media

Globe Bidders, Facebook Changes & The End of Analog

cityfile · 06/12/09 12:31PM

• Three more people have come out of the woodwork to express an interest in acquiring the Boston Globe. Let the bidding war begin? [Reuters]
• Analog television meets its maker tonight. Tell your grandma. [NYT, AP]
• Facebook introduces vanity URLs at midnight! Just in case you have absolutely nothing better to do and/or you're not too busy tweeting. [ABC]
• The New York Times is cutting, combining a few of its blogs. [E&P]
• Yahoo's new CFO is known for his ruthless cost-cutting. Good news for the beleaguered Internet company, bad news for beleaguered employees. [PC]
• Jon and Kate have been on the cover of Us for seven straight weeks now. "Unless Britney Spears gets pregnant or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up, it appears the troubled couple won't be bumped anytime soon." [WWD]

The A-Pee

Hamilton Nolan · 06/12/09 09:33AM

Journo-nerd Bible the AP Stylebook—which last year unconscionably got rid of "riffraff" and "malarkey"—has been updated again. Things the AP just learned about in 2008: baba ghanoush, Twitter, and water sports.

Media Jobs '09: Craigslist Serfdom

Hamilton Nolan · 06/11/09 02:15PM

The media job market is tough. But there are always freelancing opportunities on Craigslist! Right? Right! Terrible, degrading freelance opportunities. Follow these onerous submission guidelines and you too could one day earn literally dozens of dollars, by writing!

Late Night Comedy, Lou Dobbs & Labradors

cityfile · 06/11/09 12:55PM

• The late night battle rages on: After losing ground to Letterman, Conan bounced back last night, and had a pretty solid first week overall. [THR, NYT]
• Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. confirms that it has been talks with the New York Times Co. to purchase the Boston Globe. [BH]
Stephen Colbert's decision to broadcast from Iraq worked out nicely: Ratings for the Comedy Central show have been up 25 percent this week. [NYT]
Joy Behar is launching a new talk show on HLN. The best part about it: She'll be bumping blowhard Lou Dobbs from his 9pm slot on the network. [NYT]
• TV, print and online ad spending fell 14 percent in the first quarter. [WSJ]
• Hope you're a Marley & Me fan. HarperCollins is cemented a deal to publish 13 children's books about the world's most famous Labrador. Yes, 13. [PW]

Peter Brant Comes Undone

cityfile · 06/10/09 03:30PM

Polo-playing paper tycoon Peter Brant has had plenty of drama on his plate in recent weeks. His divorce from Stephanie Seymour has only been getting messier by the day. (Last week, the ex-supermodel got into a shoving match with one of Brant's bodyguards at the couple's Greenwich estate; over the weekend, she was issued a summons after another run-in with Brant's staff.) But that isn't the only crisis unfolding in the house of Brant. The convicted felon—Brant served 84 days in prison in 1990 after pleading guilty to tax fraud—is now watching Interview, the art/fashion mag founded by Andy Warhol and which Brant has controlled since the late 1980s, crumble to pieces. And it's all happened under the not-very-watchful eye of the man that Brant appointed to oversee his collection of magazines—his equally scandal-plagued son, Ryan Brant.