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06 Mar 2011 23:11

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Politics: Tina Brown, on relaunching Newsweek with The Daily Beast

  • Ironically, it was living in The Daily Beast’s fast and furious news cycle for the past two years that revealed to me what a newsmagazine can bring to the table when it’s no longer chasing yesterday’s story. It’s about filling the gaps left when a story has seemingly passed, or resetting the agenda, or coming up with an insight or synthesis that connects the crackling, confusing digital dots.
  • Tina Brown • Explaining in her redesign-launching letter what Newsweek’s relaunch means. She’s absolutely right, really – her time with The Daily Beast makes her pretty much the perfect person to play the role of editor of a newsmagazine in 2011. She can take the lessons from the Beast and build a shared vision between two entities which are designed to handle different parts of the media pie. We wish her the best. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 08:36

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Politics: SAY IT AIN’T SO! Andrew Sullivan heading to The Daily Beast

  • As far as political Punditry goes, this is like LeBron James leaving the Cavs. Andrew Sullivan, who in our opinion wrote the script on what a good political site is supposed to be, is moving. This time, he’s taking “The Daily Dish” from The Atlantic (whose fortunes improved in large part thanks to his site) to The Daily Beast, and will contribute to Newsweek to boot. Andy’s grown a bit more liberal over the years – though he’ll never admit it to your face – but he’s still an essential read nonetheless. While Andy is sad about leaving a company that he helped lead to their first year of profitability in ages, “The chance to be part of a whole new experiment in online and print journalism, in the Daily Beast and Newsweek adventure, is just too fascinating and exciting a challenge to pass up.” Right now, though, we admit to having that lump in our throat knowing that our favorite team just lost its best player to the Miami Heat. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 20:55

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Biz: Newsweek’s Daily Beast merger: Two money-losers, one with momentum

  • $10M the amount The Daily Beast is on track to lose this year; it’s relatively new, so that’s not bad
  • $20M the amount Newsweek is on track to lose; it’s been bleeding for a long freaking time
  • $1 the amount Sidney Harman spent to buy Newsweek; he also took on all its debt source
  • » Is this a deal just to get Tina Brown? It wouldn’t be unprecedented. See, Brown, a longtime magazine editor for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, has the chops to help make Newsweek a success again, and Barry Diller’s Daily Beast, while growing at a nice clip (5 million online readers a month, which means that nowadays, it’s probably read about as widely as Newsweek, which sells 1.6 million print copies – significantly down from just a year ago), probably needs a print component to anchor its Web efforts and ensure profitability. And plus, NBC Universal bought Barry Diller’s USA Network back in 2001 basically to get Diller.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 10:37

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Biz: Newsweek, The Daily Beast become singular corporate beast

  • Nothing more to add to this, really. Good luck guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 10:09

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Politics: Howard Kurtz impressed he was the center of attention for an hour

  • Within a few hours of Tuesdays announcement, a Politico reporter told me she was working on a second-day story. And by late afternoon, media columnists were already drawing up lists of who might replace me at The Post. I was old news, just like that.
  • Howard “quitting after 29 years” Kurtz • In his “I’m leaving” announcement on his Washington Post blog this morning. Kurtz was in disbelief that his departure actually led to his name briefly becoming a trending topic on Twitter yesterday “without even popping off, Rick Sanchez-style.” He claimed that he was departing because he found the ability to help mold the new-media landscape “irresistible.” We’ll see what the dude can do with The Daily Beast’s Washington bureau. It might be cool. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2010 14:17

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Politics: Conundrum: Howard Kurtz hates SEO, likes The Daily Beast

  • Howard Kurtz, about a month ago Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz puts up a rant complaining about how he has to do SEO to get people to read his articles: “Our mission – and we have no choice but to accept it – is to grab some of that traffic that could otherwise end up at hundreds of other places, even blogs riffing off the reporting that your own publication has done.”
  • Howard Kurtz, right about now His dislike of SEO isn’t enough to make him pass up The Daily Beast: “I’ve wanted to work with Tina Brown forever—well, for a long time—and I’m incredibly impressed by the energy and creativity of The Daily Beast staff. After a lifetime in newspapers, I’m ready for the challenge of fast-paced online journalism.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2010 20:41

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Politics: James O’Keefe: Do conservative news sites have credibility issues?

  • Too often, conservative sites have failed to distinguish between solid scoops and feverish conspiracy theories, between methodical reporting and harassment, thereby damaging their credibility.
  • Daily Beast columnist Benjamin Sarlin • Regarding the James O’Keefe arrest in the grander scheme of things. Which is to say that many conservative Web sites excel at opinion but completely fail at credible reporting. O’Keefe’s take on gonzo journalism is interesting, but definitely not ethical. And other conservative Web icons – including Powerline (which broke the Rathergate saga) and Michelle Malkin – have had shining moments but inconsistent results. BigGovernment.com, which paid O’Keefe, may now be headed down that road. Sarlin gives credit to Tucker Carlson of the just-launched Daily Caller for trying to raise the standards to the likes of The Huffington Post. Will it work? We’ll see. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Jan 2010 11:16

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Tech: Life after magazines: Daily Beast editor modestly kicks @$$

Tina Brown, already a vet of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, has built The Daily Beast into a hype-free News 2.0 beast in just over a year. Not bad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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