In the wake of Ted Kennedy's death, many people are assuming the age of Camelot has come to an end. These people have obviously forgotten the family's fecundity, for there are plenty of Kennedy's to take the helm.

Self-serving scumbag New York State Senate gridlock-promoter Pedro Espada's son just got a newly-created $120K/year state "intergovernmental relations" job, which, his spokesman confirms, is "not a case of political nepotism." Shut up, whores. [NYP]

The Huffington Post just hired another VIP's child, this one the son of White House senior adviser David Axelrod. Funny how a website famous for not paying bloggers finds room on the payroll for an undistinguished corps of rich kids.

Henry Louis Gates has given a couple interviews about his arrest at his home in Cambridge last week, and though he's still mad, he seems fairly magnanimous about the whole affair: "I'm glad that this lady called 911."

There're legions of uber-qualified writers who aren't employed right now due to the Sad State of Media. Funny, then, that Time Inc. hired a once-shitcanned People bureau chief accused of bad staff practices (nepotism, intern bedding) at their flagship, Time.

Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal's dad wants Bernie Madoff released from jail.

Si Newhouse Jr. ordered more layoffs at Condé Nast last month; receptionists and online writers were promptly fired. But the magazine honcho apparently doesn't mind adding another Newhouse to the payroll.

Mort Zuckerman is in pretty good shape for a man his age; he even mixes with the ladies a fair amount, an impressive feat considering he's in his 70s. But Zuckerman has named a successor at the New York Daily News anyway. His 11-year-old daughter. (On the bright side, if she ended up taking over tomorrow, it's unlikely she could really do any more damage to an industry that's already on its last legs.) The clip from Zuckerman's appearance on Charlie Rose's show earlier this week is above.

The Times accurately compared Caroline Kennedy's "controlled" press strategy to that of Sarah Palin. A Kennedy supporter buttressed that view on MSNBC. So why did the Times delete the comparison forever?

Growing up with a famous last name is usually pretty helpful when it comes to forging a career, and none more so, points out the Financial Times, than in the beauty business, where you can either slot yourself into a cushy role within the family empire, like Aerin Lauder or Olivia Chantecaille, or use your ready-made brand identity to start your own company, like Vidal Sassoon's son Elan.

Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Gedolf (her real name), NYC's latest teen-celebrity cokehead, is not doing so well in her glamorous media job. Imported from Britain, she's attending NYU (Olsen-twin style), and living in Williamsburg with her new musician husband. She "works" for It mag Nylon sometimes, but right now she's annoying MTV. She's Just Like Us: she's a pain in the ass at work and her bosses dislike her:Reports the Sun:

Are there any outlets left NOT trying to be ironic and meta? Because even Martha Stewart, the icy queen of sincere homemaking, is launching a parody of herself. The show, "Whatever, Martha!", will be run by Stewart's daughter Alexis who, judging from a fresh New York profile, is still acting as self-consciously over the top as she was three years ago, when she first got her satellite radio show. She hates on a paraplegic! She has casual sex, sometimes even with women! She bought a handgun in preparation for a U.S. invasion! And now she's going to run a show where she'll make fun of her mom's old shows on a show co-produced by that same company. In the process we'll all get an uncomfortable look behind the scenes in the Stewart family, which involves learning the following:

We all know Luke Russert is the house wunderkind at NBC news, presumably brought in to engage the youth audience during this historic election. As a youthful guy, Russert naturally blogs. And guess what. He's annoyingly free of self-awareness. A sample:

In the most recent issue of ESPN: The Magazine, 15-year sports journalism veteran Stephen A. Smith responds to the torrent of hate mail he received following his inaugural column for the magazine. The basic thrust of the criticisms is that Smith is an angry black man who doesn't understand any sport besides basketball. Smith defends the work he put in to earn his byline: "See, contrary to popular belief, ESPN didn't hand me the privilege of working here overnight. That opportunity arrived after years of blood, sweat and tears. A lot of people choose to ignore this. Fine! Especially now that I've got the last word. Or the last word of the first round, anyway." His column is immediately followed in the magazine by a story on the Buffalo Bills authored by a young up-and-comer named Luke Russert. Sigh.

