Dan Abrams, with a future client?
The Ghostbusters do not, in fact, take unsolicited calls, which leaves open the question, "When crisis hits, who you gonna call?" Former MSNBC general manager and ex-Verdict host Dan Abrams hopes you've got his business card tucked away, and you'll end up on the line with Abrams Research, the strapping gent's newly formed media counsel firm.
Armed with a phalanx of media know-it-alls — including former Huffington Post media critic Rachel Sklar, ex-media mogul Steven Brill, and former American Media editorial director Bonnie Fuller, who could all use an hourly wage these days — Abrams' new outfit (first client: Ron Perelman!) can put together a "mock jury" for a client suffering a public relations crisis, made up of the very people who are normally responsible for fleshing out the public relations crisis and who, supposedly, could best guide a client out of such a matter.
Critics, naturally, are jumping all over this thing, fingering the grey matter between journalism and what's basically public relations spin, says the WSJ. Since Abrams, son of famed First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, turns to journo types to offer advice to clients, what happens when those same media industry fellas are later asked to, say, report on the matter? Dicey!
Interestingly, Abrams isn't alone in his post-MSNBC strategy. CONTINUED »
Joe Dolce, the former Star editor-in-chief who was ushered out with Bonnie Fuller, is trying to generate an income from DolceGoldin, the media strategy firm he formed with former MSNBC editorial director Davidson Goldin. His new agency's biggest client is none other than Oprah foe James Frey — and Frey's ability to get the media to come around to him, even writing positive book reviews about his latest effort, whether their doing or not, is great marketing for their little firm. It's also a chance for Dolce to shed his bad boy tabloid past, where he was all too complicit in the paparazzi-celebrity-magazine exchange, where cash changed hands for stalkerazzi pics, and everybody excused their behavior with "this is what the public wants" excuses. The same line drug dealers use! CONTINUED »
"News" today, from the Post or WWD, that former MSNBC editorial director Davidson Goldin, and sometime New York Sun columnist and former NY1 anchor, is advising author James Frey on his media strategy won't be a surprise to Jossip's readers; we were the first to report the news back in February. Frey's wife, Maya, is a college friend of Goldin's from their days at Cornell, which is how the pair teamed up.
Now Goldin has formally signed on with former Star editor-in-chief Joe Dolce, to form DolceGoldin, a media strategy firm that, among other things, takes meetings at Soho House and hopes to generate a client list by word of mouth (how novel!). Dolce's life partner, Jonathan Burnham, runs HarperCollins, which published Frey's book — and thanks to HarperCollins and the New York Post both being owned by News Corp., it explains why the Post is so adept at delivering favorable coverage of Frey. Goldin's experience in television news and Dolce's experience fending off personal attacks on blogs are their selling points to clients.
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]
Though he was expected to make an exit at the end of the month, it looks like Joe Dolce is staying on at Star. The outgoing EIC signed a consulting gig with boss David Pecker, "which effectively turns him into the Friday and Monday editor of the Star in New York," reports Keith Kelly. All of which means, of course, that he'll be in the office when new chieftess Candace Trunzo starts rearing her head on April 1.
Bonnie Fuller, meanwhile, continues insisting she's hanging on the reigns of the AMI tabloid, contrary to popular rumor. And advice.
As we were the first to suggest, Globe editor Candace Trunzo is taking over where Joe Dolce is leaving off at Star. Joe exits at the end of March. Candace's first day as Bonnie Fuller's Hovering-Over-Desk-mate is April 1.
Calling Clay Aiken a faggot? April 2.
The email to staff from AMI chief David Pecker, after the jump.
CONTINUED »
While Nat Ives gets busy with a mini-profile of Star editor-in-chief Joe Dolce – who may or may not be having his contract renewed – we can't avert our eyes from the last graph:
Richard Valvo, a spokesman for American Media, said company policy prohibited discussing any negotiations but also defended the company's marquee title. "The whole celebrity category is down 10% in the fourth quarter," he said. "The last three issues, we've gone up tremendously. Bonnie broke the Justin-Cameron Diaz story, and that issue went through the roof."
Well yes, Bonnie "broke the Justin-Cameron Diaz story" — if by "broke the Justin-Cameron Diaz story" you mean she let National Enquirer editor David Perel break the story, hand it off to Star, and then let his New York-based boss take the credit for it.
If Joe Dolce is really walking out Star's door, we've got a hankering Perel might be setting up shop in an office adjacent to Fuller sometime soon. Not that we're planting fact-based speculation or anything.
• Aaron Carter finds a wifey. And she was a Miss Teen USA. And their divorce will be in about 1.5 years. [Us]
• We hope Lindsay Lohan didn't break her ankle stamping Lost in Translation into bits and pieces. [Page Six]
• Joe Dolce will do anything to get his hands on Daniel Smith's autopsy reports for Star. Even ruin somebody's wedding. Nice. [Gawker]
• And speaking of ruined weddings, we hope this blushing bride — Mel Gibson's daughter — didn't have any Felds or Golds on her invite list. [TMZ]
• You know who the real threatening people in the not-so-friendly-skies are? They gay journalists who write for the New Yorker. [Queerty]
Thanks to Jared Paul Stern (and some stellar reporting from Campbell Robertson) everyone now knows how the wonderful world of gossip works. You give us what we want (money, photos, whatever) and we'll give you what you want (money, protection, whatever) and everyone's happy. Well, by "us" and "we" we don't actually mean "we at Jossip" (we don't have millions, nor do we care to protect anyone from anything) but the gossip industry in general.
