Gawker
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Freefall
June ad sales at USA Today were 27% lower than a year earlier. That's a decline even steeper than reported by the Tribune Company papers and the New York Times.
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election
Financial Desperation Forces Newspapers Into Good Journalism
It can cost more than $30,000 per month to keep a reporter on the presidential campaign trail, so cash-strapped newspapers like USA Today, the Boston Globe and the Dallas Morning News are no longer on the road with the Clinton or Obama campaigns, at least not on a consistent basis. The changes have thinned out the chummy pack journalism depicted in Timothy Crouse's "Boys On The Bus," and that's probably for the best. Campaign trail stories can be told more cheaply using wire services, YouTube and cable news, while seasoned reporters can spend their time on stories they think are important rather than being held captive by agenda-setting campaign managers. The Morning News, for example, took a look at how hispanics in California and Texas were voting differently. The upshot is that the country is less likely to choose its next president on the basis of who people would rather have a beer with, as was the case with Bush. After the jump, Bush shows how charming he could be on the campaign bus in a very brief preview for Alexandra Pelosi's 2002 documentary, Journeys With George. More » -
video
USA Today Founder Al Neuharth Is "Mad Man," Says Hearst CEO
Where did Hearst president Cathie Black pick up her steely ways? Why from "mad man" USA Today founder Al Neuharth of course! (She said it, we didn't.) In a November interview at the 92 St. Y with New York Post gossip Liz Smith, Black dishes about being a career woman and her early days with Neuharth. One gem? Neuharth kept his employees alert by keeping the office temp at 55°. "All you could think about was how damn cold you were," Black says. Watching employees hobble around on frostbitten toes is fun times! Watch the video after the jump. [92YBlog] More » -
'USA Today' and the 'Wall Street Journal' are both developing in-house glossy magazines. Is this what the success of T has wrought? [AdAge]
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paging human resources
Creepy Old Man Invites 'USA Today' Interns Out For Beers
Craig Wilson's column today on nubile young interns at USA Today is chilling, in that "would totally freak Nancy Grace out" kind of way.We weren't very deep into our conversation when I said it would be fun to go out for a few beers sometime this summer. Maybe they could even teach the old dog a few new tricks, I said. Worth a try, anyway.
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media bubble
The Circulation Game
- Newspaper circulation falls pretty much everywhere. Here on the home front, though, both the Post and the News saw increases. Other (slight) success stories: USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. [WSJ]
- Those numbers would be better if the Audit Bureau of Circulation included website visits. [E&P]
- Conrad Black trial gets even more contentious. [NYT]
- Christopher Hitchens charms ASME panelists; calls women "humorless bitches" and refers to Anna Nicole Smith as "that fat slut who died." [WWD]
- Newspaper circulation falls pretty much everywhere. Here on the home front, though, both the Post and the News saw increases. Other (slight) success stories: USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. [WSJ]
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media
Media Bubble: Wal-Mart Will Not Tap Your Phone Again. Guaranteed.
- Wal-Mart is really, really sorry that they taped a Times reporter's calls. They don't want you to think they're Hewlett-Packard or anything. [NYT]
- Do not even suggest that Brian Williams' trip to Iraq had anything to do with ratings. NBC is a professional news organization, damn it! Also, they're sorta sensitive. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
- Ron Burkle made a $200 million dollar profit on the sale of some supermarkets. Radar may last forever! (Hahaha, we're just kidding, it's three and out.) [NYP] More »
- Wal-Mart is really, really sorry that they taped a Times reporter's calls. They don't want you to think they're Hewlett-Packard or anything. [NYT]
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sports
Meet Gary Spitz, Ball Boy, Again For The Very First Time
If you read this week's Observer, you might have seen this article about Gary Spitz, a 42-year-old ball boy at the U.S. Open. If you read yesterday's Times, you might have seen this article about Gary Spitz, a 42-year-old ball boy at the U.S. Open. If you happened to be reading the Washington Post around this time last year, you might have seen this article about Gary Spitz, a 41-year-old ball boy at the U.S. Open. In 2002, USA Today had a fascinating glimpse into the life of Gary Spitz, a 38-year-old ball boy at the U.S. Open. And way back in 2001, ESPN took a look at a 37-year-old U.S. Open ball boy by the name of Gary Spitz. More » -
media bubble
Media Bubble: Time Inc. Lives on the Edge
• Time Inc. to launch SI Edge, fitness mag that won't offer abs tips. Retorts Zinczenko: "[W]e promise not to point out that he's naming his magazine after a shaving cream." [NYP]
• Hey, remember the big USA Today expose on how the phone companies were colluding with the government to create a big database of all sorts of domestic phone-call records? Yeah, well, the paper's still convinced about the database, but it's not so sure anymore the telcos played along. [USAT]
• Was Pemberton's Spin too much like Blender? Plus, a Detailser leaves to become — wha? — a morning-show DJ. In Oregon. [WWD] -
headlines
Poppin' the Collar in the Sunni Triangle
Because even the most hardened insurgent is tamed by cashmere twinsets and freshwater pearls. More »
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