arthur-sulzberger-jr

More Trouble for the Times, A Losing Month for CNN

cityfile · 03/30/09 10:22AM

• Mark Bowden's 11,000-word profile of Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. for the May issue of Vanity Fair is now online. And it ain't pretty. [VF]
• In other Times news, the paper is scrapping its "City" section and has shut down the International Herald Tribune website. [NYO, E&P]
• For the first time, CNN will finish March behind MSNBC and Fox News. [AP]
• He's only been on the air two months, but Glenn Beck's "conservative populist anger" has already put him right behind Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. [NYT]
Adweek, MediaWeek and Brandweek may be folded together. [NYP]
• News Corp. is hiring ex-AOL CEO Jon Miller to lead its digital division. [WSJ]
• The Huffington Post is launching an investigative journalism site. [AP]
• MTV is bringing back music videos! Sort of. [NYT]

Layoffs, Pay Cuts at the New York Times

cityfile · 03/26/09 11:45AM

• It's been a dark day at the New York Times: Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Janet Robinson announced a five percent salary reduction for all editors and said 100 employees on the business side would be laid off. [Gawker, NYO, NYT]
Blender has been shuttered; April will be the mag's last issue. [AdAge]
• The Washington Post is offering buyouts again. And if enough people don't take 'em, the paper says a round of layoffs will follow. [Politico]
Richard Beckman is out as Condé Nast's marketing chief; he'll be heading up the company's Fairchild Fashion Group instead. [WSJ, Crains]
• It's getting a little stormy over at the Weather Channel! [NYP]
• Rod Blagojevich may have some sort of reality show in the works. [CST]
• ABC News has settled a lawsuit filed against Diane Sawyer. [NYP]
Barry Diller is the proud new owner of SportsPickle.com. [PaidContent]
• The most newspaper-friendly city in America? Rochester! [E&P]

The New York Times Jet: Yours for $9.5 Million!

cityfile · 03/11/09 10:56AM

Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald and Jennifer Saba report that the New York Times Co. is selling its private jet, news that the company apparently included in its annual proxy, which was filed with the SEC this morning. But it looks like they've been trying to unload the 1997 Dassault Falcon for close to two months now: It appears the plane was first officially listed back in mid-January. Isn't there someone out there who can come to Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s rescue? It's just $9.5 million! And it's loaded with extras! You'll find the full specs below. [F&J via Politico]

The Times, Jon Stewart & The Gossip Girl Spin-Off

cityfile · 03/06/09 11:23AM

• Got an idea for how Arthur Sulzberger Jr. might be able to rescue the struggling New York Times? He now says he'll "consider anything." [NYO]
• Hachette plans to leave Midtown for cheaper space near Wall Street. [NYP]
• Josh Schwartz is finishing the pilot for an as-yet-untitled Gossip Girl spin-off that will be tied into GG's season finale on May 11. [NYO]
• Depressing: The story of the 55-year-old former TV Guide editor who is now an unpaid intern—yes, unpaid intern—at wowOwow.com. [LAT]
• Why did Jon Stewart go off on Rick Santelli? An unnamed "on-air host" claims Stewart is "bizarrely obsessed with" with the CNBC reporter. [Dealbreaker]
• Speaking of Stewart, Slate's The Big Money would like you remind you that Jon Stewart is not actually a journalist. Yea, thanks for that. [TBM]

No Snow Day Tomorrow

cityfile · 03/02/09 11:00AM

If you managed to use the snowstorm as an excuse to avoid going into work today, you may have a harder time making the case tomorrow: The mayor says schools will most likely reopen on Tuesday, reports "A.G. Sulzberger," the son of Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., in his first post for the paper's City Room blog. [NYT]

Pinch Jr. Joins the Times, Playboy Now Up for Sale

cityfile · 02/18/09 01:27PM

• Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the son of New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., is joining the paper next week as a Metro reporter. [NYO]
• Following a huge fourth quarter loss, Playboy says it's now up for sale. [Folio]
• It's rumored that Viacom is laying off staff today. [Gawker]
Newsweek staffers are unhappy about recent changes at the mag. [NYP]
• Sean Delonas is in hot water for his cartoon in the Post today. [E&P]
Mort Zuckerman says he can fix the Daily News by printing it in color. [MM]
Vanity Fair is shutting down its German edition. [WWD]

Blogging Job For Arthur Gregg Sulzberger

Ryan Tate · 02/18/09 06:27AM

The New York Times' publisher's son has the increasingly rare privilege of a fresh newspaper job, at the Times no less. But his situation is not entirely enviable.

