In your foreboding Tuesday media column: Bloomberg decides to attract some of these "wealthy" readers, Kathleen Parker's reign at CNN looks tenuous, magazine ad revenue rises in 2010, journalism's depressing, and Elaine Lafferty speaks on her Daily Beast-Koch-Jane Mayer story.

  • Bloomberg LP has had a stroke of genius: hire some dude from Forbes, and put together its own list of the richest people. It's kind of sad that one big listicle can be unironically described as "the core franchise of Forbes magazine," but there you have it.
  • The rumored end of Kathleen Parker's historic run as cohost of unwatched CNN politico-comeback vehicle Parker Spitzer seems to be becoming more assured: CNN has yanked down a huge billboard for the show. You'll always have that weird Pulitzer, Kathleen.
  • Magazine ad revenue was up 3.1% in 2010. Auto ad revenue was up nearly 22%. That explains everything.
  • Here is a horrifyingly depressing look at life after journalism (for those whose life in journalism ended involuntarily).
  • Elaine Lafferty wrote a story in The Daily Beast last year in which right-wing billionaire David Koch talked about how awful Jane Mayer's big story about him in The New Yorker was. TDB later appended an editor's note to the story disclosing that Lafferty was formerly a paid employee of John McCain and Sarah Palin. We referred to Lafferty's story in our post last week on the apparent ongoing campaign to discredit Mayer. Elaine Lafferty sent us a long email saying, essentially, she is not part of any smear campaign. Excerpt:

  • Fast forward to last September. I'm talking to a friend I met on the McCain campaign, Nancy Pfotenhauer. She's known the Koch brothers forever. We chat about Mayer's New Yorker piece. Nancy says David is upset, says the big right wing funder stuff isn't so. Nancy wasn't selling me, trust me. I say hey, if you let me talk to him, he could say that. She says sure. Whoa. I call TDB, ask if they want a quickie - it ain't going to be a long interview, probably a paragraph. Sure, they say.
    David calls me, we talk for 15 minutes, I send in the trifle, which, by the way, doesnt slam Mayer..who I'd left messages for at the New Yorker, to no avail.
    Well! Mayer flips out. Calls Tina Brown at home. How could you??!! Lafferty never contacted me! TDB editors call me, and I happily supply email and phone records of my attempts to reach Mayer, along with the magazine's PR department response that she ain't calling me. To get Mayer off their backs, TDB asks if its ok if they throw in an editor's note that I worked for McCain. Fine. Later, I learn Mayer is chatting up other outlets that I am some kind of Koch operative. Huh?
    Now what my three month gig with McCain had to do with a 15 minute call with David Koch escapes me..but when Jane Mayer gets angry, well, people do their best to try and keep her happy.

  • FYI.

[Photo: AP]