40" volunteers to leave their jobs including:
3 artists
3 copy editors
1 negative reader
1 assistant photo lab technician
2 news desk assistants
2 news desk editors
1 letters correspondent
4 research librarians
8 reporter-researchers in New York
1 reporter-researcher in the District of Columbia bureau
1 reporter-researcher who handles the Map Room in New York
4 editorial assistants
Any combination of 5 writer-reporters or writer-editors
4 correspondents in the D.C. bureau

The News Desk will be closed. In addition, the Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta bureaus will be closed, which will bring the total job loss at TIME of up to 49 people.

At PEOPLE, Time Inc. said it was seeking "up to" 25 volunteers including:
2 page coders
3 copy editors
3 negative readers
1 low resolution scanner
1 letters correspondent
5 reporter-researchers
3 writer-reporters
7 writer-editors

In addition, Time Inc. said it was closing the PEOPLE bureaus in Chicago, District of Columbia, Austin, and Miami, bringing the total PEOPLE job loss to up to 38.

At SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Time Inc. said it was seeking "up to" 22 cuts, including:
3 copy clerks
1 copy coordinator
1 copy editor
1 imaging specialist
3 photographers
1 news desk assistant
1 reporter-researcher
4 editorial assistants
1 writer-reporter
6 writers
The News Bureau at SI will cease to exist.

In the Picture Collection: 1 picture cataloger

The Guild will continue to represent and try to help the people affected. The Guild is here to give advice. We welcome any questions. Don't hesitate to call Unit Chair, Alex Blanco, Grievance Chair, Edith Fried, 1st Vice Chair John Shostrom, or Local Guild Representative Bob Townsend.

The Company's Attack on Future Severance
In the meantime, the Guild is embroiled in a very difficult Contract negotiation with Time Inc. management, which has proposals on the table to slash notice pay altogether in cases of job reduction and reduce severance pay, which makes up the other part of a job elimination package. The company wants to reduce severance to 2 weeks' pay per year of service with a 52-week cap.

The Guild's strength at the bargaining table is derived through its membership. If you're not a member, support the union in our effort to maintain an equitable contract and join the Guild. Contact Unit Chairperson Alex Blanco at xxx (while still here) or Local Guild Representative Bob Townsend at xxx.
###

Sports Illustrated: 23 total, among those, six writers, one senior editor, one photo editor, three copy clerks, one writer reporter, one reporter...I couldn't transcribe the rest in time. as of now, asking for volunteers. don't know the timing...

From the Entertainment Weekly business side, they've made the following cuts:
Fred Nelson - Vice President, Digital Media
Fabian Castro - Director, Entertainment Partnerships and Promotions
Jennifer Wade - Los Angeles Ad Sales Account Manager

They canned the entire DC bureau of People.