At the risk of overdoing our coverage of monsters and hellspawn, we present this lovely picture of Anna Wintour and her daughter Bee Shaffer, snapped by a Columbia acquaintance of Shaffer at a recent party. The outdoor dinner featured lamb chops (not overdone!) and seems to have been convened at least partly to fête young Bee, presumably upon her return from a semester in London. Despite the mean things sometimes said about her mother, Shaffer herself retains much of the glow from her regal fashion lineage, thanks to outfits like the one she wore to the Costume Institute Gala this year and generally positive reports in her wake at internships at New York, Teen Vogue and so forth. Since we last checked in with her in 2006, Shaffer seems to have stopped writing her column for the UK's Telegraph and ceased contributing to the Columbia Spectator and its magazine. But she may have picked up a boyfriend! Check out the party picture after the jump.

Well, good for Luke Russert. The young son of the late Tim Russert, longtime NBC newsman, just got a job as a political correspondent with NBC. He'll be heading to the conventions to cover "youth issues." Which is shorthand for "bullshit." Seriously, the kid is BU BC class of 2008, his only media experience is looking composed on camera while discussing his father's tragic death and also hosting a satellite radio sports talk show with James Carville (guess how he got that gig!). So... maybe we're just being assholes about it but seriously, NBC, there are a thousand unemployed (or "freelancing!") reporters and journalists out there who might enjoy a cushy on-camera gig! Hell, isn't Gideon Yago available? There's your youth issues! No disrespect intended, of course. Except toward NBC News executives. (Obligatory "this is just like when the Bronx Zoo hired Bindi Irwin" comments commence... now!) [NYO, FishbowlDC. Photo: NYSD]

Times editors can't stop lavishing praise on books linked to their corporate overlords — and one corporate overlord can't seem to keep her family members from enjoying the fruits of this self-dealing. Times board member Lynn Dolnick yet again has an immediate family member whose book is featured in her newspaper, and yet again there is no disclosure of the connection to the board or to publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who is Dolnick's cousin. And this time, the newspaper really went to town. A book by Dolnick's husband Edward about Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren got an early review ("engaging"), an "editor's choice" recommendation, a special plug on page A4, and a friendly write up on the Paper Cuts blog ("delightful book"). And the Times is not likely to be making any apologies for the situation, judging from its handling of Lynn Dolnick's last nepotism controversy.

There's one person apart from shareholder John Malone who stands to lose when IAC is broken up: Alex von Furstenberg, adopted son of the internet conglomerate's boss, Barry Diller. The shaved-headed socialite, Diane von Furstenberg's son by her first gay husband, will still inherit a large part of his adoring stepfather's fortune. But after IAC is divided into five, Alex von Furstenberg may have trouble securing the front-row seats at Lakers games that are such a mark of social status in Los Angeles, where von Furstenberg has lived since 2005. He's been relying on Diller's office to cadge tickets to the bastketball games from Ticketmaster, the online ticketing service which IAC is spinning off. The IAC boss will remain chairman of Ticketmaster after the split, but one peons still hopes Diller and his relatives will no longer be able to use the service as a personal favor bank.

Because I didn't grow up with rich, famous New York media figures for parents, who could use their connections to insert me into a choice job in the media world, I've always been in favor of banning people who do have such parents from holding those good jobs. It would make the competition for them more meritocratic, and (bonus) wouldn't affect me personally. Sure, some of those legacy kids are smart and qualified for their positions—but then again so are dozens of other, less connected people. Prime example: Nathaniel Rich, son of Times demigod columnist Frank Rich. Nat is an author and associate editor at the Paris Review, and, by all accounts I've seen, intelligent and capable. But still, I think we should ban him from writing out of pure spite and envy. It just seems like the revolutionary thing to do. In the clip below, Nat talks about how growing up in the Rich family has affected his career. "I don't feel I need to respond to it. People refer to me a lot worse ways (than as a Rich boy)," he says. Such as?

The last time we were allowed a brief glimpse into the mysterious lives of Tom Cruise's "other" kids, the news wasn't pretty. Harvey Levin and his TMZ minions were pointing out their awkward adolescence and homelessness, even going as far as to making a crack about their "frizzy" hair. But following in his defiant father's footsteps, 13-year old Connor Cruise is fighting back against all those media meanies by reportedly scoring a plum role in the upcoming Will Smith vehicle, Seven Pounds. And as happy as we are that Connor finally realized playing soccer while surrounded by paparazzi wasn't likely to turn into a full-time career, we're somewhat suspicious of Tom's claims that Connor scored the part of potential Scientologist/Cruise buddy Smith "all on his own"...