Gawker: the new model, ;

All The Jobs Are On The Internet

Choire — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:50:59 EST

The New York Times is hiring, hiring, hiring! You can be a freelance writer even—that is, for "online content startup" LifeWire, which, when it launches, will provide "original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers." You can be a "business producer," a confusing title for what actually sounds like an entertaining job—it's one of those newfangled jobs where you're a packager and a photo editor and a triage nurse and actually a journalist too. There's a travel and style editor job to oversee web producers; an open blog producer job at New York/Region; a homepage producer. That's a lot of hiring for a paper that's having its first layoffs in a while!

Passive-Aggressive Rick Stengel Announces New 'Time' Hire

Maggie — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:05:36 EST

Salon's Michael Scherer is leaving his position there as Washington correspondent to join Time magazine as political correspondent and teacher's pet. "Michael represents the new TIME correspondent: adept on-line, on-air and in print," said Rick Stengel, in an email to staff today. We are quite sure that none of the magazine's web-reluctant old guard will resent that thinly-veiled barb one little bit! Memo after the jump.

From: [Rick Stengel]
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 10:16:21 -0500
To: +TI-TM-ALL_TIME_EDIT
Conversation: Staff Announcement
Subject: Staff Announcement

December 7, 2007

To: TIME Staff
From: Rick Stengel

I'm pleased to announce that Michael Scherer is joining TIME as a political correspondent. He'll be reporting and producing videos for TIME.com, as well as writing for the magazine. He's done terrific work in his current role at Salon.com and he's certain to take those talents to even greater heights here. Michael represents the new TIME correspondent: adept on-line, on-air and in print.

Prior to joining Salon in 2005, Michael wrote investigative pieces for Mother Jones magazine. He's a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, a California native and another great addition to the best political team in journalism. He'll be based in the DC bureau, starting in two weeks.

Please join me in welcoming Michael to TIME.Earlier: The New Model

Court TV Lays Off Half Its "Online Group"

Choire — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:35:29 EST

We always hear about layoffs in production departments, or foreign bureaus, or "a little bit of everywhere," in the case of MTV—but it's rare these days that you get to see an outfit chop up its web staff. But that's what Court TV is doing right this second—with fellow Time Warner company CNN.com going big on plans for CNN.com/crime, Court TV (soon to be called truTV) no longer needs 16 of the staffers at their website. 15 will remain.

Everyone,
Today we're announcing some significant changes that are part of our ongoing migration of Court TV to truTV. Our plans include a revamp of how - and where - entertainment and trial content is used on the Web.

On Jan. 1, 2008, courttv.com will become truTV.com. We will make truTV.com a popular destination, with an abundance of video content and materials exclusive to the Web. Our archive of stories from crimelibrary.com will be available as well.

Online trial coverage will shift to CNN.com from courttvnews.com. CNN plans to launch a new section of its site, CNN.com/crime. This section will replace CNN.com/law, providing a strong destination for crime news, trial coverage and news from the Justice Department. This section will be managed by CNN.com staffers in Atlanta.

These changes will lead to reductions in our online group. Sixteen positions on Court TV's Web staff will be eliminated. Fifteen staffers will continue to work on the new truTV.com. Of course, we'll work closely with colleagues who are directly impacted to provide whatever professional transition assistance we can.
In addition, we are reducing positions in some other areas - six in operations and two in daytime.

I'd like to thank everyone for their contribution to the success of Court TV, courttv.com and courttvnews.com. We are saddened to let people go, but these changes are a necessary part of a larger strategic plan to make our network stronger.

Marc Juris

General Manager, Court TV/truTV

"MySpace today announced the launch of an...

