Even though her blogger troops have been blog-blog-blogging about Tim Russert’s death since it was announced on Friday, it wasn’t until Sunday that Arianna Huffington finally wrote anything about it. Maybe it’s because she couldn’t stand him? “To some fans, her detached wistfulness didn’t even amount to faint praise. Defenders of Huffington argue that she won’t be a phony. While she never wished the man harm, they say, she can’t pretend she didn’t find him wanting as a reporter. Huffington’s “Russert-Watch” delivered withering critiques of his “Meet the Press” interviews. In 2005, she wrote that Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman’s appearance proved Russert’s show has become ‘journalism’s answer to the ‘E-ZPass.’ Mehlman was allowed to … manipulate, obfuscate and ‘disassemble’ his way through every stop on the disinformation highway.’” [R&M]
Thanks to the lovely Google Cache, a blog’s since-pulled offline report about Chris Matthews’ revelation and Tucker Carlson’s confirmation, during a Portfolio photo shoot at MSNBC’s D.C. studio, that Arianna Huffington had hired a private investigator to tail a NBC colleague (since identified as Tim Russert) can still be read. [Google Cache]
As it the censored item now reads: “The original author of this post and the editor of this blog would like to sincerely apologize to Conde Nast, Portfolio, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson and the photographer on set for any problems or inconvenience we might have caused. We had no intention to bring harm to anybody involved.”
Except, well, too late? The blogger, Douglas Thompson, has officially screwed over his friend, the photographer, who he tagged along with. No more Conde Nast work for you, buddy.
The problem with the term “beautiful girl” is that girls are rarely, if ever, beautiful. Girls are pretty and girls are cute — and that’s fine because there’s a time and place for cute (the age 16 and prom, respectively) — but they’re not beautiful. Women are beautiful. Women are sexy.
We’re reminded of how many people ignore that important distinction around this time every year: the lad mag “Hot List” season, when Maxim et al group together the names of every sad, drunk, Botoxed, sutured, bleached, commodified and infected girl in Hollywood and try to pretend the resultant stable has sex appeal. We’re sick of it, so we’ve compiled our own lineup of truly beautiful women.
Despite our lengthy reports on MSNBC’s inner workings, Jossip continues to get asked back to appear on the network. (Okay, yesterday’s David Gregory item might have officially killed our welcome.) But Arianna Huffington, here with some familiar faces, thinks she’s been banned from 30 Rock thanks to her dubbing Meet the Press host and D.C. bureau chief Tim Russert as “EZ Pass,” thanks to his letting Washington’s elite get a free pass on his Sunday chat show.
Keith Kelly’s “sources” (Huffington herself?) claim the blog diva got the news of her blackball on Tuesday night while she was dining at Barbara Walters home, though NBC News SVP Phil Griffin claims, “I haven’t seen the book. I don’t know anything about it.”
Then again, Huffington does have a new book, Right is Wrong, to promote, and what better way to get the word out than fluff up a story like this? Sure, if true, potential bookings on Countdown and Hardball are out, but perhaps she’ll get a nice rant-laden plug on The O’Reilly Factor.
When Time.com contributor-of-something Ana Marie Cox told her husband, Congressional Quarterly editor Chris Lehmann, that she’d be reviewing the new book, Right Is Wrong, from Arianna Huffington – a regular on the same party circuit as Cox and with whom Cox had discussed potential contributing to the Huffington Post – “he asked if I thought that might have an impact on our friendship.”
And not whether it might impact Cox’s ability to write write an objective review of Arianna’s book for The Observer.
Is Arianna Huffington’s group blog getting more traffic than the indefatigable Matt Drudge? Third-party sources who are often completely off base say yes! Nielsen Online says HuffPo snagged 3.7 millino unique visitors in February, to Drudge’s mere 3.4m. comScore’s numbers are tinier than Nielsen’s, but report the same trend: HuffPo’s 2.3m to Drudge’s 1.6m. Maybe Bill O’Reilly’s ambush tactics are working in her favor? [Boomtown]
You didn’t expect Bill O’Reilly to apologize for calling Arianna Huffington a Nazi, now did you? [Mixed Media]
What’s the difference between Arianna Huffington and the KKK and the Nazis? NOTHING!, says Bill O’Reilly, because they all want people to die.
Ahem.
Why the parallels drawn between the liberal champion and a pair of hate groups? Because on Huffington Post, readers are being allowed to exercise their free speech rights in saying “vicious, vile things” about Nancy Reagan, who injured herself this month in a fall. How O’Reilly even knows about this confounds us, since he’ll be the first to say he doesn’t read those disgusting blog things. And isn’t that the real tragedy?
When Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer admitted that he had no plans to ever pay his bloggers, there was some outrage from the reporters and pundits who had grown accustomed to getting money for their work.
But the fact is, The Huffington Post offers her bloggers something which can be more valuable than money: Web traffic.
Consider Valerie Wilson’s blog on the Huffington Post. She became a writer on the site literately three hours after her 60 Minutes segment. She’s written three posts on the Huffington Post, mostly about her book, and her experience trying to promote it.
CONTINUED »
Yesterday, fresh on the heels of officially announcing CBS defector Betsy Morgan as HuffPo’s new CEO, Arianna Huffington delivered the keynote address at The Webby Awards and managed to promote new media (specifically the Huffington Post) as the wave of the future while slamming everything from the New York Times to Bob Schrum (”Schrum lost the Al Gore campaign and he was rehired to lose the the Kerry campaign.”) Some of the highlights!
“The Huffington Post has more stringent fact-checking than the New York Times.”
“[MSNBC has] become the network of blondes covering missing blondes.”
“Every story does not have to have two sides. That’s bullshit.”
“Political ads still look like the 1950s because the consultants are from the 1950s.”
And, of course, our personal favorite, Arianna’s thoughts on the meaninglessness of political polls: “It’s just bored and lonely Americans who have nothing better to do at dinner than talk to pollsters for no money.”
Even crazier? Those bored and lonely Americans also happen to constitute the majority of HuffPo’s readership! Or, at least, they used to.
• Arianna Huffington fractures her heel walking over a metal grate while out for a stroll with Charlie Rose. Tough break, Huffington. Why don’t you blog about it?
• Because nothing says rip-roaring good time like getting spit on by Amy “Desperately Needs Rehab” Winehouse.
• OMG, former N’Syncer (and current gay poster boy) Lance Bass, out on the town with his brand-new model boyfriend! Meanwhile, is it just us, or does Lance always look kind of, well, lost?
• In between applying for waitressing jobs and taking off all of her clubs, Britney Spears actually finds time to shoot a music video.
• Out in Redmond, MSNBC.com voices its approval of canceling Don Imus. They didn’t express their concerns to NBC News because, well, nobody cared.
• What’s worse: Images of Barbara Walters tanning, or images of Barbara Walters having sex?
• Fans of David Sedaris in the press corps rally behind the author’s lies.
• Bernard Goldberg’s tome on working at CBS News includes one, perhaps two, worthwhile anecdotes.
• After that little plagiarism scandal, CBS News says it’ll crack down on web content. Like, they’re start using links and stuff.
• With universities banning its survey, U.S. News & World Report finds itself suddenly irrelevant. Again.
• Arianna down! Arianna down!
Have you ever thought about delving into the lucrative career of executive assistantship? Ever wished you could work for someone who never sleeps, speaks with an incomprehensible accent, and changes her political affiliations as often as her husband “changes” his sexual orientation?
Well then, look no further than right here!
Arianna Huffington, the founder of the Huffington Post, is looking for someone to manage her phones, money-clip and Microsoft Outlook calendar while she’s busy huffing away. And we think you’d be perfect!
Just make sure that you don’t need any handholding, are capable of juggling a “VERY BUSY” schedule and are excited about “connect[ing] with brilliant and creative minds.” And be able to budget yourself, because the cheapskate HuffPo is only willing to pay a mere trifle, (circa 100K), for your troubles. Oh, and don’t worry cause that’s lots of opportunity for advancement, so you’ll be windexing Arianna’s computer screen and picking lint off her cashmere sweater-set before you know it.
And you’d better take this opportunity seriously. After all, those flowers didn’t place themselves on the window sill, now did they?
The full job description is after the jump.
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• Arianna Huffington is adding original political reporting to her online outpost. Even better: Staffers will be paid!
• It comes as a shock that it’s Reader’s Digest who requires you to be hot to lead the company.
• Sundance readies 122 feature films for this year’s festival. Attendees will stick to just one digital short and 16 parties.
• CBS let 3 Lbs get all the way to the 3-episode mark before canceling it.
• With Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric all currently reporting from Jordan, it looks like the news lass is landing the biggest gets.
• Former AIG chairman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg showed what it takes to move the NYT’s stock upward: false rumors of a takeover bid.
• Fox News has at least one staunch defender — who sometimes makes sense.
