acp

Did ACP Hack ‘4 Inch Heels Only’?

10:06AM Clem Bastow | You have probably heard by now of the anonymous blog, 4 Inch Heels Only, which has the ACP building in a spin (ACP, for those of you who don’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on fashion and “women’s” magazines, publishes Cosmo, Cleo, Dolly and Madison, amongst many others) thanks to its unsavoury insider know-how as to how things work at the publishing empire. Most of the fuss is because “the call is coming from inside the house”, to use horror flick parlance – it’s assumed that whoever is writing the blog is an ACP staffer. However, as of this morning, 4 Inch Heels has been hacked to within an inch of its life. You’ll notice we’ve not linked to the blog itself, that’s because the hack is so ridiculously NSFW our computers would probably explode if we linked to it, and you’d be fired before you even clicked through. Yes, said l337 hax0r has covered 4 Inch Heels with images of bot-sex porn and naked boosies and noo noos (hey, we’re just trying to escape your filters). In fact, the only bit we can show you is this: Making this kerfuffle even sweeter is the fact that all media outlets (including the news.com.au piece we linked to above) who are linking to the blog are now sending their readers into a cesspit of split-beaver shots. The question, thus, needs to be asked – did someone at ACP slip a tenner and a crate of 2 Minute Noodles to a willing hacker to do the deed? There is no other reason (other than spectacular coincidence) why anyone would bother hacking an industry blog to this extent. And if it was organised by someone within ACP, doesn’t that suggest that everything 4 Inch Heels Only said was true? We expect the plot to thicken throughout the day. More »

Another Australian Publication Bites The Dust

4:46PM Clem Bastow | New Woman, the mag that was never quite saucy enough to muscle in on the Cosmo/Cleo crowd, not fashionable enough for the Marie Claire/Harpers Bazaar crew, and not quite grown-up enough for the Women’s Weekly audience, is set to close at the end of April. Since publishing behemoth ACP took over Emap Australia’s titles last year, they have apparently noted New Woman’s “challenges”, which in mag publishing trade-speak essentially translates as “it’s fucked”. ACP Magazines chief executive Scott Lorson said ACP had made the decision to close down the magazine “sooner rather than later”. “The title has enjoyed some success in the past, but has struggled to establish a unique and sustainable position in the highly competitive women’s lifestyle category,” Mr Lorson said. “When we purchased the Emap business, we were aware of the significant challenges facing New Woman.” Don’t be too quick to shed a tear for the staff, however, as ACP are particularly good at absorbing and reabsorbing staff from one magazine to another – witness the career trajectory of, for example, Mia Freedman (through the revolving doors of Cosmo, Dolly and so forth) and Paula Joye (from Cleo to Madison) and Bronwyn McCahon (Cosmo to Dolly and back to Cosmo). More »