Musings: Gawker's weekend editor Alex Carnevale's contract hasn't been re-upped for next month, perhaps because of his little whoops of self-plagiarizing on a recent celebrity couples article?
Or maybe not: Nick Denton is "quietly" getting rid of several other Gawker Media employees, including Sheila McClear (boo! She was great!) and Gizmondo's Benny Goldman.
According to a handful of Elle staffers we've spoke with in the past few weeks, the magazine's editor, Robbie Myers, is actually pretty well liked by many on the masthead. Sure, she has her flaws ("What's with the constant giggling?" snipes one; she's always in a "shitty mood," counters another) and we've been fed plenty of anecdotes to squeeze her in to some Jossip copy, but might Ms. Myers actually be running a fashion magazine and have the respect of her staff? Pity, then, that in New York's feature this week about the feud between soon-to-be-ex-Elle staffer Nina Garcia and fashion news director and Stylista face Anne Slowey, Myers didn't get to have her say. Though quizzed by the article's author (Gawker Media's Moe Tkacik) about Project Runway and Stylista, Myers wasn't asked about the supposed bad blood between her two minions. And that doesn't sit well with her: "That story is full of quotes about why I did what I did, how could they possibly know why I did anything or what motivated me to do anything in my job, unless they ask me? Even if someone else where to speculate about why I did something, the fact that nobody called me even to fact check it is egregious." (Myers has written us notes before, saying some of our coverage hurt her, too.) And there's the rub: Tkacik is, by profession, a blogger (from Jezebel to Gawker in some twisted job hijacking involving Radar), and we're trained not to ask those type of questions that might have you confuse us with journalists. But if her work is going to appear in New York, well, perhaps it should have met higher standards — and reported all sides of the story. By not doing so, well, this mini scandal stays alive.
The Huffington Post may not pay its bloggers, but that doesn't mean writing for the Internet has to be a totally fruitless endeavor. Allvoices is a new citizen journalism website (which, maybe you haven't heard, is kind of a big deal these days) that is willing to pay-per-pageview for a blogger's take on things. So it's working under a Denton-esque model, which has made a few web writers modestly rich while dismissing other skilled talent unwilling to post YouTube bait. So how will Allvoices be different? By publishing actual worthwhile stories, and increasing the rate card. CONTINUED »
Gawker's Nick Denton: The Times should forego that silly news-opinion divide. The Guardian's Roy Greenslade: You're an idiot, Denton.
Balthazar snob and blog publisher Nick Denton is unloading a trio of his websites. Music blog Idolator, which never gained much traction, is being unloaded to Buzznet, the music-focused social network that insisted it wasn't raising capital to buy blogs. City guide Gridskipper goes to old pal Lockhart Steele's Curbed network of hyper-local sites. And political muckraker Wonkette is going its lonely way, with managing editor Ken Layne taking the reigns solo. Not that it'll impact the business much: As Denton himself writes, those blogs represent just 3 percent of his pageview dump. Full memo from HQ below. CONTINUED »
ONE FINE DAY Richard Morgan, the newly hired TV reporter for Gawker, has quit after one day of working for the site. His explanation: "Jesus spent three days in Hell. I could only handle one." [Daily Intelligencer]
Failing to find any editors who could do more than add a dash of snark to New York Times articles, Nick Denton will become temporary managing editor of Gawker starting January 2.
You know the saying, “The lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client"? Oh, nothing. We don't mean anything by that. We were just thinking about it the other day.
• This classic SNL digital short prompted one of our college friends to say "[Natalie Portman] is the only Jewish girl I'd convert for."
• Gary Kasparov blames Vladamir Putin for forcing him out of Russia's presidential election, continues his one-man crusade to get gunned down by members of the KGB.
• Gawker is looking for a reporter with "an ability to write five short items a day." Easiest job ever?
• "I Hucked Up" is officially the second-best Post headline of the day. Although we would have preferred "Huck Accuses Mormons, Romney Of Deal With The Devil."
• GQ tries to cash in on the progressive artistic phenomenon known as "Flashy-Light Vagina."
