Will Jesus Bid on Newsweek?
In your audacious Wednesday media column: Newsweek bid day is here, David Remnick demands cash up front, The Big Lead creates a millionaire, Skiing Magazine eases away from print, and the original Jezebel is leaving.
- Bids for Newsweek are due today! There aren't too many details on the offers yet, so, not such a great news update. But there is a column by famed internet sock puppet Lee Siegel in the NYO today, in which he declares two notable things: 1) "Full disclosure: My wife worked at Newsweek for many years and she was one of the two dozen or so people Mr. Meacham laid off." And 2) "So much proclamation of print media's imminent doom is driven by self-interest, whether on the part of rival news organizations, threatened establishment journalists, established journalists who just want to stay in the game or jealous bloggers." See what he did there? (Be totally un-self-aware). Other than that, nice column.
- New Yorker editor David Remnick is a believer in paywalls, because he believes that good journalism is worth something, rather than nothing. Makes sense.
- The Big Lead, a good sports blog, has been bought by a sports blog network "for a figure in the low seven figures." That means millions, folks. All your blogging dreams can come true, so don't give up! Though it's highly unlikely. And, perversely, grows more unlikely with every other mega-success, like this one. So just forget it.
- Skiing Magazine is cutting down to just two issues per year. Which is really pretty close to the point at which it becomes "Skiing, a website."
- Anna is leaving Jezebel! Send her lots of love letters and lengthy explanations of your own various conspiracy theories while you still can.