Choire — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:50:19 EDT

"MySpace today announced the launch of an original scripted web series, Roommates, in collaboration with Iron Sink Media and sponsored by the 2008 Ford Focus.... Best known for the creation of the popular series 'Soup of the Day,' 'NoHoGirls,' 'WeHoGirls' and 'VanNuysGuys,' Iron Sink has a deep understanding of serial Web programming and production.... As part of the launch, the new 2008 Ford Focus will serve as a title series sponsor providing products which will be integrated into the storyline across multiple episodes....'Today's small car customer is more connected than ever, and the new Focus with SYNC allows them to seamlessly transition from their home or office into their car,' said John Zaremba Focus marketing manager. 'The My Space audience is youthful, on the go, and very social which is exactly like the customer who will be drawn to Focus and use SYNC.'" Did we just wake up in a movie about the future? (But filmed in the 90s?) [MySpace TV]

The PageSix.com Raiding Begins With Noelle Hancock

Choire — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:35:00 EDT

Noelle Hancock, who's been laboring at the Us Weekly website—she's a former New York Observer gal and one-time Gawker guest-editor—is the first hire that we've been able to confirm for the forthcoming blockbuster craziness that will be PageSix.com. Now it is on, TMZ! We have such great high expectations for the degrading battle of the web tabloid celebrity dirtiness that is coming so very soon—in particular, we hear PageSix.com will have a huge west coast bureau. Noelle, by the way, is the heterosexual lover of New York Times hottie Nick Confessore, who is apparently still on the Albany beat, the poor schmuck.

It looks like the New York Observer has somehow...

Choire — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:50:03 EDT

It looks like the New York Observer has somehow yet to find a web host who can withstand a link from Matt Drudge. They're sort of like the goth girl of newspaper websites—when they get any attention they're all, "Oh my God don't look at me I'm so ugly!" Annnd crash. So while their politics desk continues to regularly get stories on the monster uber-crazy-blogger's website (today's apparently is "NY DEMS BAFFLED BY RUDY LEAD: 'I refuse to believe this could happen to our country'... "), their back-office continues to undermine their work. I bet that is really annoying!

Should We Be On Strike?

Choire — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:18:58 EDT

Magazine and newspaper advertising folks just don't know what they're missing! While they may have invented the advertorial ad, wherein, say, Washington Post articles get reprinted in ad space, print folks have none of the boundless freedom of online ad folks, who aren't restrained by the physical facts of editorial vs. ad space. Online ad sales is now the most creative editorial job going! Some folks call the online campaigns that get integrated into the full space of the web page a "complete takeover." That's quite an evocative phrase! This morning, this very website is in the hands of the ad department; completely taken over. We need your advice about what to do. Should the editorial department take a stand?

While we're so pleased that Evian is interested in advertising here, it seems that our ad sales folks have misled them about the scope of a campaign available. We should also note that we love our ad department, and totally get that their work makes it possible to do our jobs. We're not total idiots.

But my goodness, it looks rather like JonBenet Ramsey reached down from heaven and tapped Gawker's front page with her pint-size magic wand!

We have had discussions with the ad department before about how it isn't appropriate for advertising to encroach into edit, when the ad folks have sold alterations to site logos, and allowed advertisers to control the color of photographs; our point of view has been ignored.

So there's only one thing we can control—the creation of editorial content. So, since this website looks, in the words of one former Gawker editor, like a giant pregnancy test, shouldn't we only be writing about babies? Or maybe just writing like babies? (Who's an adorable website! Who is!)

Or should we not provide any editorial content at all today? Maybe the only way to negotiate with the business side is to provide them with no content, and therefore no pageviews, until they stop the encroaching madness.

UPDATE: The intrusive part of the campaign is coming down. Now on with our regularly scheduled programming.

UPDATE: Our publisher Nick Denton has something to say about all this.

It was a big deal when Time magazine's Rick...

Choire — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:14:49 EDT

It was a big deal when Time magazine's Rick Stengel sent a memo to the whole staff, saying that "I suspect that some of you regard writing for TIME.com as an obligation, and not what you came to TIME to do. But... [i]f you care about what you do - and I know you do - then you need to display your talent, your expertise, and your dedication online as well as in the magazine." Well, the Newspaper Guild has put a stop to that—the newest proposed agreement between the union and Time Inc. says that "there will no negative impact on any employee for not volunteering to do Web site work." While we totally get that most companies are making journalists take on more work for no more money, which blows, still; this is the first time I've ever felt a tiny bit of sympathy for Rick Stengel! [WWD]

Each Friday, deputy managing editor Jon Landman...

