Magazines

The Columbia Journalism Review just happened to catch some similarities between an October 2008 cover for The Economist and a May 2009 edition of The Atlantic. Besides the typeface, the pictures on the covers are almost identical: both show the shadow outline of man peering over the edge of a cliff, you know, to symbolize how much trouble our economy is in.

But it's a total coincidence, Atlantic art director Jason Treat told CJR:

"I actually hadn't seen the Economist cover when we designed this, so I wasn't even aware that they had arrived at the same design solution...I only wish I had seen the Economist cover first...(I) would have revised it to distance it aesthetically."

We believe Treat when he says it was an honest mistake: this is fundamentally different from the Newsweek/Runner's World photo rights issue going on right now. If anything, the only thing both The Atlantic and The Economist are guilty of here is using the worn cliché to represent the financial crisis.

Everybody's On Edge --Columbia Journalism Review

Levi Johnston with the author, Nicole Caldwell, at last week's Playgirl photo shoot

Levi Johnston is standing naked in a 13th-floor studio in midtown Manhattan holding a hockey stick.

He swivels his head and looks into the camera as -- click -- the photo is taken. This is the money shot: the one Daniel Nardicio is tweeting about right now; the one Levi's manager Tank Jones will gush about to Us Weekly; and the one Gawker and Life & Style and a cajillion other gossip outlets will mention as proof positive that, in the words of Tank Jones, "You'll see what you need to see in these photos."

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Who said the shelter category is dead? After finishing the year as the leader in ad sales for the category, Elle Decor said today that it was raising its rate base by 10 percent -- from 500,000 to 550,000 -- starting with its March 2010 issue. The magazine said it will deliver an average circulation of 588,000 through the first half of next year.

The Hachette Filipacchi pub also expanded its ad sales team, promoting Matthew Talomie to the position of advertising director and appointing Linda Tullio, formerly of the recently shuttered Metropolitan Home, New York manager for Elle Decor.

"Matthew has been a creative, resourceful member of our staff for the last two years; this new role will allow him to contribute even more to our success," said Elle Decor publisher Barbara Friedmann. "Linda's 11 years with Metropolitan Home have made her an invaluable resource; this new position allows her to share her expertise."

And although Elle Decor nabbed the top spot in ad pages in the shelter category -- for the first time in its 20-year history -- its success is no doubt related to the closure of other shelter mags like Domino, Southern Accents and Metropolitan Home, whose "highest-quality subscribers" have been added to Elle Decor's readership, resulting in the rate base increase, the magazine said today.

Related: Breaking: Hachette Shutters Metropolitan Home

Over the weekend, rumors started swirling about the possible closure of Newsweek-owned Budget Travel. Thankfully, we learned yesterday that the magazine is safe. But we wondered, if the pub was not going out of business, what was the source of the nasty rumors?

Today, Advertising Age's Nat Ives reports that Newsweek "is seeking new equity investors for the title or even an outright sale". Staffers on either side of the sale -- within the magazine or Newsweek or at potential buyers -- could have taken this to mean the pub is close to folding.

Could that be the source of the recent rumors? Know anything? Let us know.

Newsweek Seeks Investors for Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel -- Advertising Age

Earlier: Update:Budget Travel Not Closing

A week after Newsweek cut a dozen editorial staffers, The New York Times has profiled the newly revamped weekly pub.

The big question on everyone's minds seems to be whether or not the redesign and rate base cut that was unveiled over the summer, touted as the saving grace for the struggling magazine, delivered as promised. The recent layoffs, though not as big as last year's the Times says, seem to point towards the negative. And the recently reported $4.3 million loss in third-quarter operating revenues is not very promising.

But when sitting down with the Times, Newsweek's CEO Thomas E. Ascheim put on a brave face. "It's been a disgusting economy, in case nobody else noticed," Ascheim said, adding that "we expect to operate less in the red" in the coming year.

Even the Times seems to be drinking the Koolaid, reporting that "the bottom line looks, if not good, then a little less bad than it did earlier this year."

We hope things are turning around for Newsweek. If that's really the case, it might become a model for other weeklies to follow, before they all fold completely or pare down their print schedules.

