Magazines

We are more than aware this is an unfair question. Does Scrubs Magazine, a glossy for nurses give their staff health bennies?

Yes, we've heard the news about the media industry taking a giant hit the past couple years.

But it's a magazine about health care providers. For the longest time Wired only accepted pitches via - wait for it - snail mail. Which is like having to pass a drug test to write for High Times. So that's why we were curious.

Dayna Macy of Mind Over Media tells FBLA, "There actually are no staffers at Scrubs. Mind Over Media, the media development company that created it, is virtual. MOM is based in LA and is headed up by magazine industry veterans Amy Rappeport and Susan Gates. Their team is all freelance, pulled from the best/brightest/most experienced from New York to SF and LA."

Previously on FBLA: Scrubs Magazine Launches

The Business Insider is reporting that 11 employees have been laid off at Entertainment Weekly, 2 of which were from the magazine's Los Angeles bureau. According to their unnamed source, the cuts include "four on the editorial side and 7 on the business side."

Entertainment Weekly is owned by Time Inc., which has estimated the elimination of 400-500 employees by years end. Today also brought layoffs and buyouts to Time Inc. publications Essence and People, and Fortune Small Business was shuttered altogether.

Found via LA Observed

Scrubs the magazine geared specifically for nurses has debuted with their first issue.

All we want to know is if the staffers have an employee health care plan. And by staffers we mean "bloggers." We'll keep you updated.

Here's the press release in its entirety:

Scrubs (scrubsmag.com), the First Lifestyle Magazine and Website for Nurses, Premieres November 2009

Los Angeles, CA (November 3, 2009) - Scrubs Magazine (scrubsmag.com), the first lifestyle magazine and website for nurses, premieres November 15. The magazine, with a paid circulation of 350,000, will be sold in more than 1,500 nursing apparel stores nationwide. Strategic Partners, Inc. (SPI) - the leading nursing apparel and footwear company in the United States and manufacturer/distributor of scrubs under the labels of Cherokee, Disney, Baby Phat, Skechers, the NFL and others - is the founding sponsor.

"There are almost three million RNs in the United States, making nursing one of the largest segments of the U.S. workforce," says Michael Singer, Chief Executive Officer of SPI. "Healthcare is one of the few sectors of the economy adding jobs.* Scrubs and scrubsmag.com are perfectly positioned to reach this growing and thriving market."

The rest after the jump...

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Michael Grunwald at Time pens a fawning piece about how great California is:

Ignore the California whinery. It's still a dream state. In fact, the pioneering megastate that gave us microchips, freeways, blue jeans, tax revolts, extreme sports, energy efficiency, health clubs, Google searches, Craigslist, iPhones and the Hollywood vision of success is still the cutting edge of the American future - economically, environmentally, demographically, culturally and maybe politically. It's the greenest and most diverse state, the most globalized in general and most Asia-oriented in particular at a time when the world is heading in all those directions. It's also an unparalleled engine of innovation, the mecca of high tech, biotech and now clean tech.

Shut up. We would like our home prices to go down a little more before the word gets out about this place. Have some decency.

We have seen Marge Simpson's nipples and we don't feel good about it.

Marge Simpson is the cover girl for Playboy's November issue, the first time ever a cartoon character has graced the cover of the magazine. She wouldn't have been our first choice. It's a bit like walking in on your parents having sex. The racy pictures can be viewed online here - though be forewarned, they may scar you for life.

Playboy's CEO told the AP that the Marge pictorial is an attempt to attract younger viewers. We don't know what Matt Groening's excuse is.

Yesterday evening, former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl told the New York Observer that she planned to write a book about publishing house Condé Nast:

"It's a very rarefied world," she said. "It was a world that most people - I had no idea that this particular world existed. I sort of think of it as 'Ruthie in Wonderland.' People are fascinated by the world. It's a life that is probably coming to an end."

What would change, we wondered?

"That kind of luxury that we all had is probably a thing of the past. The new business realities have changed the life at Condé Nast. I think print magazines as we know them will cease to exist."