Confused? Well, here — let the editor in chief of Star magazine, Joe Dolce, explain how things work. See, a bunch of magazines want to see Suri Cruise — even though most of them are speculating that something is terribly wrong with the poor child. The celeb tabloids will go to great lengths to keep readers happy, and what would make readers happy would be a photo of the much bustled about baby drooling and looking alive. The Times busiest reporter Katharine Seelye suspects Shiloh snagging People will get the first Suri pics. And how will they get them? JPS style, of course.
Mr. Dolce of Star said there were several negotiating tactics that magazines used behind the scenes to land a celebrity. “You could promise no negative stories on Tom and Katie for X number of months, though Tom and Katie would probably ask for a blackout more than anything else,†he said. “Or you might swing a deal like OK! had with Jessica Simpson — we’ll pay you $5 million and that will cover the next four stories.â€
The best part is when People confirms this situation, saying the offers they've presented to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are "nothing Tom and his camp haven’t heard before.†See, guys. It's not just Page Six. The whole industry is like a mafia … minus the fat Italians.
Celebrity Baby, M.I.A., Stokes a Frenzy [Katharine Q. Seelye, New York Times]
Awww, readers. Do we tell you enough how much we heart you? We really, really do. We heart you almost as much as Dave Navarro hearts Carmen Electra.
Just sent in from our wonderful gossips around town, this stunning photo from latest issue of Star — which, to be fair went to press on Friday before the official announcement came, but is still just as fun.
And since Mark Coleman's gone now, we have no idea who Joe Dolce's gonna blame this one on.
Though the topic of Bonnie Fuller's contract with AMI will inevitably be popping in and out of Keith Kelly's column for the next 9 days, we feel it's our duty to monitor all the collective gossip surrounding the great debate of Bonnie and her AMI contract.
Will her contract be renewed? Will she be offered what she's currently contracted at (close to $2 million with full bonus earnings), or will they offer her half price? So much speculation, yet so little is out on the table.
So, we've begun rolling some ideas around in our head in light of the recent developments at Star and AMI, with hopes of predicting the outcome at the end of this countdown. (Of course, if any of you out there have theories to contribute, we would be more than ecstatic to hear them.)
What we know so far:
• AMI dropped five of its titles — mostly muscle mags and non-celeb pubs. The pubs are not Bonnie's forte, yet as editorial director of AMI, she was responsible for overseeing them. Does AMI blame her for their failure? And with Joe Dolce leading the reigns at Star, will Pecker cough up a hefty price tag for her to oversee a mere half the pubs she originally signed on for?
• Star staffers began "fleeing" for Life & Style months ago. (Ok, we actually don't have a huge theory on this point, but it seems relevant.)
• Two of Bonnie's closest staffers, Kelly Will and Angela Jones, were let go last week. Since we've rarely known Bonnie to fire an assistant (we've all seen what's happened to Anna Wintour), could Joe be trying to dominate the floor with his people?
Well, that's all the theorizing we have for today. But it's crunch time people! We'll be counting down until the 30th, the day when all hell breaks loose, so send us your tips, inter-office memos, emails, or just your conspiracy theories. Because when Bonnie Fuller leaves a mag, the entire world is somehow affected. Seriously, even your cat will be feeling the vibrations of her stomping out of One Park Avenue should she eventually go.
Page Six is making for some great reading material today. Not only do they have Lindsay Lohan vs. Anna Wintour in an all out battle of the bathroom breaks, but now they have a scoop on Star editor in chief Joe Dolce.
Ah, Joe. The man who forced us to hand enter 3,000 phone numbers into his Palm Pilot and for whom we spent half our week photocopying photos for his boyfriend's book about lunch boxes. Yes, we remember it well. And fondly — Palm Pilots and Xerox beats out coffee and dry cleaning any day.
But that was years ago … before Mark Coleman and his fuck ups plagued the covers of Star. The man who brought us "Jennifer Aniston Pregnant with Brad's Baby!" the week he left her for the hotter lady, and "Jessica [Simpson] Finally Pregnant!" the week those two broke it off, has left for Life & Style. And Joe couldn't be happier than if Shiloh herself landed on his desk.
Rumor has it that Joe sent L&S EIC Debra Birnbaum a little gift upon her hiring of Coleman.
Birnbaum received a bouquet with a note that read, "Thank you for hiring my biggest problem."
Birnbaum laughed, "Yes, it's true. So in return, I sent him a copy of 'The Editor-in-Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors' with a note that said, 'Thanks for the flowers.' "
Which is a great gift. But we think Dolce was hoping for a trade back, in the form of on-the-outs L&S editor Joe Bargmann.
TAKE OUR NUISANCE - PLEASE [Page Six]
• Despite the Jessica Simpson pregnancy cover, Star Magazine EIC Joe Dolce gets half a mil for his new contract. [NYP]
• House and Garden is the first to get booted out of the Conde Nast sororiety house. We hope they allow green rubber shoes over at Stepchild. NYO]
• Rupert Murdoch tries to bury the printed press. [NYO]
• Under the guise of eating, Anna Wintour takes advantage of her last chance for a limo ride downtown. [Gawker]
• The United States is holding six reporters behind bars. Good news is there are no actual American journos locked up…this week, anyways. [NYT]
Editorial Director