• Baseball: Not exactly America's pastime anymore.
• That face transplant chick from France is looking hot. Well, compared with having no face.
A Parting Gift For Nick Denton: "Whatever Gawker originally set out to do, it kind of did, and now it just feels over," departing editor Emily Gould tells WWD. "I would love it if it just fell off the face of the earth….I don't want to say the meanest thing or the most shocking thing possible anymore, because it gets so old and so soul-killing." And somewhere out there, a tiny man named Jimmy Kimmel is laughing uncontrollably.
What does Sen. Trent Lott and Gawker owner Nick Denton have in common? Rentboy Benjamin Nicholas. But don't try and get any party involved to confirm it. [BHNYC]
"Gawker Guide To Conquering All Media" is apparently incapable of conquering all book markets.
According to Jeff Bercovici, approximately 242 people have ponied up for Nick Denton's contribution to the literary canon (affectionately nicknamed "Moguling for Dummies") since it went on sale October 2nd.
Although we can’t always shake the nasty habit of writing in the royal we, occasionally one of our editors decides to shake off the cloak of anonymity to write a short, pithy statement long, rambling diatribe about a topic of their choice. Today, Debbie Newman is that editor.
After a long and somewhat confusing morning – spent predominantly browsing the internets while under the (still negligible) influence of non-drowsy cold medication – I stumbled onto an amazingly informative article in which WaPo's Howie "Story Stealer" Kurtz interviews Mediabistro founder Laurel "Suck It, I'm Rich" Touby about her extraordinary success. In the course of their discussion, Kurtz helpfully explains that Touby's website utilizes a newfangled technology called "blogging," which are, in Touby's case, "short real-time scooplets" written by media insiders, for media insiders, about media insiders.
Needless to say, my head is still spinning.*
From P6: "IT would be so much easier putting out this column if we could just print whatever rumors we hear with out checking to see if they're true. That is apparently what Gawker.com does." Oh, SNAP!
Alex Balk is leaving Gawker to become Radar's online managing editor. [NY Observer]
This month Glamour is filled with half-truths. Along with a thin America Ferrera, Jessica Coen, former Gawker editor and current New York Magazine editor, presents herself as a contrite ex-blogger.
It’s not that we have any doubt that working from home writing nasty things about strangers online could affect one’s psyche. It’s more that Jessica Coen totally reinvents herself as a Glamour reader. The Jessica Coen she describes is weight obsessed, insecure and judgmental of penis size.
In the spirit of Jessica Coen’s call for kindness in the blogsphere, we would have pegged her as more of a Cosmo girl. Seriously, not even gynecologists offices subscribe to Glamour.
Whether Lockhart Steele and Jessica Coen's romancing means blogger-on-blogger dating has officially jumped the shark.
Anyone can be found online, but only a few people can be "Internet famous." And Jakob Lodwick (cofounder of College Humor) and Julia Allison (notorious bed hopper and self-made Gawker "celebrity") appear to be the online couple of the moment.
Along with running a Web 2.0 powerhouse and writing a column for a magazine that Gothamist made irrelevant, the two have a knack for documenting and digitizing every moment of their lives—which seem infinitely better than yours.
For starters, their sex life is better than yours. In this week's Time Out New York, Allison claims that geeks are the best in the sack. [Ed: We prefer swimmers.] In case you missed the first allusion to her boyfriend who designs Web sites, she goes on to make a reference to College Humor T-shirts. Oh, cross-promotional young love!
Meanwhile, while you went to see Superbad this weekend, they were off in Amagansett, having a pseudo-public lovers' quarrel and eating corn that tasted like "someone cumming". Sadly, despite footage of Lodwick lip-syncing and putting in eye drops, his videographer doesn't include the fight.
So how will this drama unfold? Who can say! Fortunately, it will probably be documented on Flickr.
Forwarded via email from a former staffer, the following supposedly appeared on Craigslist for a short while, though we can't find it.
Even more fun: Some people are said to have believed it was fo' realz.
Editorial Director
