media

New York Times Will Take Any Damn Ad

Hamilton Nolan · 07/15/09 01:07PM

Look at this nasty ad for shingles medication. It is featured prominently on the New York Times home page today. Is there no gross ad the Hobo NYT will not display, in exchange for precious money? (Click for full grossness!)

Potter Debuts, Fortune Revamps, Twitter Gets Hacked

cityfile · 07/15/09 01:07PM

• The Harry Potter frenzy kicked off last night when the latest installment debuted at midnight last night and raked in $22.2 million in the process. [THR]
Jared Kushner's struggling Observer is still hunting for a new editor. [DF]
• Time Inc. has "assembled a high-level SWAT team" to revamp Fortune. [NYP]
• The most successful magazine at the moment? Fitness. Obviously! [Folio]
• Ukraine's Culture Ministry has banned Brüno because "it's immoral." [THR]
• A hacker accessed the computers of several Twitter employees, made off with a big bunch of documents, and is now leaking the info online. Technology! [TC]
• Is NBC's wacky, new terrorist-hunting reality show going to put war correspondents in danger's way? Guess we'll find out shortly, right? [NYO]

Delusional Americans Love Fitness Magazine

Hamilton Nolan · 07/15/09 12:36PM

In your level-headed Wednesday media column: Jared Kushner congratulates his busy employees, the New York Times Co. explains how broke it is, a great idea for J-schools, and Fitness magazine finds success in fat America, somehow.

Jake Tapper Knows How to Grease a Gatekeeper

John Cook · 07/15/09 10:50AM

ABC News' Jake "The Octogon" Tapper thinks NBC News is totally "slimy" for their gross and "insulting" reporting during South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's disappearance. The nerve of those guys, suggesting that something untoward was going on!

Only Two More Years of Ad Despair

Hamilton Nolan · 07/14/09 02:12PM

In your tragic Tuesday media column: the ad slump is *almost* over, the NYT Co. sells its classical music station, an act of God stops Bob Woodruff in Iraq, and a eulogy for a murdered Complex magazine intern.

The Times Sells WQXR, Murdoch to Buy the 'News'?

cityfile · 07/14/09 12:27PM

• The New York Times Co. is selling its classical radio station WQXR to WNYC Radio and Univision as part of a "complex deal." One thing that isn't complex: The sale will pump a much-needed $45 million into the paper's coffers. [NYT]
• Is Rupert Murdoch planning to buy the Daily News from Mort Zuckerman? That's what some are suggesting, although Mort is denying it. [DailyFinance]
• McGraw-Hill shouldn't expect to make much from the sale of BusinessWeek. In fact, the company may be forced to give the magazine away. [FT]
• Neil Patrick Harris has signed on to host this year's Emmy Awards. [NYDN]
• Russell Brand will be the host of the MTV Video Music Awards. [Vulture]

ABC's Bob Woodruff Returns to Iraq

The Cajun Boy · 07/13/09 09:18PM

In 2006 ABC's Bob Woodruff was seriously injured in a bombing by Iraqi insurgents while covering the war for his network. Today he returned for the first time since the incident.

Matt Drudge By the Numbers

John Cook · 07/13/09 12:50PM

A numbers genius—not Nate Silver!—has pored over the 171,000-plus recorded updates of the Drudge Report since 2002 and put it all into chart form. Most stunning-yet-not-surprising statistic: two-year-old Politico ranks 16th among sites linked to by Drudge.