After watching her magazine Gourmet die for lack of monied advertisers, Ruth Reichl tells the LA Times she has no problem with the business model of her latest venture, Gilt Taste.

Reichl’s online gourmet market and culinary magazine is anchored directly to the commerce of Gilt Groupe, a fashion and travel deals site overseen by Susan Lyne. When asked if a line is crossed when journalism is merged with commerce, the former Gourmet exec turned editorial advisor offerred these candid, pragmatic words:

“There isn’t any line to cross. We’re one unit. That firewall that used to exist has been eroding for years. We wouldn’t be selling something if we weren’t proud of it. And we wouldn’t write about something we weren’t interested in…. Now, I don’t have a publisher asking, “can you use these products in a recipe?” just because they’re an advertiser.”

Read more

Fred Schruers, who joins TheWrap in mid-July as senior writer, definitely knows his way around a high-powered celebrity interview. His experience with Hollywood’s A-list started at Rolling Stone magazine, encompassing the likes of Michael Douglas, Sandra Bullock, and John Travolta, and later continued apace at Premiere magazine.

Since TheWrap rival The Hollywood Reporter has basically re-invented itself in print as a weekly version of Premiere, it will be interesting to see how Schruers is able to inject himself into the current Hollywood trades quadrangle (perhaps even helping TheWrap edge into print somehow?). As a member of Premiere‘s west coast bureau team, Schruers was a key contributor to the mag’s influential annual Power List overseen by Susan Lyne.

Read more