• It’s no guest editing French Vogue, but if you win Stuff’s contest to be an editor for a day, promise to email us?
• Google engaged in secret advertising practices? Psshaw!
The greatest job opportunity since being Anna Wintour’s assistant has become available to you. The Huffington Post needs a comment monitor! Hey, it’s better than a hall monitor, and pays more than baby-sitting.
… that HuffingtonPost.com, a fast-growing news and blogged-opinion site, has is in need of part-time assistants to help monitor comments on the site. This position pays $12 per hour.
Plus, if you try really hard, and monitor all the comments really closely, Arianna might just take you for a trip on her jet. Plus, Rachel Sklar gives all her staffers back rubs.
• Finally, a non-depressing explanation for why bloggers are never sober. [Blogebrity]
• Maybe Graydon Carter changed his mind. Or, maybe Radar was just wrong. Either way, neither would be a first. [FBNY]
• Ok, an ok word for an Arianna Huffington entourage would be “Ari-entourage.” But, come on … “Arianntourage” anyone? [The Phoenix]
• Jessica Simpson got her hair did … but she forgot about the “get yer nails done” part. [OAN]
• What you don’t know about Vincent Gallo can’t hurt you. And this new information hurts, so click at your own risk. [Oh No They Didn’t]
• These guys are definitely making a case for more women to be in government. If only Mark Foley and Jim McGreevey didn’t have to make it sohard for the gays. [Wonkette]
• Harper’s Bazaar has been busy shopping Conde Nast’s market staffers. We hear the Hearst cafe is better, people! [FWD]
• Clubs in L.A. don’t want Brandon Davis to enter. The real question, though, is “why?” He’s so sweet and fun-loving. We really just don’t get it. [TMZ]
• Now that she’s the most famous lady of the day, maybe Arianna Huffington can offer to have Tom Freston’s carpet cleaned? [FBNY]
• Girls, listen up. Just be happy with yourselves, ok? So what if you’re a frizzy mess and dickwads call you names like hag or slag or biyotch? Linda Wells thinks you’re hot. And she would also like if it if you grow some confidence and stop interrupting her vacation to talk about lip gloss and conditioner. Capiche? [NYDN]
• And then there’s this girl. Who almost has too much confidence. We don’t know — celibacy vows seem somehow cheapened when Paris Hilton flashes her ass all over town. [Mollygood]
Five Internet pages and probably around 2,000 words were devoted to Arianna Huffington in this week’s New York magazine. It always shocks us that people are still buzzing over Ms. Huffington — then again, it also seems like the Huffington Post has been around for much longer than 17 months. We have yet to read the whole thing (we have a deadline every 20 minutes people!) but we will say that A Huff is lookin’ pretty damn good for 56.
In a piece by New York’s Emily Nussbaum, she describes Huffington as “ridiculously lovely” while expressing the overwhelming presence the journalist-cum-blogger exudes upon entering a room. Our favorite comparison, however, is by far the one presented by Huffington’s newest site companion, former Onion editor Ben Wikler.
We chat about his boss’s intense charisma. “It’s her superpower,” Wikler says. “If she were in the X-Men, that would be her mutant power. If Rogue touched her, she’d take away her charm.”
Then Al Franken started blabbering, and we stopped reading.
The Human Blog [Emily Nussbaum, New York Magazine]
• Complex magazine finds somebody to lead them into the future. We can’t really say how long that future will be, but, at least they have a leader. [NYO]
• George Clooney is making everyone in Hollywood sweat. And they aren’t scared or turned on … they’re just really, really, hot. [Defamer]
• Just like the rest of us, Paris Hilton drinks her margaritas one schwill at a time. And no matter how much head she offers, when she drives hammered, she get charged with DUI’s. Mostly so they can make an example out of her. [TMZ]
• Not only is Arianna Huffington starting up a new, sharp-tongued, site, but it even has a launch date pegged to it. If you consider “November” a date. [FBNY]
• And Maxim also hires two. One from House & Garden. We hope she likes beer bongs more than rubber clogs. [Gawker]
• Isn’t everything in Williamsburg considered “street art?” Isn’t that why all those people look like that? [Curbed]
• In New York, porn and fashion are totally synonymous. Especially when Marc Jacobs and Michael Lucas. [R&M, 485i]
• Well, Ralph Lauren staffers, it looks like things could be worse. You could have the bed bugs they get in Bed Stuy — the ones you can actually see. [NYT]
• Did Tom Freston really think a book party for Arianna Huffington would draw a small crowd? [Page Six]
Editorial Director
