Remember Dana Vachon? The blogger who parlayed a bunch of posts about lust and drinking into a book deal which immediately made him the envy of those of us who are still writing on spec for Manhattan Resident? Well, it turns out that rather than spend the summer masturbating (or just masturbating), he finished his first novel. What's it about?
• Rich dudes who want to be media magnates "look to the inherent worth of personnel and resources able to enlighten and expose, report and reflect, with a voice that can be heard above the din." Funny, we thought it was for the pussy. [Chicago Tribune]
• The UK Telegraph is looking to cut about seventy jobs, leaving us to wonder who'll be left to edit their vicious screeds against Polish plumbers and other assorted immigrants. [Guardian]
• Times questions Ana Marie Cox's "journalistic chops"; presumably it's only okay for her to write book reviews and op-ed pieces. The reverse Maureen Dowd transition, though? No sale. [NYT]
• Who wants to buy into a dying industry? The rest of said industry. [MarketWatch]
• Bee Shaffer, ex-journalist? Put us down as doubtful, but hope springs eternal. [IvyGate]
• Katie Couric gets her nun on. [Tabloid Baby]
• Seth Mnookin wants some context from the press. Here's some context for ya: Seth Mnookin rides a scooter. [Seth Mnookin]
• "When we launched For Me a little over a year ago, we thought that there was a market for a young woman's lifestyle magazine which was not focused on gossip." Well, that's your problem right there. [FishbowlNY]
• Jodi Kantor gives you the angle on airports that Greg Lindsay couldn't. Don't try and do everything on your first day back, Jodi. [NYT]
• How much do we love Slate's "investigation" of brunch? Um, a lot, actually? Almost as much as we love their look at Chuck Klosterman? Slate, we're sorry we've been mean lately, full stop. [Slate]
• Ed Kosner tones down criticism of Mort Zuckerman in memoir about Daily News. The actions of a man worried about his future employability or brilliant meta-commentary on how the News is essentially a softer version of the Post? We prefer to think the latter. [WWD]
• ESPN Mobile will start offering full-length college football games to the nine people who subscribe to the service. [WaPo]
• John Meacham to take reins at Newsweek from Mark Whitaker, Earth continues to revolve around the sun. [WSJ]
• "Must we really need to enumerate all the ways here in which Michael Wolff has proven himself once again to be a total asshat?" No. [NYO]
Is it just us, or has this been the longest week ever?
• Is Time Warner going to sell off Time, Sports Illustrated, and People? You've got questions, Slate's got answers. And more questions. [Slate]
• Did you know about this crazy site YouTube? It's amazing! How have we not heard of it until now? [WSJ]
• We always figured Seth Mnookin for a Vespa. Live and learn. [Seth Mnookin]
• If all of America isn't laughing at Michael Tracey, they should be. [RMN]
• Rupert Murdoch to distribute 400,000 copies of his paper free. This is in London, though; over here you've still got to drop a quarter for that crap. [Guardian]
• Hyperion launches new imprint for women who want to read chick lit but don't want to know that they're reading chick lit. [NYT]
• This shouldn't be news to anyone, but A.N. Wilson is a shit. [Times UK]
Over at IvyGate, a deliberately non-scientific study reveals some stunning news: Top editors at top publications are not all Ivy League twats! In fact, the breakdown of IvyGate's (again, highly selective) investigation shows a slight edge to the non-Ivy crowd. Also, Conde Nast seems a safe bet if you've only got a G.E.D. Some fascinating stuff to parse here. Still, we can't help wondering about the titles they excluded: Where, for instance, did Jared Kushner go to school? The staff of 02138? We think we should be told.
• Gruff, avuncular voice may introduce Katie Couric. Or not. [NYDN]
• Domain for new magazine using common word as name already taken. [WWD]
• Virginia Heffernan and Jon Fine are hot on the trail of lonelygirl15. Imagine if they teamed up! It would be like Nancy Drew meets the Hardy Boys! Except, you know, about solving a YouTube mystery. [Screens]
• Even the nipple slips are third tier this week. [Egotastic]
From yesterday's Media News.
Breaking from AdAge:
• Apparently Maxim really is looking to go upscale; "subtle transformation" to be completed by October with debut of Chris Wilson's monthly art appreciation column, "Paintings That Will Get Their Pants Off." [FBNY]
• Fox News broadcasts hostage video of kidnapped Fox News journalists, immediately criticizes Fox News for undermining war effort. [Fox News]
• Jon Friedman "ashamed to be a journalist." Rest of profession ashamed about exact same thing. [Marketwatch]
• Time needs Newsweek like Slate needs Salon: as a measuring stick for comparative suckitude. [Slate]
• MTV needs videos like Time needs Newsweek: as a differentiator for younger, hungrier competitors. [BW]
• BusinessWeek needs Brandchannel the way MTV needs videos: to run the same thing you saw last week into the ground. [BW]
• Tony Kornheiser needs to be put down. Seriously. This is not a joke. Nice job, though, Weingarten. [WP]
• Jennifer Leuzzi cannot get enough of Jo l Robuchon. It'd be nice if she let Sun readers know that they're BFF. [TGC]
• Newspaper industry believes newspapers should be more expensive. Newspaper industry also plugging ears with fingers and chanting "We can't hear you." [Independent]
• Fox, on the other hand, understands the value of its product. [TV.com]
• Simon Dumenco brings us a chilling vision of the future, where Gawker merges with Hallmark. Get ready for those "Darling, please accept my apology for being such a douchebag" cards any day now. [AdAge]
• Washington Post executive editor thinks it's inappropriate for his reporters to actually report what they've heard from sources. Unless those sources happen to be frat dudes who reveal the secrets of pawning your friend off on the ugly chick. [NYS]
• Observer editor Peter Kaplan punks George Gurley; introduces intern as new owner Jared Kushner. Good sport Gurley chuckles, drags intern into bathroom for traditional "Bump Off George's Knuckles" welcome. [NYDN]
• Jon Fine actually has an interesting angle on the whole "Time moves to Friday" thing: It's gonna hurt Life. And possibly BusinessWeek, but that goes unsaid. [BW]
• Sports writers vs. sports bloggers: Whose sublimated homosexual desire for strong, sweaty men will prove dominant in the long run? [92nd St Y]
• Will Ben Widdicombe take over Lloyd Grove's empty chair once the sad-faced gossip is kicked to the curb? Jossip.com says "unequivocally," which doesn't sound at all like an attempt to force a decision that hasn't yet been made. [Jossip]
• With rare exceptions, we're reluctant to reprint every crazy-ass letter from obvious nuts that comes across our inbox. We don't have a problem linking to people who do, though. [FishbowlNY]
Literary blogger and former Floridian Maud Newton notes the following announcement from the Miami New Times:
