By not even broaching the Sarah Palin subject, Oprah won't subject herself to the aftermath of criticism — since by refusing to book the Republican VP, the talk show queen won't put herself in the awkward situation of celebrating the first woman on a Republican ticket while also pointing out she's a lunatic. But Us Weekly did not take that route. Like Oprah, Us is usually fine sticking with celebrities and staying out of politics. But like Oprah, Us couldn't resist. Oprah backed Obama, and watched her ratings and popularity rating slide. Us did the same, but took the extra step of bashing Palin … and now some readers are furious. Backlash? Commencing. CONTINUED »
'It's true. I am the Elisabeth Hasselbeck of Us Weekly. During our spirited office debates, it's up to me (along with the office's outnumbered Republicans — hey, it's New York City) to defend the old man from Arizona, while the Democrats cheer for Barack Obama like he's a Jonas Brother. For months, I've touted McCain's vast experience and his economic policies without a trace of postmodern irony. (The credit — or, uh, blame — mostly lies with my parents, the only conservative Jews in Detroit). My take on his VP pick? "I think she's fascinating!" I chirped to my editor in chief early on September 1. "She's a mother of five and she hunts!"'
That's Mara Reinstein, the Us Weekly writer behind the "Babies, Lies & Scandal" cover that, some might argue, was part of Jann Wenner's master plan to elect Obama and stunt McCain. Reinstein's (and Min's) insistence that because she is a McCain supporter, this week's issue is not a Jann Wenner-ordered hit job on McCain remains a, uh, ridiculous argument, because Reinstein almost certainly wasn't asked, "Could you whip together a Palin story please?" — she was told want slant to take.
This week's Us Weekly took aim at Sarah Palin, turning her maybe-controversies into full-blown scandals. The questioning over whether her fifth child is actually her grandchild; her husband's DUI; the investigation about the attempted firing of her former brother-in-law — all wrapped together it became Janice Min's "Babies, Lies & Scandal" cover. And taken with Us' prO-bama cover, as well as owner Jann Wenner's donations to the Obama campaign and his repeatedly putting the Democratic candidate on the cover of Rolling Stone, it's easy to see this week's Us as yet another Wenner-orchestrated hit job on the GOP. Except it sooooo wasn't, Min insists. CONTINUED »
Facebook troller Janice Min tried describing her Us Weekly readership — who, for the record, earn more than the average Vogue reader — for the young, skinny smarties that they are, because this is her one genuine talking point when it comes to defending the piece of celebrity journascam that is her magazine. "We proved that celebrity-magazine readers were not obese women who spent all day watching TV and smoking cigarettes. They are young and well-educated. They want a magazine that gives them a fun break from work and family responsibilities." Of course, that got turned into Min's hatred of the obese. And, while we're at it, it's clear she hates old people who only have GEDs and enjoy their TiVos.
There's this rumor going around that OK! magazine owner Richard Desmond is hiring Bonnie Fuller, she being the former American Media editorial director and Star leader, to run his American exclamation point tabloid.
Fuller, who just left a $2 million-plus payday with David Pecker, is starting her own company, Bonnie Fuller Media, which by all accounts is some sort of digital (and maybe some TV) venture with backing from former Viacom exec Russ Pillar.
The rumor says there are "protracted talks" between Fuller in Desmond, who is said to be looking for a high-profile EIC to replace Sarah Ivens, who's been running the tabloid since it launched on American shores. The U.S. OK!, which Desmond reportedly sunk $100 million into (though, because he pays in British pounds, he gets everything half off), has seen circulation increase, but not enough to really compete with more established players like In Touch or Us Weekly. Which might explain why we're also told Desmond made overtures to Us editor Janice Min, who declined.
So is Fuller taking over at OK!? No, say well-placed informants. But it's true Desmond did reach out to her.
Which leaves only one real question: CONTINUED »
Offering yet another glimpse into the world of a tabloid magazine, Us Weekly lets ABC News inside its operation to reveal some startling facts: Sometimes Janice Min works with celebrities to give them a better cover photo (like she did when Mariah Carey lost weight); sometimes Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are not the cover story; and the most standard acts of invading stars' privacy happens in the magazine's "Just Like Us" section, where trips to sushi restaurants and Starbucks qualify, just barely, as newsworthy.
And also: Even Us' editors believe that sometimes, celebs get this whole paparazzi-tabloid-publicity game right. One person rising above it all? Matt Damon. CONTINUED »
Kudos to Us Weekly for being the only tabloid wise enough to realize Americans might be just as interested in Beyonce and Jay-Z's (maybe) wedding as, say, a white girl like Katherine Heigl's.
Janice Min might be the only celeb weekly editor who understands the newsstand lure of black celebs; her magazine's Janet Jackson "How I Lost 40 Pounds" issue was among its best selling ever (though it's said that Min was on leave, and didn't have much to do with it).
While the paparazzi hounded the Tribeca apartment building where Jay-Z and Beyonce supposedly got married, and the local television news had a field day guessing why everyone was wearing white, OK!, In Touch, Star, and Life & Style all ignored the week's biggest story on their covers.
How come? CONTINUED »
As the Daily Mail reminds us, the album-promoting Janet Jackson is suddenly very svelte again, which means it might be time for Us Weekly's Janice Min to look back to June 2007 and resurrect one of the tabloid's best selling issues ever.
After Us Weekly supposedly tricked Lauren Conrad into bashing "friends" Audrina Patridge and Brody Jennfer, the Hills star found herself apologizing on her MySpace blog, blaming the tabloid for a bait-and-switch. Conrad, who is friends with the Us reporters she spoke to, was shocked to find EIC Janice Min went with a cover story that pieced together interview segments into a "How I Was Stabbed in the Back" article — so she went off on the tabloid.
Naturally, Min wasn't having it — she was left fuming after the press-needy Conrad slammed Us. Which means Conrad spent the weekend using Page Six to relay her apology to Min, who could easily kill the money train to Conrad if she stops buying paparazzi pics of her.
It's been a troubling week for Conrad, who then had to wake up this morning to see the New York Times crown foe Heidi Montag as a "feminist hero." Nevermind that even after all of this, millions of viewers watched her call friend Jenner "scum" on The Hills premiere. Or maybe we're in the middle of a Hills scripted segment?
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.
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Us Weekly EIC Janice Min’s earning that GLAAD nomination! The tab-rag’s website included homo TR Knight and Mark Cornelsen as part of their burning, itchy question: “Who is your favorite spring fling?” Oh, God, do we have to choose?!
Is there suddenly room for that abandoned D.C. spin-off of TMZ? Janice Min has found success with covering Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (though we know which way the Wenner Media tabloid leans). The Us Weekly editor, who, as a nerdy junior high schooler, wanted to write about politics, finds herself connecting celebrity dots with political webs. "Someone had a great idea for a Hills feature: a photo map showing how everyone in the world is connected, in some way, to the cast of the show. [News directory Lara] Cohen rattled off one potential thread: 'Brody, Kim Kardashian, Kristin Cavallari, Nicole Richie, Frankie Delgado. You could go so far out. You could get—' … 'Joan Didion! Padma Lakshmi!' Min said. She seemed to like the idea. 'Barack Obama!'"
Janice Min’s got her mind on your fingers - as in she wants them crossed. The Us Weekly EIC can barely contain her excitement that her magazine has been nominated that GLAAD nominated her tab-rag for their gay-friendly coverage. She’s so thrilled, in fact, that she squeals all about it in this week’s editor’s letter.
Is it wrong that we imagine this is how Janice Min runs her newsroom? Minus (or plus?) the sexism.
At Tuesday night's Mediabistro dinner, Us Weekly EIC Janice Min didn't have advice for aspiring female journalists so much as understandable paranoia about dissension in the ranks.
Reports WWD: "Min told of discovering a Facebook group of her employees and wondering, 'Would they be bummed if I added myself to it?'* Because, as Min (correctly!) reasons, "part of any office is that you bond over who you hate." In which case, we can't think of a more tightknit group than the Wenner underlings.
*Spoiler: Yes!
Despite Wenner Media communications chief Mark Neschis assuring us there "is absolutely no truth to" the rumors we heard about a special relationship between Us Weekly and Intermix, a source inside the fashion company confirms to us that select editors at the magazine do, in fact, enjoy a discount. Among them: Editor-in-chief Janice Min, who is said to rank up there with "VIPs … including people in the press and celebrities" who have the option of snagging something like 15 percent off their purchases. (That said, Janice supposedly has never shopped there.)
So what does Us have to do to earn their reward? Plug the store, of course. Which is why a recent issue that featured a quarter-page "Hot Spot: Intermix L.A" item doesn't surprise many. Intermix calls this arrangement "a special working relationship." CONTINUED »
In light of Jill Ishkanian's accusations against Us Weekly – that staffers were ordered to dig through Ben Affleck's trash; that the magazine refused to credit her with breaking big stories like Paris Hilton's sex tape – are a spat of allegations against current online chief Ken Baker.
From ogling freelancers and sending illicit text messages to using his position for personal gain and getting his nanny gigs at the tabloid, Baker's rep is certainly getting shat on in the lawsuit. Which might explain why we're told to expect him to "play a lesser role at Us in the very near future."
We got our hands on the gritty details of Jill Ishkanian's $55 million lawsuit against Us Weekly and her old bosses, and out of the goodness of our heart we wanted to share with you the most interesting details.
And by "most interesting" we mean "pretty much the entire thing," 'cause it's hilarious.
And by "hilarious," we mean "so much fun as a spectator, not as much fun as a defendant."
We've stacked the meaty parts after the jump. And fret not: We've bolded the most worthwhile legalese.
Jann Wenner, Janice Min, Ken Baker, and Wenner Media proper are being hit with a $55 million lawsuit today filed by former Us Weekly staffer Jill Ishkanian, we've learned.
In court papers being filed now-ish, Ishkanian – who left the magazine and went on to form the paparazzi agency Sunset Photo and News – alleges her former bosses went on the attack after her departure, trying to sully her reputation. Though it should have been expected: The suit alleges Janice and Ken threatened to ruin her if she ever tried to leave the magazine or encourage anyone else to do so.
Among the charges Ishkanian is claiming: "INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS; NEGLIGENT TRAINING AND RETENTION; BREACH OF CONTRACT; BREACH OF THE COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING; SLANDER AND SLANDER PER SE; LIBEL AND LIBEL PER SE; INTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH PROSPECTIVE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE; CIVIL CONSPIRACY."
As you'll recall, after Ishkanian's departure, Us Weekly went to the FBI alleging Jill was hacking into Us computers to gain information about celebs and their whereabouts. But as we've learned before, Us also intentionally left Ishkanian's phone lines at the magazine active to collect information from sources who didn't know she had left. They also kept Jill in the loop via email, even after repeated requests not to be included on sensitive in-house Wenner emails. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
