The Bush Book, Matthews' Future, Pay Cuts at the Voice
• Laura Bush either received $1.5 million for her memoir or $3.5-5 million, depending on who you believe. Either way, it's a lot less than Hillary Clinton's $8 million advance for Living History. [NYP, WSJ]
• Chris Matthews is not running for Senate, according to his brother. [P'ticker]
• A new buyer has emerged for…
Curtains at Time Warner Cable, The Voice Cuts Two Vets
• Channels like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon will no longer be available to Time Warner Cable customers beginning at midnight, unless Viacom and Time Warner settle a dispute over fees. [Bloomberg]
• The Village Voice has laid off Nat Hentoff and Lynn Yaeger. [NYT]
• Ratings for MTV's The City and Bromance were…
Village Voice Fires 50-Year Writer, Last Black Writer
Even as the New Yorker waxes nostalgic on the glory days of the Village Voice, the weekly is severing more of its legacy, including Nat Hentoff, hired in 1958.
Print's Epitaph: We Were the Original Blog
As print dies, we will no doubt see an avalanche of obituaries for once-great, now-decrepit publications. In this vein, The New Yorker's Louis Menand celebrates the Village Voice's heyday in the late 1950's and early 1960s.
Michael Musto is Tired of Flaky New York Editors, Just Like Us!
Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto is just another frustrated freelancer when it comes to New York magazine, he complains. That's exactly how his blog should be used, by the way—for bitching!
Paris Hilton Wears Backward Dress To Interview
"I thought she should leave it on and start a whole new fashion phenom, but she dutifully reversed it." [Michael Musto]
Today In Bad News: The Village Voice, Rodale, Seattle Times, Out Traveler
There's so much bad news in the print media world these days that we just have to roll it all up for you in one convenient post that you can read here, on the internet, where we are responsible for killing print. Today in the Death Of Print Daily: Big layoffs at Rodale and the Seattle Times, the death of Out Traveler,…
Could The Village Voice Be Produced In Florida (Or Not)?
A tipster tells us that the Village Voice laid off the man who oversaw its print ad production department this week, due to budget cuts. One rumor going around the office, we hear: the possibility that the production of the Voice could be outsourced to Florida. That would be rather sad. Another rumor: the possibility…
Two Staff Writers Laid Off At Voice
More layoffs at the Village Voice have been confirmed: staff writers Maria Luisa Tucker and Sean Gardiner (who was a fine police beat reporter and good guy). Budgetary reasons were reportedly the cause. Further, "The paper’s copy chief also resigned in protest after the deputy copy chief was laid off Wednesday." This…
Tristan Taormino Laid Off At Village Voice
Tristan Taormino, the "Pucker Up" sex columnist who has been with the Village Voice for nine years, was laid off on Friday, she confirmed to Gawker today. Voice editor Tony Ortega told her she was a victim of budget cuts. We also hear that the ailing alt-weekly's photo editor, Staci Schwartz, was recently laid off…
Alt-Weeklies In Trouble
Creative Loafing, the conglomerate that owns the alt-weeklies in DC, Atlanta, Chicago, and several other cities, has filed for bankruptcy. The company has more than $40 million of debt, a number exacerbated by its purchases of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper last year. This may be just a foreshadowing of…
Human Meets Dog
"Anyone who picked up the Village Voice this morning and turned to Lynn Yaeger's cover story on page 14 was met with a stomach-churning surprise that may have ruined their already unpleasant subway commute to work—a vivid, closeup pile of human excrement belonging to the artist Andres Serrano," writes Joe Pompeo in…
Elle's Carol Smith, The Book on Paulson
How Did the Voice Really Get the Dirt on Weinstein?
Tony Ortega is editor-in-chief of the Village Voice. He's also the man who accidentally came across a big pile of Harvey Weinstein's trash on the street in Tribeca, papers he kindly shared with readers this week. Of course, this was the same week that a recording of a private conversation between Weinstein and…
Who Is Out to Get the Weinsteins?
Is someone is out to get Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob? Yesterday Gawker posted an "exclusive" conversation between Weinstein and Joe Roth; today Page Six reveals it got the same tape and that a former Miramax employee "is writing an 'explosive' book about their management of Miramax, based on files and tapes…
How Harvey Weinstein Squeezes Millions Out Of Project Runway
$8 million. Does that seem like a lot of money for a company to pay to have mediocre models use their hair products on a mediocre cable show for a few seasons? It kind of does. But that's how much The Weinstein Company, run by entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, is trying to squeeze out of L'Oreal for three…
Strike Possible At Village Voice
Columnist Michael Musto: "We're hoping to settle it, but if it happens, I would turn it out... I'll get out my entire summer wardrobe and put on quite a show." [Daily News]
"Petulant" Gays Rejecting Public Sex!
Six years after writer Steve Weinstein first announced the "Return of Public Sex," in the Village Voice's "Pride Issue," the same writer declares "The End of Public Sex" in the Village Voice's Queer Issue. He defends his thesis with this opener: "In a few darkened corners, there were a few guys giving blowjobs and…

