John Koblin's argument that, thanks to the web breaking EVERY BIT OF NEWS EVER, the newsworthiness of many print media stories are total hoky, since reporters and editors are grasping at whispers of memes to turn out articles rife with speculation and a prayer for relevance.
Which just about describes today's rumor that Katie Couric might be writing a tell-all memoir. CONTINUED »
Last night Keith Kelly, and all those other Kellys, held court at Michael's for their annual Kelly Gang fundraiser. This year they were donating funds to the Krabbe Disease-focused Hunter's Hope Foundation, founded by Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly and his wife Jill for their son, Hunter.
It was St. Patrick's day, which meant lots of wearing green, stepdancing, and drinking, though that last one would've happened with or without the holiday. Publicists arrived in crowds, all there, as one publicist put it, to pay homage to and curry favor with the Post columnist. Receiving lines are cute.
A dapper Rick Stengel, Time's editor, took our drink order, but it took Time Inc. publicist Betsy Burton's wrangling for us to get it. Keith Kelly's hair had been cut recently; at least one of his kids was running around in a "Kelly" jersey. Kent Brownridge wanted to talk about a certain dragon tattoo story; new bride and Hearst publicist Alexandra Carlin did not.
New York's Jesse Oxfeld explained his birthday plans. In Touch's Dan Wakeford delivered punchlines in his British accent. Genre editor Neal Boulton shared quality time and sweet nothings with former Star editor Joe Dolce, who was all smiles and says he's working on something big but can't say what. (NB: Every unemployed person says that.) New Freud Communications queenpin Lisa Dallos tossed around bread rolls with Ron Perelman's rep Chris Taylor. Us Weekly chief Janice Min looked like she just stepped off the Photoshop screen of her photo chief (that's a compliment).
And then, toward the end of the evening, when AMI editorial director Bonnie Fuller made her too-late-to-be-fashionable entrance, Min was suddenly absent from the table she had been sitting at. She could be found standing toward the back of the restaurant, engaged in conversation. With someone else.
[Photo]
Did you hear? Portfolio's senior editor, Dan Roth (whom EIC Joanne Lipman once poached from Fortune "with much fanfare") has now officially been poached by the Conde Nast mag's top in-house competitor, Wired magazine.
What's more, in the hours leading up to Roth's defection, Wired editor Chris Anderson (a.k.a. "the mean man who stole Roth away") had the audacity to show up to S.I. Newhouse Jr.'s annual holiday lunch and shove down food as though nothing had even happened.
Worse still? According to Matlock doppelganger (and fellow lunch attendee) Keith Kelly, Anderson "didn't even have that great a seat." Poor Joanne. When it rains, it pours. [NYP]
Let’s take a trip in the way back machine: In August, Keith Kelly reported that David Bianculli, The Daily News TV critic, would not have his contract renewed after 14 years with the paper.
At the time, a source “familiar with the situation” told Kelly, "I assume it is a money thing. They'll probably replace him with some blogger who sits around in his pajamas."
In Bianculli’s farewell column today, he announced that he will become one of those bloggers who sits around in his pajamas. He is launching tvworthwatching.com, a TV blog.
Not having his contract renewed must have been rough. But on the plus side, now that Bianculli is reporting on TV for his own blog, he will have no reason to put on real pants ever again.
Veteran NYP media columnist Keith Kelly certainly has a way with his sources! Take, for instance, Friday's "Media Ink" column, in which the omniscient Kelly enlightens us as to why Times business columnist Joseph Nocera dropped out of the Rupert Murdoch/WSJ book proposal after a purported "snit" with his boss (and book partner) Larry Ingrassia. Writes Kelly:
"When Nocera was reached yesterday and asked if he was working on a book deal with Ingrassia, he replied, 'Not anymore.' And when asked what led Nocera to end his participation in the project, he said, 'None of your business.'"
And there you have it! The latest shred of evidence in the ongoing mystery of "Why Keith J. Kelly and the beloved* television character, "Matlock" have never been seen in the same room together."
*By old people
MSNBC fact-checkers fell for an unfunny Al Sharpton parody, blasts Keith Kelly. And as a result, Sharpton was (prematurely) credited with turning Michael Vick's dogfighting conviction into a divisive race relations issue.
A sheepish spokesperson admits, "Sharpton's quote did seem rather outlandish at the time," then adds, "We just figured that meant it was authentic."*
*Fine, no one actually said this. At least, not as far as we know.
Portfolio's second issue hits newsstands later this week, with improved tempo and pacing, but with new unrest now surfacing on Joanne Lipman's editorial staff. Overall, our evaluators here see an improved product, although not quite an "A" level from the high-priced A-team. We would give it a mid-range B, up from the B- that The Post gave it for its maiden voyage.
–Stingy media professor Keith Kelly, refusing to give those grade-grubbers at Portfolio anything higher than a B/B+.
Have you ever picked up the inaugural issue of a brand new business-for-women magazine, weighing approximately 5-6 pounds, flipped through all the boring high-end advertisements (ooh! Luxury cruises you can't afford!) and then suddenly realized that the Michael Lewis sports/business hybrid article didn't actually make any sense, even though it was really long, and that you don't really care what Tom Wolfe thinks about Greenwich, Connecticut, anyway?
