JOSSIP REPORTS — We're hearing word that a bunch of AMI's Star staffers got axed today. No word yet on names, but our source says the chopping block contained a photo director, designer and reporter.
UPDATE: Some names, after the jump. CONTINUED »
Since Jett Travolta's death is the kind of celebrity tragedy that newspegs are made of (this one involving mysterious circumstances, weird religious practices, and a secret mental disorder — the trifecta for tabloids), you can bet that the condolences and respectful silence will quickly turn into probing exposes and a media shitshow surrounding the 16-year old's seizure from Kawasaki Disease.
So far though, it's Radar Online, now owned by David Pecker over at AMI, that's leading the pack of inappropriateness with an interview with one of the EMT's who responded to the Travolta's 911 call. CONTINUED »
You knew this day would come. The day when even the most tawdry gossip, the most scandalous, half-baked rumors, would no longer be profitable. Despite what everyone told you, there won't be always be room for entertainment during a depression.
And with that joyous message in mind, AMI Media, publisher of titles such as Star, The National Enquirer, and the soon to be relaunched Radar Online is beginning their dreaded staff cuts. So far, only the business side has been affected, with about 12 positions finding out their Christmas bonus won't be in the mail, but insiders say that the editorial should get their pink slips sometime in the next 24 hours. Don't worry, we'll keep you updated in case any of your favorite Pecker staffers start having to make an honest living.
So a funny thing happened on the way to the E.R. this morning… a UCLA hospital worker admitted to the courts that she had been selling the hospital records of famous patients like Farrah Fawcett and Britney Spears to weekly rag The National Enquirer.
49-year old Lawanda Jackson plead guilty to the felony charges that brought $4,600 dollars into her husbands checking account through the AMI mag, and could face 10 in prison and $250,000 in fines.
As for The National Enquirer's punishment for buying the records?
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Sure the magazine industry has a big Going Out of Business sign on the front door, but they're not the only ones. AMI Chief David Pecker wants all his employees to know how much the automotive industry is tanking as well. So maybe if The National Enquirer could throw in a couple Honda references next to their speculation about Cindy McCain's lover, that would be great.
There is no such thing as exclusivity anymore, especially on the web, so the new Radaronline will have to spin their news in a way that TMZ.com isn't. The new site will have to push the envelope a little further. We're talking about reporters and videographers getting the shit kicked out of them to deliver the juice.
-MediwaWire
Because if there is one thing this country needs, it's more aggressively cutthroat paparazzi, willing to do anything to provoke a reaction out of increasingly distempered celebrities.
We would say: if RadarOnline, as owned by AMI, wants to distinguish itself from TMZ, it will need to be a radical overhaul from what the conventional gossip cycle is. Like perhaps finding a new way to interact with celebrities that isn't completely abrasive and intrusive.
If there is such a way, let us know, too.
America Media Inc. should have passed on the Radar deal: whatever David Pecker paid obtain the mag's website could have gone to paying off the $20 million debt to bondholders that the company has missed their interest payment on.
Pecker says about his company, which owns Star and National Enquirer among others:
“We are in the midst of constructive discussions with lenders holding more than a majority of the borrowings under our credit facilities and bondholders holding more than a majority of each series of our bonds to achieve a financial restructuring of American Media that would include a significant deleveraging of American Media. Our board of directors and existing equity holders are fully supportive of these discussions and we are hopeful that these discussions will be successfully completed shortly.”
We say?
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Two Fridays ago, the publishing world was shocked by the news that Radar magazine folded, and that secret financier Ron Burkle had sold the online equivalent, including the blog Fresh Intelligence, to his frenemies over at AMI.
And David Pecker's first move as chief-in-charge was to fire all the writers of the blog, and install some putzes from his Star and National Enquirer staff to give daily updates about tabloid-y celebrity escapades. No one has looked at the site since.
But! Once in awhile we venture back to see how the AMI is treating the once clever site, and it never ceases to depress us after we do so.
