Alright, kids. Starting Monday we’re introducing a new feature to FishbowlNY:

360° Daily Angle

It’s daily FishbowlNY video.

The mediabistro.com/NYC TV production will be hosted by New York 360°‘s Amy Palmer (above). We’re going to have new episodes each weekday that will also appear on NYC TV’s website. Expect top stories, interviews and all sorts of good stuff on the latest in New York media and entertainment news.

Press release after the jump.

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Yes, that’s a boa in the background (Laurel really does love them), and her at her desk (though she’s usually less made up). CNBC came by for “On the Money” and since they’re all about business, Laurel told them all about how our business at mediabistro is more than the Web.

The boss also joined us for Friday yoga. We’ll have to wait until after Wednesday — CNBC is shooting our party that night — to see what we look like bending and twisting for the camera.

Writer’s Digest has again named mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY’s parent, one of the best websites for writers.

We’re glad for the honor.

So, there’s no longer any such thing as “Time Warner Books,” and instead it’s Hachette Book Group. (We envision all kinds of mispronunciations by New York messengers, cab drivers, cleaning ladies, …)

And last week, when we called the Fairchild Publications’ main number, the helpful front desker answered “Condé Nast.” Guess maybe that’s maybe kind of official, too.

FishbowlNY is a blog dedicated to breaking news, analysis and insightful commentary about New York media.

Co-Editor | Alex Alvarez

Alex is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. Her work has appeared on Guanabee, Racialicious, Jezebel and Sadie Magazine as well as within the pages of Surface and Playgirl. She hopes to continue covering topics as diverse as ethnic identity, celebrity baby names and, of course, New York media as long as the internet will have her. She is currently working on a novel you will never read.

TIPS
If you have a media news or gossip tip, please email tips [at] mediabistro.com or use the anonymous tip box at the top right-hand column of the FishbowlNY page. We protect our sources, and anonymity is guaranteed.

ADVERTISING
If you are interested in advertising on FishbowlNY or any other mediabistro.com blogs, contact Jude O’Connor; jude [at] mediabistro [dot] com.

HISTORY
FishbowlNY launched in November 2004 as a flagship member of mediabistro.com’s blog network. The network now encompasses our other regional media sites FishbowlLA and FishbowlDC. Also, TVNewser and companion site WebNewser, public relations site PRNewser, design blog Unbeige, literary-bent GalleyCat and its companion site eBookNewser, ad agency tell-all AgencySpy and sports-obsessed SportsNewser.

Today marks my first official day as editor of Fishbowl NY, and rest assured, this will be one of the first and last posts “about” me. But here goes: Before taking mediabistro’s managing editor, media news slot, I was at FOLIO:, the revered magazine about magazines located in historic South Norwalk, CT (or, as I like to call it, “Brooklyn Way East”), where my focus was on amping up its online news coverage, traffic and always-indefinable “cool” factor. I plan to do the same, and much more, here.

In its relatively short history, FishbowlNY has been home to some of the finest writers I know, including Elizabeth Spiers, Rachel Sklar, current co-managing editor Aileen Gallagher and the omnipresent Greg Lindsay, among others. Shaq-sized shoes to fill, I realize. To me, this blog is as much yours as it is mine, so please drop me a line early and often with news, feedback, gossip, classified documents. You know, the real good dirt.

One final note: I have always held that my three dream jobs in the NYC media world would be, in no particular order: staff writer for The Onion or Daily Show; a beat reporter for the New York Mets (circa ’86); and working for mediabistro, a great group of people I’ve admired for a long time.

So here I am, with plenty of game, a mean crossover and hopefully great things ahead.

Whoa – looky what happens when you’re off and blogging about Canada. It’s true, I will be swimming out of the Fishbowl at the end of the month. I’ve enjoyed my time here immensely and it’s not over, especially since Frank Rich has a few things he’d like to say about showtunes. If you think I’m joking, then you obviously haven’t read this blog.

So no maudlin goodbyes until next week, but plenty of fishy fun between now and then. Okay then, we’ll see you tomorrow. Now git.

Winds of Change [The Scorpions]

One year ago today, on January 18, 2005, a blog was born – namely, this one. Well, that’s mostly true – it was born in beta and launched on January 31st, along with 5 other tender young blogs – but the first full-fledged FishbowlNY item posted last year on this day, and that’s anniversary enough for us.

A switch from the Royal We: I’ve been writing and editing Fishbowl for almost ten months now, which kind of boggles my mind but in a very, very good way. I’m pleased to have been part of the team that has brought this blog to fruition – founding editor and former MB EIC Elizabeth Spiers, her trusty deputy Christian Moerk, the Fishterns, especially Jamie Frevele, Maureen Miller and Annie Karni; FBNY contributing editor Aileen Gallagher; the lunch-tastic Laurel Touby, whose largesse has fed many of us at Michael’s along the way; my fantabulous fellow bloggers with whom I have been proud to be linked; and all the FishFriends&#153 who have tipped, emailed, and otherwise made this thing go swimmingly along the way.

As the Rolling Stones* once said, it’s been a very good year. Thanks to all of you and here’s to many more!

Rachel Sklar
Editor
FishbowlNY

*For God’s sake, people, it’s a joke.

That Media Mob sure knows how to have fun on a Friday afternoon! The Daily Transom posts this fun New Yorker cartoon inspired by MB founder, cyberhostess and legendary boa-wearer Laurel Touby. Extra-fun link: “Related: Laurel Touby uses her boa as a magic sapphic lasso,” which just tripled attendance at Mediabistro parties.

Related:
Fun with New Yorker Cartoons! [FishbowlNY]

Update: A reader has since pointed out that it is unclear that Tom Scocca did not draw the cartoon, merely the caption (and Laurel’s signature rectangular glasses). The cartoon was the New Yorker caption contest entry for the week and was drawn by the talented Matthew Diffee.

I wanted to take a second to update Fishbowl readers on four — count ‘em, four — recent posts, all of which are just brimming with new and relevant information. Allons-y!

• The Letterman vs. O’Reilly flap: Not surprisingly, it has exploded into a blogosphere juggernaut (currently it’s the #1 – and #6 – search on Technorati). Our updated post brings you links to the vid, the transcript and, of course, the shirt.

• The First Thing We Do Is Blog All the Lawyers: We’ve added a few more to the roster (congratulations, Salon‘s Tim Grieve and MediaPost‘s Wendy Davis! We’re still on the fence about Jeremy Blachman but there was that Times op-ed, so, okay). We want to have the definitive list of juristic journalists, so feel free to blatantly out your lawyer friends here.
• Here’s to the ladies who prognosticate: Our post featuring Media Predictions of 2006 has been updated since 2005, so give a look to see what Star/American Media honcho Bonnie Fuller, Salon’s Rebecca Traister, Village Voice sex columnist and MB “Citizen Media Critic” Rachel Kramer Bussel and others have to say. Includes audioclip from the song “Easy Lover,” apropos of something.
• …and it’s not just that it rhymes with “Gherkin”: NYT labial essayist Daphne Merkin‘s Sunday NYT mag piece on her vagina, herself inspired some interesting conversation, to be sure (let alone some interesting headlines in the blogosphere, once which humorously invokes Barbara Billingsly). That, however, is not the update. The update is a goofy yet strangely apropos pun. And we’re hiding it after the jump, just because.

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