If so, you're probably on the edge of your seat, waiting for the second, do-or-die issue of Portfolio, to see whether Joanne Lipman has the chops to turn it around editorially—or at least the financial resources to "recruit" other, talented writers/editors who can.
And the good news is, you're not alone.
Looks as though the revamped New York Daily News website hasn't yet found its niche among the "bored at work" set. As Keith Kelly (of the rival New York Post) gleefully writes, "the Web site which has undergone three major redesigns in the last seven years, has been a sore spot for the Daily News."
As it turns out, that's a bit of an understatement.
So, remember yesterday when Keith Kelly wrote that Martin Dunn was about to be axed, and replaced by News of the World editor, Andy Coulson?
Well, apparently that rumor was about as factually correct as, well, your average issue of News of the World. In fact, Dunn himself writes to Jim Romenesko to set the record straight.
"As always, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," jokes the still-employed Daily News chieftain.
Oh, Martin. It's that incisive wit and penchant for sarcasm that enables you to come up with unbeatable headlines such as "Britney Shears" and "Father Nose Best," following Keith Richards' shocking revelation that he snorted his dead father's ashes along with a line or two of coke.
But we digress.
Dunn's full denial (which includes an anti-Keith Kelly barb!) after the jump.
Well, it's been a few days since we last heard from Men's Fitness EIC/Jann Wenner's makeout buddy, Neal Boulton, so we figured it was time for the obligatory update. Fortunately, veteran drinker media columnist Keith Kelley has one in today's NYP! And according to Kelly, the still-recovering Boulton has been (temporarily!) replaced by former Savoy head honcho Roy Johnson.
As for Boulton himself, when last we saw him, he was lying in a hospital bed, being visited* by publishing maven/alleged canoodler Jann Wenner, and joking about his marriage being over (hilarious!) Now Kelly reports that he's checked out of St. Vincent's, and is currently recuperating from surgery at home, where he is—presumably—being attended by his loving wife, with whom he has had sexual relations at least twice, as evidenced by his progeny.
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You know Jane Pratt, right? The former editor in chief of Sassy and Jane magazine, who recently—and for publicity absolutely no reason whatsoever—copped to having a hot lesbian affair with Drew Barrymore circa 1994?
Well, now Jane (who's a radio host, did we mention that? ) talks about publishing, Jane magazine, satellite radio and, of course, her twenty year old affair with Drew Barrymore. Let's fast-forward to the good stuff, shall we?
Jane's reflections on Sassy after the jump! (Kidding! It's the Drew Barrymore stuff, we promise).
CONTINUED »
• A-Listers and power-players converged at the Beverly Hilton yesterday evening. Their agenda? $2300 for one night with Barack Obama. Sexy-time!
• Scooter Libby trial moves into closing argument phase; Jossip moves into "we're already over it" phase.
• Deborah Norville signs enormous multiyear deal that prevents her from going "outside" Inside Edition.
• New York Post's top editor is suddenly reluctant to speak badly of their arch-nemesis, the New York Daily News.
• Fortunately for all, Post columnist Keith Kelly has no squeamishness whatsoever.
• Months after sustaining a head injury from an insurgent attack in Iraq, former World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff is still recovering. Which is almost as sad as ABC's decision to post X-rays of his skull.
In the aftermath of yesterday's mass-firings, it's time for all the Friday newspapers to take a poetic stab at describing the casualties. After all was said and done, Time fired a total of 289 people, 117 from the business side, 172 from the editorial side, to focus more of their energies towards their online ventures.
And while we certainly empathize with those who lost their jobs, we can't help but notice that the coverage of this whole episode has taken on a flair for the dramatic.
(Naturally, we're all for artistic license, but to read the account of what transpired yesterday, you'd think 289 people had lost their lives yesterday, rather than, well, merely the opportunity to write about Britney Spears to their hearts' content).
With this in mind, however, we've collected the most emotive descriptions of yesterday's tragedy for your voyeuristic reading pleasure. We hope that at this somber time, you'll read each of the various accounts with all the respect and dignity that it deserves.
In the end, it's not about people or People, time or Time, it's about fortune and money.
WWD:
As one former Time Inc.-er described "it takes a day or so for the bodies to float to the surface.'"
One Time Inc. staffer said: 'The mood is really sad, really difficult.
And, of course, The New York Post:
"It's like Humpty Dumpty, [it] will never be put back together again."
While we applaud the rest of you for your noble efforts, there's really no better way to sum up what happened at Time Inc. yesterday than by comparing it to a nursery rhyme about a giant, fictitious creature who's half-egg, half-man.
Hat's off to you, Keith Kelly. And to the rest of you—better luck next time.
Time Inc.'s widely anticipated wave of job cuts is expected to take place today - and insiders are predicting the bloodbath could involve as many as 250 people.
C'mon, you can tell us: How many of you just got wet, down there, and how many of you are reaching for a Kleenex to blot your running makeup?
We certainly know which column Keith Kelly falls into.
Editorial Director