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Ron Burkle, BFF of Hill and Bill, is set to acquire AMI, which owns Shape, Star, the National Enquirer and Men's Fitness. GQ’s advice to the editors there: stay out of the Clintons' way. [WWD]
Joe Scarborough may be known for his bloated midsection, but it's no match for Bonnie Fuller and her so-called "bloated paycheck." The AMI editorial director/gossip mongerer reportedly rakes in more than CEO David Pecker, with a base salary of $1.5 million and a guaranteed annual bonus of $500K. And here we though salacious talk was cheap. [NYP]
After a short five-month extension, America Media Inc. finally gets around to submitting their first quarter earnings. Meanwhile, turns out there was an excellent reason for the delay: they're $1.1 billion in debt, which—acknowledges AMI—"may put us at a competitive disadvantage." Well, obvi. [WWD]
At ABC headquarters in D.C., mysterious "white, powdery" substance turns out to be aspirin; Related: In moment of inspired genius, Lindsay Lohan's legal team unveils new "Tylenol" defense.
• CBS to pay Imus an undisclosed settlement. In exchange, the ousted radio D.J. will agree to "shut the fuck up."
• Ron Burkle still exploring the idea of adding Star and The National Enquirer to his "crappy supermarket tabloids" repertoire.
• Yeah, we're going to out on a limb here and say that Business Week's Jon Fine thinks Arthur Sulzberger should go private.
• Baghdad Diarist unimpressed with Weekly Standard and New Republic for being unimpressed with him: "It's been maddening, to say the least, to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq."
"I am very interested in celebrities and always have been. I have the same burning questions as everyone else, about Tom and Nicole's relationship and why did Brad and Jen break up. It's impossible to get jaded with celebrities."
That's Bonnie Fuller, opening up to Media Life about her unique perspective on celebrity culture. And while we're momentarily stunned by her outdated references (Brad and Jen break up? Tom and Nicole??) we're simultaneously gearing up for what promises to be an insightful, revealing interview.
Inevitably, we're wrong.
Bonnie Fuller is on full PR mode, offering annoying pat responses to inquiries about her future ("My next step is continuing to grow all the great magazines and brands here at American Media") and refusing even to answer the most banal questions, such as "what are you worst at?"
[Note to Bonnie: You don't have to be heart-wrenchingly honest here. No need for a candid response involving the phrases "soulless bitch" or "sleazy muckraker." Just say something stupid like "I'm a perfectionist" or "It's so hard for me to fit exercise into my busy schedule of ruining innocent people's lives."]
Truthfully, we can't quite figure out why Bonnie's suddenly rendered incapable of normal speech (possibly she's still traumatized by the Brad/Jen breakup?) but we've nevertheless reprinted the most telling excerpts below for your viewing "pleasure."
We already told you about AMI's financial woes (WWD reports that AMI lost $147 million on pubs like Star, Weekly World News and the National Enquirer) and Bonnie Fuller's affinity for the "missionary" position. And now we're hearing there's about to be an involuntary exodus.
Word on the street is that Star's looking to overcome their financial woes by ripping a page out of Time Inc. and MTV's playbooks and cutting jobs to keep their expense accounts open.
"Star is going to fire a bunch of people [today], heads up!" writes a tipster. "Star is making cuts everywhere. I can't remember, but it was something like 19 positions! Although that could be off…Headcount reductions here they come."
But how many cuts? And will this affect the senior staffers or just the underpaid/overworked underlings?
CONTINUED »
• Always beware of a guy in a fedora who threatens to bite off your boob, pee in your soup, and thinks that Page Six is the mafia.
• And magazines who lie to you about being able to see Eva Longoria from space.
• Maybe if you're lucky, Si Newhouse will buy you an apartment. But, if you suck at running a magazine, you'll probably only get a one bedroom apartment.
• Elle Girl's life gets taken before she even has a chance to become a woman. But, she will live on like the real ladies — on the internet.
