Despite the recent mocking of their U.S. Editor at FHM.com, Bauer Publishing thinks they've really hit on something with this whole 'net phenomena. Next up for the German conglomerate? A website for der kiddies!
Says Bauer New Media Director Sebastian Ratz:
Our official mission statement: “4TNZ.com is a first-of-its-kind, online-only humor factory for American teens.
Hmm…that's coming off a little less Wonka and a little more Pink Floyd's The Wall. Pray tell, what does a "humor factory" consist of, nowadays?
CONTINUED »
After months of flagging circulation over at Star magazine, EIC Candace Trunzo has finally (and rather belatedly) jumped into action, poaching three upper level In Touch staffers (reporter Cristina Everett, senior editor Casey Brennan and news editor Aaron Rasmussen) within the last week in an ongoing effort to streamline the tabloid and leave the Bauer pub with a senior writing staff comprised primarily of interns.
And while we're vaguely curious to see whether Star's new makeover has any effect on its sales numbers, we're also interested to see whether In Touch can rebuild some of its earlier momentum, or whether this will hamper their ability to reproduce the same Brad and Angelina cover story week, after week, after week.
• Queen Elizabeth throws a shitshow temper tantrum and storms off set after photog Annie Leibovitz asks her to pose for some tawdry pics without her crown. Reportedly, Leibovitz's attempts to cajole QEII into cooperating included telling her "all the royals were doing it" and reassuring her that it would be "tasteful, for the sake of art."
• BBC apologizes for accidentally airing footage of the Queen storming off; explains away royal temper tantrum as "a documentary clip [that] had been edited incorrectly."
• "I don't want to be remembered as the guy who killed David Halberstam," worries the Guy Who Killed David Halberstam.
• You know what sucks about working at Bauer? Everything!
• The NYT has the non-exclusive on a magazine that already folded three days ago.
A day after Bauer inexplicably shut down production of Cocktail magazine, everyone (a.k.a. a handful of nerdy media types) is trying to figure out what happened to cause the future weekly's premature demise.
Some say distributors may have balked at the thin profit margins, which would make more sense had Cocktail not been priced fifty cents above glossy powerhouses In Touch and Life & Style.
Others say that Jane's folding was an impossible-to-ignore indication that obnoxious teenage girls would rather spend their allowances on cigarettes and fake IDs than print magazines these days.
And still others (because, apparently, a lot of people care!) contend that Bauer CEO Hubert Boehle was "less than thrilled" with the test issues of the mag. (Which is weird, because if anyone would appreciate a weekly version of Glamour-slash-Cosmo-slash-Us Weekly, it would totally be him!)
Either way, all we know for sure is we'll have to get our 'Cocktail' fix elsewhere. Fortunately, we're indiscriminate borderline alcoholics in walking distance of a Stop Deli.
Part-time spouses Russell and Kimora Simmons are pissed at In Touch. They even told a New York State Supreme Court how unhappy they are with the Bauer tabloid, relays Stereohyped. But in an unusual twist when it comes to celebrities and their accusations of libel, it's not clear what they're so ornery about. CONTINUED »
As we played one of our favorite games yesterday – "Guess Which Shade of Eye Liner Mark Pasetsky is Wearing" – we happened to mention that a fashion assistant at Life & Style was told to pack it up and heave-ho two weeks ago, making her what we think is the first person to leave the magazine involuntarily under Pasetsky's watch. We also made the casual allusion that her access to L&S's closet might've offered an opportunity at gratis MAC foundation a little too tempting to resist, and thus, her osuter.
Not so, claims a defender.
CONTINUED »
Remember how, like, three years ago, ordering a $14 cosmo was all the rage? Good news!: Bauer Publishing is finally catching up. How else to explain the title of their September launch, Cocktail Weekly? The new "lifestyle weekly" aimed at women in their 20s is the latest rag to come from workplace womanizer Hubert Boehle, Bauer's chief. And while we were ready to deliver a couple of "What the hell are you thinking launching another women's title in this market, Hub?" lines, the man does know what works on the newsstand. You've heard of two little magazines called In Touch and Life & Style, right? So long as Cocktail Weekly makes its readers feel cheap and inadequate at the same time, it might just have another homerun on his hands.
Exclusive
By the looks of this week's staid cover of Life & Style – Angelina Jolie looking pregnant is an exclusive? – you might've thought things had toned down at the Bauer tabloid. But that's not the case at all, according to our tattlers in Englewood Cliffs. As you'll recall, newly seated L&S EIC Mark Pasetsky has been met with more than a little staffer resistance ever since he took over from (or, had a hand in the removal of) Debra Birnbaum in November. And we've had a great time reporting it.
But even after all the staffer exits, insults, name calling, and makeup tales, the shenanigans aren't over. Now we hear Mark is trying to hard to reposition the workplace that he recently brought in a feng shui expert, who told him, among other things, that he needed to change the wall color. So goodbye "blah" blue, as one tipster tells it, and hello "pale yellow." (Another insider chimes in to say the color is actually more of an "institutional beige.") Says one insider: "He probably thinks [painting the walls] will lift everyone's spirits."