Glimmers of Progress at a Leaner Newsweek --New York Times

Earlier: Newsweek

With Meredith Corporation publications like Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle perhaps being the only magazines increasing ad pages this year, is it any surprise that other home and cooking titles are looking to increase in the same way?

Food Network Magazine is certainly looking to get its name out there, today announcing the promotion of two of their employees to high-level marketing positions: former marketing coordinator Nikki Zila has been bumped up to associate manager in integrated marketing, while previous manager Allison Home will now be serving as marketing director. Meanwhile, two new hires, Fabian Castro and Julie Mahoney, have been brought on as director of brand development and director of promotions and merchandising, respectively.

Full press release on the Food Network Magazine announcements after the jump

Earlier: Food Network Magazine Beefs Up Staff

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Earlier today, we reported on rumors that Budget Travel may be closing up shop. Turns out, those rumors were just that, a Newsweek spokesman tells FishbowlNY.

"Budget Travel is not shutting down nor is it laying off staff," Newsweek spokesman Frank J. De Maria told us via email this afternoon. "It's business as usual at Budget Travel and we are currently working to produce the February issue and beyond. It's also important to note that we have a growing and engaged audience which, in this difficult economic climate, is no small feat."

Earlier: Magazine Deathwatch: Budget Travel

Vintage magazine hopes to inspire readers to remember a time when high fashion wasn't about cutting corners. Inspired by the short-lived Flair magazine (founded by Fleur Cowles) Vintage's founder Ivy Baer Sherman hopes to recreate a mingling of "style and content" with Vintage, which includes a piece on the styles of Barbie in the 1950s, as well as "One man's ode to his 1973 Dino Ferrari."

But at a time when publications are sorely lacking in ad sales and extravagance is being cut from titles like Vanity Fair and Vogue, do we need another reminder that the industry ain't what it used to be?

Full press release for Vintage magazine, after the jump.

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Will Budget Travel be the next title to go the way of Domino and so many other magazines this year?

That's the sad news being reported by New York Magazine's Daily Intel, which claims that the magazine, which is owned by Newsweek publisher Washington Post Co., is already clearing out. (Update: We received word from a Newsweek spokesman that Budget Travel is not folding. Read the full update here) The reported closure is likely due to rapidly declining ad revenue, something many magazines have been experiencing. Said Daily Intel:

"The company had a 33 percent drop in revenue for their magazine division in the most recent quarter, compared to the third quarter last year — but they attributed it publicly to losses in ad revenue at Newsweek."

Our sister blog MediaJobsDaily adds that, if the magazine is closing up shop today, January's issue may be its last: "staff were in the midst of closing ad sales for February when 'suddenly told to hold on the usually tight closing date.'"

Know anything? Send us an email or leave a tip in the box on the right.

UPDATE: A Newsweek spokesman tell us that Budget Travel lives on.

Budget Travel Shuttering? --Daily Intel

Budget Travel To Close Soon? -- MediaJobsDaily

Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravesnthal, Barbara Walters and Tom Colicchio. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time Inc.

Last night, Time magazine managing editor Richard Stengel hosted a distinguished panel of guests to debate the question that always surfaces around this time of year: who should be Time's Person of the Year?

Stengel co-moderated the good-natured debate with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- Time's Person of the Year in 2001. Panelists like Barbara Walters were encouraged to bring lists of possible Person of the Year candidates who met the title's criteria, which includes having a global impact in the past year, for better or worse.

After running through lists of possible Person of the Year winners that included Bernie Madoff, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger and the Iranian protesters, the six-person panel ended the night in a three-three split. Walters agreed with TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz and Gayle King that "the guys from Twitter," meaning Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, should take the prize. Giuliani, "Top Chef" judge Tom Colicchio and Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravensthal all voted for "the economy," settling on some amalgam of Ben Bernanke and the unemployed American worker as Person of the Year.

Stengel didn't give any hints about who would end up the final winner later this year, but we'll see in a few weeks when the Person of the Year issue hits newsstands.

Read on for more of the panel's suggestions.

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