Let Us Count The Ways That Print Is Dead
In your suddenly Wednesday media column: Conde Nast moves its B-team, Larry Hackett despises humanity, and print is dead, along with baseball and apple pie and puppies:
Conde Nast is clearing out of 54,000 square feet of space in an office building on Lexington Avenue, currently occupied by Golf Digest. The once-fancy publisher is subletting the space to another company. It’s not clear where Golf Digest will move, but, considering Conde’s current financial state, it probably won’t be “to a glittering golden throne atop a huge pile of money.”
Look, the New York Times has gained insider access to record the delicate process of People magazine choosing a cover story! How does editor Larry Hackett balance consumer sensibilities, stars’ egos, and pressing financial concerns to select successful stories that uplift—and sell? “We’re also on Farrah watch,” he said. “At this point Farrah has to die. It’s the only cover left for her.” Thank you, Larry Hackett.
Bill McHugh is a newspaper pressman. He runs printing presses. For the Boston Globe. In an interview, he basically tells a Globe reporter, “You think you’re screwed?”
The LA Times has suspended publication of its new, atrociously-named weekly magazine LAetcetera, “Featuring pop culture, shopping, fashion, and home features,” before the first issue even comes out. Somewhere in the Tribune company sits an executive who was sure that LAetcetera would be a big winner.
Do you know what, of all things, is not getting good ratings on the television these days? The American pastime! (Baseball). The last World Series had its worst ratings ever, and now Game of the Week ratings are down nearly 10% this season. Communism?
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Larry Hackett is one of the good guys and I think the point of the People story is that the magazine is doing really well in a terrible environment. So maybe print isn't dead after all.
I like baseball (players' pants!)
I think I love baseball--that's the one with the pointy ball that doesn't bounce good, right?
Tattertotter
@unclevanya: love baseball, like David Wright, hate the Mets
so we have some common ground, no?
You will take baseball from me when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
This I vow to my future husband David Wright and my Mets.
@Cheap Shot: Relax. This is just a long-running viral marketing campaign for a new HBO series called "Print is Dead."
That's why Gawker won't shut up about it.
Baseball was killed after the baseball strike of 1994 by Bud Selig with massive injections of steroids. k
Let Us Count The Ways That Print Is Dead So That We Can Justify Our Existence.
The weather has been good this spring. Even we hardcore baseball fans would prefer doing something outdoors to enduring three hours of Joe Buck and Timmah McCarver. (And thanks for making me click five times to read like six sentences).
The L.A. Times had already turned its Sunday magazine over to notorious local hack Annie Gilbar, who converted it into a shallower-than-ever mix of ad-friendly junk features and overpriced fashion. This new magazine seems to have been just an extension of the same product, so killing it won't really make a difference in the paper's vastly diminished quality one way or another.
That Larry Hackett, boy he's a softie, huh? Die People mag, die you horrid rag!!
Mmm, the phone just started ringing again: More print work is on the way.