If his color pallete – and trust in a feng shui hack – isn't enough to flee New Jersey, Pasetsky is giving his staffers plenty more reason to run — he's continuing his Bonnie Fuller tactics and keeping staffers late into the night. All of a sudden, Fridays and Mondays have become late nights, we're told, which comes after Mark began holding staffers late on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If anyone's pissed off, it's the designers: "The number of designers who call in sick is hilarious," says one in-the-know tattler.
Which might explain why – as we've collectively heard from staffers and readers alike – the pages look like crap lately.
Mark Pasetsky isn't the only talking point inside the halls of Bauer Publishing. An insider tells us Bauer chieftan Hubert Boehle – yes, that's the "egomaniacal misogynist" one tattler calls him – is worth a conversation beyond his preference for a male-dominated workplace. Well, at least that's the way First For Women editor-in-chief Carol Brooks feels.
We hear the lady's mag leader is "in love, yes, I said it, IN LOVE with Hubert Boehle." That Hubert has a "GORGEOUS" wife who is "a fabulous specimen of a woman" is no matter for Carol, who, we're told, "stares, yearns, pines for the German newsstand warrior."
Give us a minute to compose ourselves?
Our source emphasizes "I have nothing against Carol, really, I don't," but "she needs a wake up call." Will this be it?
Perhaps, but our reports of Pasetsky's questionable leadership haven't appeared to be cause for concern around Englewood Cliffs.
Looks like the Life & Style fall out is getting a good start. We hear that yesterday, the embroiled tabloid's photo director, Polly Teller, walked off the job. An insider tattles, "She was there in the morning, and then she wasn't, and slowly word filtered out from other photo editors that she had actually quit."
Meanwhile, disgruntlement with newly seated EIC Mark Pasetsky continues to grow as he begins morphing into Bonnie Fuller and holding the staff late in the night. So-called "early nights" like Wednesday and Thursday have become later and later, with staffers being chained to their desks till 8 or 9pm as he demands the art department continue to redesign layouts. But, "he doesn't give any direction — he just knows he doesn't like the result. So the designers have to keep trying until they finally happen by chance to hit on a design he likes."
To be fair, however, our insider says Mark is "not a tyrant or anything, but he
doesn't seem to have any idea how low morale is around the office."
Sounds like Hubert Boehle certainly put the right man in charge of things.
Exclusive
Is Bauer Publishing one of publishing's least friendly employers for those with XX chromosomes? That's what multiple current and former staffers, from the business and publishing side of the business, have been telling us. Forget VNU's dildo-slash-sexual harassment doozy of a lawsuit. If you're a woman who feels uncomfortable in the workplace, there's a good chance Bauer is your boss.
And most of the blame, we're told, falls on chief Hubert Boehle. One former Bauer employee calls the CEO an "egomaniacal misogynist," and that seems to be the kindest of compliments we've heard.
Bauer, of course, was in the news most recently for axing Debra Birnbaum as Life & Style's editor-in-chief, even after she managed a staggering 49 percent increase in circulation only to see the floor fall out on her. Her replacement was Mark Pasetsky, the mag's general manager who – we've been telling you – doesn't have the confidence of many staffers.
One current staffer claims Brinbaum's ousting may have much to do with the fact that she's a lady. "It's pretty obvious [Boehle] had a problem with a woman having so much success," tattles our insider. But an ex-staffer questions why Boehle – who has only one woman, the relatively powerless teen group president Lynette Gallagher, on his executive roster – would replace a woman with the openly gay Pasetsky. Perhaps it's because, as our source tells it, he's the "bottom" in this relationship.
I was very surprised when he put then openly gay Pasetsky in the GM role. He keeps most of his female and effeminate staff in editorial where they stay under his thumb. Of course, I have always held the opinion that his interest in Mark was a little deeper than general manager.
Bauer is an atrocity of an employer. Ask anyone who has worked for Carol Brooks at First For Women. During my time at Bauer she once told me that "employees at Bauer were the most 'litigous' she'd ever seen". Of course, that's what happens when you fire people for getting married/pregnant/having a life and take it as a personal affront.
So Hubert isn't the panty-chaser we took him to be, but rather on the verge of a Jann Wenner coming out story? We'd love to be the ones to report it. Or perhaps its the childish story more suited for Bauer's J-14. Either way, the infractions against women apparently continue to mount. And soon enough, Rachel Sklar is gonna hear about it. You were warned.
It would be just wrong of us to head into the weekend without another EKG report from Englewood Cliffs, right? Live from an insider, new EIC Mark Pasetsky actually racks up some bonus points as blame is tossed at Bauer CEO Hubert Boehle. But not before he gets called a "lapdog." After the jump, another note from an ex-Bauer type — but not before we present you with this here photo: Pasetsky as Brad Pitt for Halloween. What, you're not feeling it either?