Choire — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:50:13 EDT

Each Friday, deputy managing editor Jon Landman and NYT.com general manager Vivian Schiller send out an email to New York Times staffers on the subject of innovation of a digital nature. We read it to take the temperature inside the paper. Some notable moments from this week's installment: "We are way past the point of arguing (aren't we?) about whether blogs or articles make better journalism. The answer, of course, is 'Both.'" And: "Webbies like to say, 'Iterate.' It gets worse! They love to say 'Iterative.' Horrible words. Great ideas. The point is, you can start something on the web that isn't perfect. While it sits there, you make it better. (Try that in the newspaper—by the time you iterate, it's fish wrap.)"

Atoosa: "The Next Big Style Icon Is Going To Be A Drag Queen"

Emily Gould — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:55:29 EDT

Former Seventeen editor Atoosa Rubenstein "said she is not thinking about business, only 'play,'" with her new web venture, a series of videos that debut on YouTube today. "But business is hardly on the back burner. She is seeking investors (although for now she is self-financed)." That stunning piece of news is one of many contained in Times trendtard Stephanie Rosenbloom's Style profile of the 'Toos today.

Another: guess what, the 'Toos was not fired from or forced out of her role as Seventeen editor in chief!

"I think there was this perception that nobody leaves that kind of job... And for me I left because I realized that I was stepping farther and farther away from the journey that was meaningful to me." You know, just in case you weren't paying attention any of the other twelve million times she's said that.

Anyway, viral videos on the Interweb are the future! The 'Toos thinks that advertisers will queue up to go alongside her YouTube musings on fame, inspired by Andy Warhol, or her thoughts on fashion trends. And, well, why wouldn't they want to be a part of the 'Toos's brand! For instance, this video about how she is obsessed with drag queens because all of the real girls whose style we've been "totally worshipping" are "self-destructing!" Enter the drag queen: "The right one's gonna come along and we're all gonna totally fall in love with her." She is so witty and self-deprecating.

Did The 'New York Times' Lose Money On TimesSelect?

Choire — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:40:25 EDT

Portfolio econ-blogger Zubin Jelveh makes the case that hiding some Times content behind a paywall for the last two years cost the newspaper growth, and therefore cash. (Unfortunately, and unrelentingly, traffic equals cash. Stay tuned for some naked celebrity pictures later today!) Comparing the Times' web growth to a number of sort-of competitors, Zubin calculates that the Times lost out on growth of 1.3 billion page views, and asks and answers: "So is 1.3 billion worth page views $20 million over two years? Not knowing anything about their inventory, I'd argue yes." The traffic calculations seem a bit over the top, but we'll still sign on to the conclusion.

The TimesSelect Effect [Odd Numbers]

The 'Times' Bets It All On Graphics

abalk — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:40:16 EDT

Vivian Schiller General Manager, NYTimes.com: I just want to say one word to you—just one word.
Jon Friedman, Tool Reporter: Yes ma'am.
Vivian Schiller: Are you listening?
Jon Friedman: Yes I am.
Vivian Schiller: 'Slideshows.'
Jon Friedman: Exactly how do you mean?
Vivian Schiller: There's a great future in slideshows. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Jon Friedman: Yes I will.
Vivian Schiller: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.

'All the news that's fit to click' at NYTimes.com [MarketWatch]

Newspapers Now Stuffed Full Of Blogs, But No Clue Where To Put Them

Choire — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:16:13 EDT

This week, motorcycle enthusiast Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor of the New York Times, said that his department is starting a new blog, "The Board." It'll join the paper's 14 other Opinion section blogs, including the Opinionator, which discusses the op-ed pages of other newspapers and will benefit from being freed from the Times now-dead paywall, TimesSelect. The Times looks to be the newspaper blog leader—they have 40 active blogs, not counting seasonal blogs like David Carr's movie awards season craziness, beating the Guardian with 18, the New York Daily News with 22, the Wall Street Journal with 16 active blogs, the Los Angeles Times with 27, the San Francisco Chronicle with 26, the Miami Herald with 31, and the Chicago Tribune with 33, for a random sampling. But. Do you read any of these blogs?