How Mort Zuckerman Helped Out a Friend in Need

cityfile · 02/09/09 10:26AM

Last October, Maureen White, the former finance chair for the Democratic National Committee and wife of Steve Rattner, was arrested for drunk driving. According to the police report, White was pulled over in her Mercedes at the Throgs Neck Bridge and failed a field sobriety test, registering a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit. (She subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges, paid a fine, and had her driver's license suspended for 90 days.) That the Democratic fundraiser and wife of one of the city's most prominent financiers had been arrested was certainly news, and the Daily News covered the arrest a day later in an article titled "Democratic Money Queen in Booze Bust." But the paper pulled the article down soon after—it was originally located here—and now we know why. A source inside the News tells us the order came from "the very top," namely Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman.

More on Pinch's Affair, Kelly Cutrone's New Show

cityfile · 02/06/09 06:13AM

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his new girlfriend, Helen May, first met during an Outward Bound trip to Machu Picchu in 2005, according to May's husband, Kevin Ward. "I'm just sorry my wife didn't find someone more substantial. There's way less there than meets the eye." [P6]
• Etta James says she "didn't really mean" the stuff about Beyonce; she's still "miffed" at Obama for not inviting her to the inauguration. [NYDN]
Kelly Cutrone inked a deal with Bravo for a new reality show. [P6]
Russell Simmons is reportedly dating model Julie Henderson. [NYDN]

Times Publisher's Longtime Affair

Ryan Tate · 02/06/09 05:23AM

So it turns out Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has been seeing his girlfriend Helen Ward since 2005, about three years before the New York Times publisher announced a separation from his wife.

Sulzberger's Married Girlfriend

Ryan Tate · 01/29/09 07:16AM

The publisher of the New York Times is seeing a married-but-separated woman he met several months before announcing his own marital separation. This proves he never slept with Caroline Kennedy. What?

Pinch's New Squeeze

cityfile · 01/29/09 06:36AM

Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has a girlfriend. Except it's not Caroline Kennedy as some have suggested. Sulzberger, who separated from his wife in March, is dating a "vivacious" lady named Helen Ward, who he met in Peru a year ago and who is separated from her husband, too. [P6]
• Jeremy Piven brought his cocktail waitress girlfriend to the SAG Awards on Sunday night, but the poor thing didn't even get to sit with him during the ceremony. [NYDN]
• Michael Lohan is asking fans of his daughter to help him free Lindsay of Samantha Ronson's "bondage." [NYDN]

The Wednesday Party Report

cityfile · 01/21/09 01:10PM

Richard Johnson and Jason Binn celebrated their birthdays with a joint bash at Da Silvano on Monday night, where they were joined by their wives, Sessa von Richthofen and Haley Binn, along with guests like Donny Deutsch, Jared Kushner, Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy, Silvano and Marisa Marchetto, Ann Dexter-Jones, Lauren and Charlie Walk, Daniel Benedict, Jane and Richie Notar, Jerry Della Femina and Judy Licht, Beth Ostrosky, Amy Nederlander, Alina Cho, jewelry exec Benny Shabtai, Sharon Dorram, film producer Meryl Poster, and Gigi Stone of ABC News. [PMc, GoaG]

Times Takes Subprime Mexican Loan

Ryan Tate · 01/20/09 03:01AM

The Times just borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, as anticipated. The interest rate? 14 percent. I pay less on my credit cards. Even more sad?

Inauguration Coverage, Big Loss at Time Warner

cityfile · 01/07/09 12:08PM

Not surprisingly, nearly every major network is planning "longer and more exhaustive" coverage of the inauguration compared to years past. [NYT]
Ugly day at Time Warner: The company is reporting its annual first loss in six years and is writing down $25 billion in the fourth quarter. [BN]
Is Dick Parsons in line to become Commerce Secretary? [B&C]
• Forbes laid off 19 people yesterday. [ATD]
• People's Jess Cagle is taking over as managing editor of EW. [NYP]
Michael Hirschorn thinks it's possible the New York Times will go bust in the next year; the Observer says Times boss Arthur Sulzberger Jr. is the "media mensch of the year." Go figure! [Atlantic, NYO]
Lloyd Grove's 4,100-word article on Sumner Redstone is online. [Portfolio]
If a cable news doctor can be Surgeon General, we probably shouldn't be surprised to see that Joe the Plumber is now a war correspondent. [NYP]