Conde Nast's Mckinsey-recommended budget cuts should be formalized any day now, and nobody's looking forward to it. The latest Conde in-house chatter today, from Crain's: Budgets could be chopped up to 25% (same scary number floating around last week). More specifically, one insider says: "This round is going to suck." Yes. However, the company "isn't going to become like [less opulent] Hachette." Ha. Heaven forfend.


There's a new survey out about how much Americans hate the media. Fabulous! How did we, the media, do? "63 percent of respondents said news articles were often inaccurate and only 29 percent said the media generally "get the facts straight"." Worst ratings ever! Tune in next year for the new Worst Ratings Ever.


Ha, here is a story of journalistic humiliation before Anna Wintour that we can all enjoy: A reporter knelt before her and asked her holy opinion on the question: "What is style?" Anna's reply: "You need to think of something more original." Ask her about poor people, next time!


Hard to believe that corruption would infiltrate the hallowed halls of Las Vegas local TV news, but here you have it: Just before the ABC affiliate there was set to air some stories on how an auto repair chain there was ripping people off, an anchor at the station called the company and advised them to hire her boyfriend, who just happens to be great at crisis PR! That anchor should be so fired, god I would totally pay money to fire her myself over webcam just for fun. God.

Most Popular Magazines
1. The New Yorker
2. New York
3. The Economist

Most Popular Books
1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
1 (tie). The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3. The Time Traveler's Wife
[The whole list is basically the Bestsellers table at The Strand.]

Most Popular Newspapers
1. New York Times
2. AMNY (free)
3. Metro NY (free)

So yea, the NYT was, by a landslide, the most popular subway reading material of New York Times readers. Shocker. The actual most popular subway reading material of all New Yorkers is probably the New York Post, followed by whatever flier the guy gave you while you were going down the subway steps.

[Previously, our own survey. Pic via]

Here is the boring conclusion from this Bringham Young professor, that is kind of obvious: "Blog readers still get most of their news from regular news sources, but they are concerned that they are not getting the whole side of the story there," and so they read the news, and then they read political blogs to get context and analysis. Breaking!

This is the "surprising" bit that right-wing blogs will pick up and push so hard that will eventually bleed onto Fox:

Davis also queried more than 200 journalists to learn how they use blog content in their coverage of political news. Most journalists were aware of influential blogs on both sides of the political spectrum, such as Daily Kos and Talking Points on the left and Michelle Malkin and Instapundit on the right. Despite equal awareness, journalists spend more time reading posts in the liberal blogosphere.

For example, more journalists know about Michelle Malkin than Talking Points. Yet twice as many journalists actually read Talking Points than read Michelle Malkin.

Oh no! Journalists have liberal biases and so they only read liberal blogs and so therefore all the opinions of those terrible bloggers will bleed into the mainstream media or something!

Here are some things, though: back when political blogs became a "thing," that "real journalists" had to check, they were only checking "warblogs," which all became famous and celebrated and then they killed Dan Rather. This, sadly, made a certain kind of sense: Conservatives were in power, and so you checked those blogs for the Conservative message. What liberals thought about things didn't matter. It just didn't! Guess what? Now the opposite is true, and the heavy-duty liberal policy wonk blogs are relevant, because they can be a window into what the sort of liberals who are running everything think about important issues. (Also, just a thought: are you counting Drudge as "a blog"? We would imagine all the journalists would cop to checking Drudge, still, even though he's gone off the deep end.)

But honestly that argument is sort of a cop-out: the more important difference is in the actual content. Look at this sentence again:

For example, more journalists know about Michelle Malkin than Talking Points. Yet twice as many journalists actually read Talking Points than read Michelle Malkin.

Talking Points Memo features original reporting and analysis from a liberal perspective. MichelleMalkin.com is the crazed rantings of a racist psychopath. This is like saying "twice as many journalists read The Weekly Standard as pay attention to the Black Hebrew Israelites who hang out in midtown."

The Organisation for Economic Co-operating and Development released their "Society at a Glance" numbers and now we get to confirm all sorts of stereotypes about everyone, with actual numbers and charts and stuff to back it up!

Basically Americans are fat and joyless and we hate the children we keep pumping out. And for some reason we're the only country that's not getting taller anymore. What's even more fun is that all these numbers are pre-recession, so things have totally only gotten worse!

Look, a new study proves it! I have to admit I was surprised by these figures, but then again, most local papers suck, so maybe people are smarter than I think.


"If your local paper closed, how much would you miss it?"

Not much: 16%
Not at all: 26%

Old CW: Local papers have a monopoly on HYPERLOCAL coverage, which is what everyone really cares about, which is what will ultimately save the news business.
New CW: A full 42% of the people in your market don't fucking care about you either way.

Maybe it's time to start sinking money into a pointless ad campaign!
[Pew]

The last half of the starpower-ranking list has generated the most fun debates in Defamer HQ today (#1372 Sally Kirkland over #1390 Mary Lynn Rajskub?), but the final page of the eleven lowest names has surely meant for some fired agents (as well as the dawning realization that perhaps one's second cousin Barry shouldn't act as one's publicist). Let's meet some of the low scorers and see whether they've got a shot at moving up or down in the rankings next time.

#1401: Kristin Kreuk
Best Known For: Playing Lana Lang on TV's Smallville, though she's no longer a series regular.
Why She Could Move Up: Has a videogame-based movie coming out this month called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, and she's the titular character.
Why She Might Move Down: The trailer barely features her and doesn't even let her speak. Also: terrible IMDb headshot.

#1402: Jensen Ackles
Best Known For: Appearing as one-half of the demon-hunting Winchester brothers in the CW's Supernatural.
Why He Could Move Up: Has an insanely devoted fangirl following that will freak out upon learning of his low placement, storm the offices of Forbes, and sic a vast and populous housecat army on the cruel editors who designed this survey.
Why He Might Move Down: Clawed-to-death Forbes writers no longer around to conduct future survey updates.