Nearly all newspaper websites mistakenly segregate their blogs off with the other blogs. They're organizing by form, not by content. (The Times does a better job, both promoting blog posts on the front page and integrating each blog's content into existing sections.)

Readers just don't come to a newspaper's website looking for a messy passel of blogs. They come looking for sports, or fashion, no matter what "form" it's in. Old newspaper editors may think blogs are some crazy different variety of publication; readers don't.

The result of this bias at newspapers is the unbelievably horrible web organization of their websites. (Or! It may be a result of their already horrible web organization. They've shoehorned a place for blogs into their existing designs, doing themselves no favors.) This means that most of the blog writers end up screaming into the void. Take internet critic Steve Johnson at the Chicago Tribune; how will his long piece on internet gossip trash ever get seen? It's total traffic-bait—and it has nary a comment. No entity on the internet has even linked to it, as of 4 p.m. EST today.

The haphazard and anti-blog organization of newspaper websites gives us things like the Washington Post's weird pop-up listing of blogs and columns:
And the LA Times' list of recent blog posts:Mini-Britneys! Schools! John Edwards! Soy Sauce! Ack! Would any section of any publication be organized like this?

The good news about newspaper blogs is that this is all apparently so crazy and new that they'll basically try anything. And you totally get a sense that the top editors at most places aren't paying attention. The Daily News goes super-ultra local: there's the Bath Beach blog, concerning a neighborhood in Brooklyn that no one is quite sure where it stops or starts. Anyway there we learn that Brooklyn is getting a new IHOP but not in Bath Beach!

The Chicago Tribune's animal blog, mostly pictures of dogs up for adoption, has a hard time getting updated, to the frustration of its reader. But it is about animals which is cute! Living green in London? Have a blog! There's one for anyone. Overly hip Bay Area parents? Exercise and fitness in South Florida? Most of these seem to have astoundingly small readerships—because the paper won't support them or treat them as part of the paper. What nearly always does well is sports blogs—their readership is there for the taking, and they're also usually more urgent in tone and more consistent, like Dan Steinberg's awesome D.C. sports blog.

But pity all the arts critics who get forced out of the paper to run their own blogs. Don't give a rave to a singer-songwriter? The super-fan commenters will suggest that "I suppose you were being subjective." Ya think? So maybe there is something to be said for keeping an old-fashioned newspaper column with no intrusion from the dirty sort of folks who think they own the internet.

From the mailbag: "Could you run some kind...

Choire — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:20:42 EDT

From the mailbag: "Could you run some kind of item (or even just this email) that could serve as a clearinghouse for all the things commenters have to say about those retarded ads that have been running in the stalker section?" Yes! Yes we could. Oops we're so fired!

Jeff Bercovici thinks TimesSelect, the extremely...

Choire — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:00:26 EDT

Jeff Bercovici thinks TimesSelect, the extremely annoying partial pay wall of the New York Times, is ending this week. Please God please, yes. [Portfolio]

Melena Ryzik, the one-time sharp-elbowed...

Choire — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:20:16 EDT

Melena Ryzik, the one-time sharp-elbowed Times Boldface Names party stringer who went on to write that paper's daily culture email Urban Eye, has gone fulltime for the Times culture desk. We hear Urban Eye is looking for a new... email-blogger? Direct-mailer? What shall we call these new modern forms of journalism? Better find out fast, because these are the jobs of our time. Update: We hear she's keeping Urban Eye as part of the new job. What can't she do???

PRNewser Shows MediaBistro Still Giving This Blog Thing A Shot

abalk — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:50:15 EDT

We've had this wacky theory that the new owners of Mediabistro are going to jettison their useless collection of blogs, which, save for TVNewser, are increasingly irrelevant and probably draw focus away from the company's core strength of getting guileless freelancers to shell out money that they could better use for food on "get togethers" and seminars. But maybe we're wrong! There's a brand new blog on the block, and it tries to take the TVNewser formula and apply it to the equally fascinating world of public relations!

