Vibe, the black-interest music title that may or may not have run a naked Ciara on its cover, is out with a new issue featuring Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Men's Vogue, Ebony, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Radar, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and The New Yorker's favorite cover model: Barack Obama. The issue, proclaim the editors, is a "Historic Collector's Edition," seemingly because it features an "exclusive" letter from Obama to readers that, inevitably, one of Obama's speech writers drafted. Or, more likely, because Vibe swapped out its standard logo for this vote-y one.

Click the cover for a larger version.

Not sure if you'll be able to believe this, but there's beef in the world of urban music. Unfortunately, this kerfuffle has none of the simplicity of East Coast vs. West Coast. In the case of Ciara vs. Vibe, most people involved have no idea what's going on, and some people thought to be involved might not be. But you'll be more inclined to click if we mention the controversy includes naked bodies, won't ye?

CONTINUED »

'With a backdrop of rising paper costs and declining advertising, Vibe is downsizing. The hip-hop monthly will switch to a smaller trim size as it redesigns with the October issue, on sale Sept. 16. Vibe also cut its rate base, to 800,000 from 850,000 starting in July. … the size will shrink to 7.75 inches by 10.5 inches from 8.25 by 10.875, which will save costs, said Edgar Hernandez, Vibe’s publisher.' [MW]

Homosexual magazine Out gets a lot of shit for not putting more gays on the cover. (The latest Neil Patrick Harris cover being an exception.) There is, however, the worthwhile argument that there aren't enough high-profile gays with projects to promote to choose from every month, which means gay-friendly heteros get slapped on the cover instead. (There's also the argument a magazine like Out could raise the standings of under-the-radar gays to create more high-profile homos to feature.)

But a magazine like Vibe doesn't really have that problem. Black celebrities may be ignored by the tabloids, but there are — and this may shock some of you — tons of them. America (that's white America) knows the big ones, like Beyonce and Tyler Perry. Jill Marie Jones? Not so much. But they are the gods and goddesses of black entertainment.

So what happens when a white guy tries to infiltrate the system? Pop star crooner and white person Robin Thicke, who is married to the insatiable black actress Paula Patton, found out:

CONTINUED »

Not that anyone even reads Vibe anymore (except of course the New York Times Sunday Styles editors) but if Jeff Bercovici is gossiping about it, it must be at least semi-worth mentioning. Everyone loves a "the entire magazine hates the boss" story, and this one involves the newly refurbished Vibe magazine.

(Sidenote: is it just us, or is Radar more obsessed with Vibe than Adam Moss is with Julianne Moore?)

Anyways, not only is Vibe's new EIC Danyel Smith pissing off celebs but she's majorly pissing off her own staffers.

The new bosses of Vibe are doing an extraordinary job of getting themselves hated. Editor in chief Danyel Smith was unlikely to win the hearts of the few staffers she didn't fire upon arrival—her first official action was to install her name on the masthead of an issue she hadn't worked on …

She didn't stop there. Smith replaced the planned Christina Aguilera cover with an oh-so-savvy Bobby Brown issue — which doesn't feel very BlackBook family … or at all interesting — a move that likely peeved staffers. Especially music editor Clive Owen. Oh, also, Elliot Wilson, editor of XXL (and as Radar points out, Vibe's main competitor) is her husband.

Well, it's good to see somebody out there is giving Robin Cembalest a run for her "bitchiest non-famous editor" title.

New Vibe Editor Exercises Her Prerogative [Jeff Bercovici, Radar]

• Katie Holmes, once again, without child. [Mollygood]

• Amazingly enough, Dylan Stableford managed to catch something more boring than Lloyd Grove drunkenly blabbering away: Ian Spiegelman drunkenly blabbering away. [FBNY]

• What in god's name is Atoosa Rubenstein thinking? Hilary Duff guest editing Seventeen? We hope staffers aren't forced to come into contact with her and her massive bodyguard at the office. [TMZ]

• Yes, CBS is that desperate for you to watch their network. [NYT]

• Actual events worth writing about are still going on over at Vibe. It's no South Beach club brawl, but when 20 staffers get fired you definitely have potential for another magazine reality TV show on your hands. [Eat the Press]

• Some have the audacity to call the Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong – at three-hours long and costing $207 million — bloated. [NYT]

• What's worse than reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments? Reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments when there, uh, aren't any indictments. [E&P]

• For a newspaper that's supposed to represent freedom of information, Boston Metro sure makes it difficult to get interviews with their staff. But perhaps that's because their "staff" is composed of wire report copy and pasters. [Boston Phoenix]

• Both Spin and Vibe magazines are on the sale block, but don't tell anyone about it. We're also pretty sure this is where Nick Denton issues an announcement that Gawker Media is not for sale. [Radar]

• Cookie magazine may look a little too similar to Child magazine with its fur-wearing fat baby on the cover, but rest assured that when the new Conde Nast baby title debuts next month, the baby will have had some liposculpting. [WWD]

• Jann Wenner isn't just a magazine publisher, he's also an interior decorator. And, like everything else he gets his hands in, he's quite the anal interior decorator. [Lowdown]

• Will & Grace's top act Megan Mullally has secured distribution for her upcoming talk show in the country's top four markets. Unfortunately for viewers, her whiny, high-pitched Karen voice is not actually how she speaks. [AP

• Sean McManus will not eat, sleep or breathe until he pulls CBS News out of third place. [AP]

• Just like Hachette Filipacchi, Playboy is taking its magazine digital. Teaming up with Zinio, the first digital issue will debut in October, which means you can take the mag's naughty photos – and articles – on your morning commute without strangers' sneers.

• Vibe founder and famed record producer Quincy Jones is trying to take back control of the magazine with a $100 million joint offer with a hedge fund to owner Freeman Spogli & Co.

• Variety is lowering the standards of its two-year-old V Life, just recast as a monthly from a bimonthly, and offering it to the regular civilian. It'll start showing up on newsstands in September instead of being the exclusive title only distributed to Variety's industry subscribers.

• Rupert Murdoch received an $18.9 million cash bonus from News Corp. the past fiscal year, up more than 50 percent, though it can go up as high as $25 million based on earnings.

• More Men's Vogue coverage means more Jossip vomit, but at least we're cleaning it up with glossy pages.