#1407: Ryan Pinkston
Best Known For: Using his young looks and diminutive stature to ask outrageous red carpet questions on Punk'd.
Why He Could Move Up: The 21-year-old Pinkston can still play way below his age—and without all those pesky requirements that come with hiring a minor!
Why He Might Move Down: Pinkston had his shot at being a movie lead, and his 2007 New Line starrer Full Of It made exactly $14,273. Total.

#1411: Sasha Alexander
Best Known For: You may remember her as Pacey's Van Der Beek-seducing sister from Dawson's Creek, but your parents would recognize her from her stint on NCIS.
Why She Could Move Up: Well, she certainly couldn't move down! Still, despite her rock-bottom ranking, Alexander has actually scored parts in some recent big comedies: Yes Man and He's Just Not That Into You.
Why She Might Move Down: Forbes full of James Van Der Beek fans who always shipped Dawson and Joey.

1. Look at a blog in your beat (Romenesko for media, Deadspin for sports, Andrew Sullivan for politics, etc.). Find something there that looks interesting.

2. Chew pen for a few minutes.

3. Rewrite the item you stole, taking a slightly different angle than the original blogger.

4. Send what you wrote back to the original blogger, in search of a link.

5. Celebrate newfound internet fame.

[Optional sixth step: fill out lengthy survey. Pic via CJR.]

• Is this really just because Australians are all drunks anyhow?
• Or is it because all ad people are cokeheads, no matter where they're from?
• Could these numbers possibly be any higher in Australia than they'd be in the American ad industry?
• Does this mean that the ad industry has even more drunk cokeheads has than the media?

Informed answers in the comments. (I say yes, yes, no, and who knows?) [via AgencySpy]

We don't know who's responsible for this. As Feirstein notes, if this is the publisher's doing, it's got to be pretty damn galling for everyone in editorial. It's all part of the constantly apologetic and self-flagellating Pinch Sulzberger Times. Let's all mention the moose, as often as possible, in public!

Considering that it is still the biggest and most influential newspaper in this nation, it'd be nice of the Times dropped the mealy-mouthed liberal defensiveness and just adopted the Fox house style of unapologetic halls-out can-do-no-wrong confidence. Man up, Times! No one cares about Judy Miller besides angry bloggers.

Addendum: If you entered this survey last night, please send me an email with "Survey" in the subject line and we'll be sure to get you entered into the contest. Apologies for the confusion...

1 In the last 12 months, I was able to take advantage of opportunities to enhance my skills. 2 In my work group, I feel comfortable expressing a different point of view. 3 I have confidence that Cisco takes ethical business concerns seriously. 4 I intend to work for Cisco for at least the next 12 months. 5 My work group cooperates with other work groups to achieve business objectives.

6 I have effective methods of providing feedback to my supervisor.
7 I like the kind of work I do.
8 When I do an excellent job, my accomplishments are recognized.
9 The people in my work group cooperate to get the job done.
10 My work group uses the Cisco Pulse Survey feedback to make improvements.

11 My manager treats everyone in my work group fairly.
12 My work group has increased its productivity in the past 12 months.
13 My work group has improved the quality of its products/services in the past 12 months.
14 At Cisco, employees can voice their opinions without fear of retribution.
15 My work group is achieving operational process excellence.

16 In Cisco people are rewarded according to their job performance and accomplishments.
17 I have the authority to make decisions that improve the quality of my work.
18 I have the authority to take actions to meet customer success.
19 I would recommend Cisco as a good place to work.
20 I can see a clear link between my work and Cisco's objectives.

21 Cisco is honest and open in its communications to employees.
22 I would encourage talented people to join Cisco.
23 I am proud to work for Cisco.
24 I know what skills I will need in the future to be a valuable contributor in Cisco.
25 There is a climate of trust within Cisco.

26 I would recommend my work group as a good place to work.
27 Teamwork and Collaboration is common practice at Cisco.
28 Cisco is very well run.
29 Cisco promotes the most qualified people.
30 If I have an ethics concern or question, I know where to go to report it.

31 My work group has a climate in which diverse perspectives are valued.
32 My manager supports my efforts to manage my work and personal life.
33 I can get the information I need to do my job.
34 I receive ongoing feedback that helps me improve my performance.
35 The rewards for achieving the results expected of me are worth the effort.

36 My work group looks for ways to change processes to improve productivity.
37 In the last 12 months, I have had a meaningful career development discussion with my manager.
38 My job provides me with an appropriate amount of challenge.
39 I understand Cisco's strategy to achieve business results.
40 Cisco's focus on process increases productivity and helps drive growth.

41 Processes and procedures allow me to effectively meet my customers' needs.
42 I look forward to a long term career at Cisco.
43 Working here makes me want to do the best work I can.
44 Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work.
45 I am confident that Cisco will continue to lead the networking industry.

46 My manager supports development rotations (sharing talent) to and from our work group.
47 Overall, I feel that my career goals can be met at Cisco.
48 We have fun in my work group.
49 I know what resources are available to help me develop new skills.
50 I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills at Cisco.

51 I am satisfied with my opportunities to get a better job at Cisco.
52 Cisco's senior leadership team is effective at communicating our strategy and culture.
53 I am confident in the senior leadership team's ability to implement our strategy.
54 I believe in Cisco.s strategy for developing the future of networking.
55 I value how Cisco's Corporate Social Responsibility (e.g. Networking Academy, 21st Century Schools, Cisco Foundation, Civic Councils, Community programs, etc.) positively impacts the way Cisco is perceived in the community