PRNewser "will be written by agency vets, and much like TVNewser and the Bistro's other blogs, we'll write about the moguls, moves and money in this fascinating industry." More fascinating details follow!

To: prnewser@gmail.com Subject: MediaBistro's new PR blog seeks sources
Hello friends,

Sorry for the mass email. I wanted to quickly get in touch to let you know about MediaBistro's new blog about the PR business called PRNewser. We're hoping for the same level of success as TVNewser in the coming months. The link for now is http://prnewser.wordpress.com/. The blog will migrate to mediabistro after the soft launch.

I'll be writing posts along with a couple of other agency vets. I'd love to hear about your own news: client wins, staff changes, pitches & stunts that worked, and of course gossip! Feel free to forward this to your friends in the business as well.

Drop me a note and let me know how you're doing. I'd love to hear from all of you.

Regards,
Jason

MediaBistro's PRNewser

Web Outfit To "Change Journalism Forever" With Pay-For-Traffic Scheme

abalk — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:55:09 EDT

Last night saw New York's geekiest gather at something called NYC Tech Meet-Up, an event which we will not even pretend to understand. Or care about—save for the fact that Thomas Plunkett, Gawker Media's tech master, made some sort of presentation about something or other that he and his army of supergay IT warriors do behind the scenes to make your reading experience that much more manageable. Portfolio seemed to enjoy the performance—but they didn't get the goods. Unfortunately, we did.

Portfolio said:

Perhaps the funniest moment of the session occurred when Gawker's rep likened working for Nick Denton — who was in the room — to getting hit in the head with a surfboard, drawing guffaws from the crowd.
Emails to Denton seeking elaboration were not returned immediately.

Now, we know how cagey our owner-publisher can be with the press, but we figured we'd put our special access to good use. We asked him about the comparison today via IM:

BALK BTW:"Perhaps the funniest moment of the session occurred when Gawker's rep likened working for Nick Denton — who was in the room — to getting hit in the head with a surfboard, drawing guffaws from the crowd."
BALK BTW: Do you think that's an accurate assessment?
BALK BTW: I mean, Tom WAS hit in the head by a surfboard, he knows of what he speaks. [Ed. Note: This is actually true, he was.]
DarkLordBalthazar: Ha — you'd better not be thinking about one of your self-referential quicklinks. The pain of a surfboard collision will be as nothing.
BALK BTW: Perfect answer. It'll be so meta!
DarkLordBalthazar: You'll be pleased to know that you have persuaded me of something.
DarkLordBalthazar: Let this mark the moment when pay-for-traffic changed journalism, forever.

And just like that, I've ruined both journalism and the internet for everyone. Sorry about that. Also, for the record, being hit in the head by a surfboard apparently falls on the lower end of the punishment scale in the online world. Keep that in mind when you're applying for my soon-to-be-forcibly-vacated job!

Silicon Alley Gets Its Close-Up [Portfolio]

"[Jeff] Chu, who was offered and accepted...

Doree Shafrir — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:50:25 EDT

"[Jeff] Chu, who was offered and accepted his new position at Fast Company on Facebook, was most recently a senior associate editor at Portfolio where he created consumer product and travel sections." So maybe everything really is different now. [Romenesko]

Our Tennis Nightmare Obsessively Documented, Not Yet Over

Choire — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:00:57 EDT

We could not give less of a damn about the U.S. Open—although we are still interested in and baffled by Vogue editor Anna Wintour's extreme obsession with Roger Federer. (She hosted a dinner for him on the 23rd, he got that Men's Vogue cover, she keeps getting spotted in the stands, including on Monday, and we fully expect to see him seated alongside her at the fashion shows.) Whatever, despite the forearms, he's not that pretty. But we'd be remiss if we didn't point out the absolute insanity of the Observer's U.S. Open blog. We realized it had totally gotten out of hand last night when they posted pictures of South African doubles player Jeff Coetzee getting his hair cut. It's like U.S. Weekly but for straight men! We'll start reading when there are more pictures of ballboys.