Er, that's not what we wanted to hear...

Found via Romenesko

Being old-fashioned, we prefer our advertisements in the form of glossy magazine pages to the flashes and pop-ups of the internet. But things are not going our way. Erik Sass of Media Daily News reports:

October brought no relief for consumer magazines, with monthlies posting a 20.1% drop in ad pages compared to the same month last year, contributing to a total decline of 22% in the first 10 months of 2009, according to new figures from the Media Industry Newsletter.

Coming on top of a dismal September -- traditionally a big month for magazines -- the October numbers bode ill for any potential turnaround in the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season.

On the upside, we don't work for a monthly magazine.

Last year, as our economy was beginning to crumble, I was walking by a doggie boutique with my friend Randall. As we peered in at the couture collars and tutus for Shitzus, he predicted that the pet industry would be among the first victims of the recession. But I knew Randall was wrong. Certainly our country's deep bond with the canine species would help us get through these troubled economic times. We co-evolved with these beasts, they've stuck by our side through wars and famines, and they will see us through to a healthy stock portfolio, I just know it.

Cesar Millan seems to see things my way. The "Dog Whisperer" is launching a new magazine called Cesar's Way, and it hits newsstands tomorrow. The Wall Street Journal had a peek at the publication, and says it is:

filled with slick photos of celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Jennifer Aniston with pets in tow. Articles include "Can Your Dog Fix Your Marriage? Just Ask Jada Pinkett Smith" and "7-Day Doggie Detox."

Okay, so it sounds like utter schlock. All the more reason to think the mag will be a big hit. Wouldn't you rather look at pictures of puppies than read the Economist?

This may be the best argument for non-profit journalism ever. Seems the weenies at Conde Nast have gone to great lengths to bury a story from the September issue of GQ critical of Vladimir Putin, likely for financial reasons. And they might have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids at NPR. David Folkenflik told the story of the cover-up on today's Morning Edition, and in an online article:

Conde Nast owns Vanity Fair and GQ as well as other publications, including Russian versions of GQ, Glamour, Tatler and Vogue. On July 23, Jerry S. Birenz, one of the company's top lawyers, sent an e-mail memo to more than a dozen corporate executives and GQ editors.

"Conde Nast management has decided that the September issue of U.S. GQ magazine containing Scott Anderson's article 'Vladimir Putin's Dark Rise to Power' should not be distributed in Russia," Birenz wrote.

He ordered that the article could not be posted to the magazine's Web site. No copies of the American edition of the magazine could be sent to Russia or shown in any country to Russian government officials, journalists or advertisers. Additionally, the piece could not be published in other Conde Nast magazines abroad, nor publicized in any way.

It wasn't just that there was no reference to Anderson's piece on the cover of this month's GQ, which featured a picture of Michael Jackson, a reference to tennis star Andy Roddick's wife and a ranking of obnoxious colleges and top drinking cities. At this writing, I cannot find any reference to Anderson's piece on the Internet.

Gawker has posted a copy of the article, and is working on a Russian translation. They are asking for volunteers to help them translate the article.

944 is opening a local bureau in two new cities, which means there are jobs in those cities, which means somebody is hiring, which means this is our happy post of the day.

944 MAGAZINE TO LAUNCH ATLANTA AND DETROIT EDITIONS ON OCTOBER 1

Lifestyle, fashion and entertainment magazine geared toward the hip, affluent set to add two new editions

to its portfolio of regional publications in the nation's leading entertainment hubs.

(August 25, 2009) — 944 Media, LLC ("944 Media") (www.944.com) has announced the launch of 944 Magazine editions in Atlanta and Detroit, to leverage its current media portfolio to nine regional publications in the country's premiere entertainment destinations. Slated for an October 1 launch date, 944 Atlanta and Detroit will hit the streets with a circulation of 20,000 in each market to total more than 280,000 audited magazines per month across the nation.

The rest of the press release after the break.

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