• From inside AMI, the real story of Celebrity Living's demise. Even Bonnie Fuller stopped by to shake hands.
• And for once, the only magazine that nobody cares about, with the most stalked about celebrity of the month.
More info has been sent from inside the walls of One Park.
After some old guy (possibly a homeless man off the street or David Pecker) grumbled something about the staff of Celebrity Living being fired, and the spunky young thangs found bags and boxes for speedy packing on their desks, Ms. Bonnie Fuller herself came around to pay her respects.
Also yesterday as those poor overworked, beaten up staffers were packing up their desks under the watchful eyes of HR, Ms Fuller came by and shook the hand of each of the departing staffers. (The first time she had ever made eye contact with most of them.) I'm sure they ran out to disinfect their hands.
Oh, we doubt hand sanitizer was at the forefront of these AMI staffer's minds. After all, they had free drinks waiting for them at Molly's.
Ealier: Inside the murder of Celebrity Living
Update: We have been informed that the "old homeless man" who told CL staffers their mag was folding was Daniel Rotstein, not David Pecker. "Rotstein is the top HR exec at AMI. He does the firings and reports all promotions internally at AMI."
(And for the record we never actually called David Pecker — or Daniel Rotstein — an "old homeless guy." We said homeless guy or David Pecker. There's a difference.)
We know what the final days before Celebrity Living shut down were like. Rumors flying, other celeb weekly staffers hammering at our inboxes, and the Thursday afternoon meeting that supposedly sealed the deal.
But what were the hours before the official closing like inside the mag? No tears (except from mama Kelli Delaney), no cries of shock … just a cool exchange of cash, a free round of shots, and some death threats aimed at Bonnie Fuller.
How did AMI break the news?
A stabling older man, who no one even knew, mumbled out CL was closing and today would be the last day. Or I should say you have less then an hour to pack your desk and get out.
It seems that the random homeless people off the street knew more than the staffers of AMI's big kill. Then again, our tipster says the old guys name is "David or Daniel" … our money's on Pecker.
The full email from inside One Park, after the jump.
CONTINUED »
In our continuing coverage of the crashing and burning of AMI magazines, we just learned that Mira! will also die along side it's fellow tabloids, Celebrity Living and the lesser known MPH.
We don't know why they just couldn't ship it back to Boca … surely a huge chuck of Florida's population is going to be pretty upset by the news.
Other AMI staffers are pretty disappointed, though. As our insider notes, "their xmas decorations were not to be topped."
Jossip's coverage of AMI's killing spree:
Celebrity Living gets lowered into the ground
AMI's Celebrity Living no longer living
It's the mag we've been waiting for all year — the New York Weddings Issue! With 1,074 ways to dream your perfect Charlotte York style wedding, summer just isn't summer without it. (Plus, we hear it was totally put together by Adam Moss' assistant Denise Penny, which is a pretty hot job for an EA.)
New York Weddings is the only bridal magazine edited with a sophisticated, urban sensibility. Discover the best bridal sample sales, how to get in shape for your wedding day, and valuable tips to save both time and money.
With all the hype over AMI's total annihilation, we almost missed this truly special arrival into our city. We recommend putting on your padding and helmets now — especially if you live on the east side in the 30's.
Because if the rush to the newsstands to grab the last living copies of Celebrity Living, Shape en Espanol, and MPH weren't enough to send the flocks of blonde 28-year-olds to the kiosks, the bridal focused NY will definitely add another level to contact magazine browsing.
This just in:
Celebrity Living has closed. Shut down. Finito. Dunzo.
Literally, we just got a one-line sentence as a tip, and are further investigating as you read this. No time for jokes, people — more to come as we get updated.
Update: So far, this is the only further information we were able to extract: At a sales meeting on Thursday afternoon, it was announced that the celebrity weekly, which launched about a year ago, was being shut-down. A sales rep at Star (who we were patched through to in an attempt to contact media relations) responded, "oh, no, that has not happened." Our reliable source, however, is sure it has.
