Though we long ago buried our relationship with the dilapidated New York Press, apparently someone at the Times is still dutifully reading the alt-weekly (perhaps hoping for a miracle). Thus, in Patrick Healy's November 6th article, New York Press gets a mention for endorsing Democratic punching bag Ferrer — but not to the pleasure of Press editors. In their latest issue, the Press writes:
• Eventually, something — a flu, a hurricane, our own government — will wipe out most of humanity. And, much to our surprise, that includes New York. [NYM]
• 50 Cent is man enough to cry. And to kill you for laughing at him about it. [Reuters]
• The dying New York Press attempts to revive itself via the modern media adrenaline shot known as a "blog." [Fifth Estate]
• Do we date too often? Too little? More importantly, do we think about this shit too much to ever get laid? [n+1]
• You know what suffix should be used more often? "-iggers." Not that we'd ever be caught saying "chiggers" aloud. [Fawny]
• A nice, Jewish lawyer needs someone to pretend to be his wife for a company function. And so a heart-warming romantic comedy begins. [Craigslist]
• The male nipple might be silly, but it sure does move copy! [Marketwatch]
• The Voice turns 50. Long live independent journalism! Oh, wait. [VV]
• Old Voicers, shockingly, continue to be apprehensive about merger. [NYP]
• Four reasons regulators should block the Voice-New Times deal. [SFBG]
• Nightliners are apprehensive, too, as overhauled, Koppel-less version of the show moves toward its launch. [NYO]
• Al Franken to enter Minnesota politics. Which will require moving there. The horror. [NYO]
• New New York Press editor Harry Siegel, who used to work at the Sun, is profiled by a freelancing Sun editor, who reveals Siegel's Press ascension was engineered by the paper's founder, Russ Smith, who doesn't own it anymore. It's almost as incestuous as one of our Mediabistro-EIC posts. [Doublethink]
• James Truman's new job will be in London, not New York. And Judy Miller's car sports a "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker. We don't mean to suggest any correlation. [WWD
• Why's the Times at war with itself? Because it deserves it. [MarketWatch]
This tip arrived in our "office" late yesterday
We can't say we care much about an email battle brewing between an irrelevant, loony mayoral candidate and an irrelevant, loony free weekly. But the recent exchange between perennial mayoral hopeful Christopher X. Brodeur and new New York Press chief Harry Siegel, which is making its way among various political-writer sorts today and somehow ended up in our inbox, at least provides our new favorite insult. From Brodeur to Siegel:
And speaking of faux-newspapers, boosterish or otherwise, we received this tip about one of the manifold changes afoot at the new New York Press:
Yesterday we asked if you thought that was quit/fired New York Press columnist Matt Taibbi going for a New Orleans boat ride with Sean Penn. Oh, do you think so. Indeed, this is about as close to unanimous as these things get:
In all the excitement over the sinking of Sean Penn's New Orleans rescue boat, we totally overlooked the real New York media angle on that story.
Just as we were hoping. Publishing part of quit/fired former New York Press columnist Matt Taibbi's broadsides at the paper's founder, Russ Smith, yesterday elicited impassioned responses. It's clear now that Smith is, as Taibbi charged, responsible for the evisceration of the paper. Or else it's clear that he's not.
Finally, an explanation for why the New York Press sucks. In an interview published in The Toilet Paper, freshly resigned/fired Press columnist Matt Taibbi — who looks like the "computer-generated love child of Ashton Kutcher and Peter Beinart," as a mildly deranged reader recently pointed out — points the finger squarely at Press founder and former owner Russ Smith (who, in fairness, has pointed many a finger at Taibbi over the years).
Well, we kept waiting for someone else to cover it, but apparently we're the only ones who care (and, frankly, we don't): With the new editors at The New York Press getting all settled in, that means some old warhorses are leaving. And by "warhorse," we mean "smug I'm-in-a-better-place-now-anyway asshead," and by that we mean "Matt Taibbi." The famous Pope death chronicler decided to announce his resignation once the new editors came in, in typically classy, honorable fashion.
We're not saying that the New York Press has slid to the bottom of the media food chain around here, but when the new editors took over and fired off a spirited "here we are, world, look out!" manifesto, it took nearly 24 hours for anyone to notice, including us, and this is our job. Regardless: new EIC Harry Siegel and Co. detail what the new New NEW! New York Press is going to look like. From what we can tell:
We don't know which is more curious: The Press having something good to announce, or the Sun breaking media news. Either way, it's interesting: The Press has hired a new editor to replace the recently departed Alexander Zaitchik, who replaced the only slightly less recently departed Jeff Koyen. The new guy is 27-year-old Harry Siegel, son of Giuliani biographer Fred Siegel and a former Sun editorial writer.
Things are looking even worse than usual over at the discerning homeless person's second-favorite choice of bed linens. New York Press editor Alexander Zeitchek announced his resignation today; no replacement has been anounnced. Advertising VP Tami Roadarmel resigned yesterday. Publisher Chris Rohland resigned back in May. Which came after then-editor Jeff Koyen resigned back in March.
Claiming that there's "only so much drugs a 35-year-old man should take," NY Press editor Jeff Koyen would like to append some minor corrections to Friday's report on the cancellation of their annual Summer Guide Party. The party, by the way, is still cancelled. (And 35? Eh, I lie about my age too.)
A NY Press reader subtlely voices his displeasure with Matt Taibbi's April 16th article, "Unfair Hike":
NY Press editor Jeff Koyen appears to have permanently turned his weekly editorial into a sort of personal journal. His "What I Did This Week" essay contains the usual "been hanging in Brooklyn bars" bit, more analysis of local 'zines, and another bizarre swipe at The Onion. (Yes, The Onion.) "New issues of two Brooklyn-based freebies showed up this week: Arthur and Jest. The first, though it's trying very, very hard, sucks hard; their previous issue was far more engaging. The May 2003 Jest, on the other hand, wasn�t bad at all. Last month, I slammed the ambitious humor zine after wasting my time looking for jokes and finding only a handful. The new one, though�not bad at all. (Even with their lil� dig at New York Press.) Though I think they should've included more of Joe's 'tardy comics, they hit the mark more often than not. With the Onion so painfully unfunny these days, they may actually have a chance at surviving in the market."
The Intro [NY Press]
NY Press Editor Jeff Koyen has a habit of making his editorials oddly confessional. This week's Random Fact About Jeff: "On the peak of my head, where the bones melded together during infancy, I've got a curious indentation. It freaks me out when I think of it, which is, mercifully, rarely. Though I've been assured that my skull did, indeed, fuse correctly and into solid form, it sometimes still gets me wiggly to think that a sharp pencil and a wee push could probably turn me into a retard."
Dirty money [NY Press]
The NY Press analyzes the effects of the smoking ban and comments on the city's decision to allow cops to moonlight as security guards at bars and restuarants, "patrolling the sidewalks to keep the smokers in line": "But what about bar patrons, who are being forced onto the sidewalks by the law in the first place? Now we re gonna get out there in compliance with the law, only to run into more law? Before the law was enacted, smoking drunks were contained within four walls and behind closed doors. No one had to see or hear us. Now the law has forced us to become a bunch of free range smoking drunks, out there getting in people's way, messing up the sidewalk and annoying the neighbors. Which is better?"
The old woman who swallowed a fly [NY Press]