CONTINUED »
Just three days on the job and it sounds like Life & Style editor-in-chief Mark Pasetsky doesn't have a floor to stand on. You might expect a replacement EIC to face some awkward glances and stop-start editorial meetings at first, but an absolute fall-out? Even us gossip cravers couldn't have hoped for anything more.
Since we broke the news on Tuesday that Bauer Publishing removed Debra Birnbaum as editor, we've been hearing from hoards of current and former staffers (yesterday's update is here). It's unlikely we've ever received more communications from unhappy insiders about a single person at one time since this blog launched three years ago.
While Debra received much praise (and a few disgruntled asides), we've yet to hear one promising iota about the new L&S leader.
Though we have learned he dressed up as Brad Pitt at Bauer's Halloween party and likes to wear eyeliner. We don't know the brand, but staffers certainly have a nickname for him: "snake eyes."
Says one insider:
This guy has wreaked havoc on far too many people for far too long. If he works in the celeb gossip world, now's his time to see what it feels like to be the subject of the very gossip he likes to create in his brilliant cover lines that he loves to take credit for.
He also thinks he's a brilliant PR aficionado. So can he control all of these messages? Good luck.
And that seems to be the kindest of all notes. An ex-staffer – who recommends we "interview at Life & Style so you can see first hand how accurate MOST of the pissed off staffers are" – notes that Mark "transforms from a pseudo-closeted 'suit' to a gold chain wearing, muslce tee sportin', backward hat rockin' gym rat."
This person's email to us was so riveting, in fact, we've reprinted it in full after the jump. We're also going to send 'em a job offer. (Life & Style's PR folks, meanwhile, declined to comment.)
CONTINUED »
The Life & Style melee is only just beginning, according to multiple insiders. Following Tuesday's dismissal of EIC Debra Birnbaum, current and former staffers, as well as other Bauer insiders, have been flooding our inbox with reports, which range from "morale is non-existant" to "there's at least a half dozen resumes from different people sitting in the printer tray." Some folks have had the audacity to claim Debra Birnbaum's replacement, Mark Pasetsky, has "not a drop" of "journalism experience," "ZERO edit or fashion experience" and that he "started at Bauer as marketing flunky."
Says one insider: "He has no vision, changes storries in middle of them being shipped, and cuts out outher mags and asks staff to copy it."
Clearly not the vote of confidence you'd hope for during such a top-level regime change — and it's unlikely Pasetsky is going to put up with it. "Expect a mass exodus," one senior level insider instructs us.
A parade of sudden vacancies wouldn't come as a surprise, and not just because of the new leadership, but because "[Bauer CEO Hubert Boehle] doesn't want to pay holiday bonuses." Another tattler tells us Pasetsky's role will be more "lapdog" than editor-in-chief, since Boehle's latest gimmick is to micromanage the magazine.
Which, as you know, works so well with Jann Wenner and Us Weekly.
We're hearing that following Tuesday's dismissal of Life & Style editor Debra Birnbaum – where she was replaced by L&S general manager Mark Pasetsky – creative director Tom Lowe also made an exit. Signaling what might be the beginnings of a staffer exodus, we're told Lowe left his gig voluntarily, without the fanfare of a formal firing. Which leaves Pasetsky without a No. 2 to handle .. what was it again? Ah, yes, editorial.
Know what magazine category is grossly over-saturated? Glossy weeklies. Know what magazine cateogory Bauer is looking to enter? God, do we even have to complete this half-assed lede for you? Yes, it's the glossy weekly category. But damn it, at least it's not celebrity glossy weeklies. At least not entirely.
The company is pressing ahead on planned weeklies with very different editorial missions. The first is a very photo-heavy global roundup of weird-but-true news and arresting images. From the description, it sounds similar to the monthly called Shock that Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. will introduce May 31. But Hachette admits Shock will probably skew male; Bauer is said to hope for a title that appeals to women as much as guys.
The second title in the pipeline has been described internally as a cross between Hearst Magazines’ Cosmopolitan and Wenner Media’s Us Weekly but will sell for close to $2, according to a one with knowledge of the plans. Cosmo retails for $3.99; Us Weekly’s cover price is $3.49.
To sum up: Bauer thinks there's an audience – targetting both men and women – for throwaway photos that are going to cost pennies to get the rights to. And second, Bauer forgot it already publishes Life & Style Weekly.
TWO WEEKLIES IN PIPELINE AT BAUER [Nat Ives, AdAge]
• Time Inc. is hiring big-shots, and you know what that means. Pink slips for everyone! [NYP]
• As if you needed another reason to laugh at the Bauer kids. [WWD]
• Rupurt Murdoch taught his kiddies well. His son James totally reads blogs. [Financial Times]
• Who knew that someday, the real estate section would be the toughest beat on the block? [NYP]
• Everyone at Wal-Mart will soon be smiling — except for the employees who work there. They still get paid like $2 an hour. [Ad Week]
