Cyndi Stivers

In a note announcing the hire, Chris Grosso, senior vice president and general manager of AOL Homepages, wrote, “As we evolve AOL.com as a content destination, we will look to Cyndi to ensure the site showcases the most compelling stories relevant to our viewers and drive a distinctive editorial voice. We’ll also be relying on her creativity to help us ignite our live programming and add more opportunities for visitors to engage with each other around our content.”

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Prior to that, Stivers was the founding editor-in-chief and president of Time Out New York. 

“Since my very first newspaper job, I have been fascinated by the evolution of our craft and the advances technology has made possible,” Stivers said.  “I am sure CJR will reflect that dynamism, and a true sense of possibility. I look forward to working with editor Mike Hoyt and the team he has built to bring CJR to new heights.”

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Sister blog WebNewser was on the scene at the Time & Life building to hear former Fishbowler and current Mediaite editor Rachel Sklar, New York Times social media editor Jennifer Preston, and EW.com managing editor Cyndi Stivers talk about the role of social media editors in newsgathering organizations, on a panel moderated by Time Inc. director of community strategy for lifestyle digital Melissa Parrish.

Some choice insights from the panel included learning what your audience wants to read on your Twitter stream. Said Sklar:

“For Mediaite, it was different because we were a scrappy little start-up financed by Dan Abrams and whoever his private investors are, with a very small team — four of us. As soon as we launched, I became the unofficial PR Newsfeed of Mediaite.

I don’t have much of a filter in terms of the stuff I post.

I was responding to every single negative comment on my personal Twitter, and I started getting emails from people saying, ‘Whoa, you’ve got to back off a little bit.’”

Stivers agreed that news judgment is sometimes necessary:

“I think a lot of times people do forget about the user experience or think about it as an afterthought: Would I be annoyed if I had to click to another page and it was only three lines? Would I feel duped? Would I feel misrepresented?”

And Preston’s insight into how social media is used at the Times was very revealing:

“As journalists for The New York Times, trust is key. You have to make sure you’re providing as much real-time information as you can, but you have to verify it.

You do not join the Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama fan club on Facebook.

We’re not allowed to say “tweet” yet at The New York Times, but you can post to Twitter through TimesPeople.”

Read more: Social Media Editors On The Role Of Social Media Editors –WebNewser

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The EWwy’s are EW‘s answers to television’s Emmy Awards. They give readers a chance to honor their favorite shows and stars, including those perpetually snubbed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Starting today, readers can vote online for their faves through EW.com and Hulu. Explained the two:

“EW.com’s EWwys programming will include galleries of photos for the ten categories with links back to Hulu’s EWwys package, as well as a series of posts on the award-winning blog PopWatch with embedded video clips of the nominees. Hulu will feature a thematic ‘carousel’ of videos at www.hulu.com/ewwys2009 with links to vote and review all the nominees at EW.com.”

Here’s how it works: EW readers picked six nominees for each category for online visitors to pick from. For the next week, online visitors will be able to vote in the five comedy series categories (best series, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress). Voting for the five drama series categories will start next Monday.

The winners will be announced on September 14, with recipients each earning a golden female sheep or “ewe” statuette.

“EW.com has received a hailstorm of emails and blog comments from fans who are outraged that their favorite shows haven’t been recognized,” EW.com’s managing editor Cyndi Stivers said in a statment. “They say, ‘How did the Emmys manage to ignore “True Blood”?’ and ‘What about “Battlestar Galactica”; what about “The Shield?” They had the most amazing final seasons!’ We’re delighted to join forces with Hulu so we can show as well as tell what our audience believes to be TV’s best.”

Read on for the full list of EWwy nominees

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Filling an opulent townhouse with Moroccan fare, Basque wine and didgeridoo and capoeira performances, niche travel mag Afar introduced itself and its mission to deliver international editorial content for the “experiential traveler” at last night’s launch party in the Meatpacking District. In an era of cancelled conferences and Christmas parties, folded magazines and company-wide layoffs, the party certainly was transporting.

We spotted some familiar faces in the crowd, including Samir Husni (a.k.a. Mr. Magazine), EntertainmentWeekly.com’s Cyndi Stivers, and TheWrap.com’s Dylan Stableford. We caught up with Afar‘s publisher, John Sheehy, a former Time Inc. publishing director who consulted on Dwell‘s launch, to hear first-hand why anyone would launch a print publication in this economy. Apparently, the industry’s current financial turmoil is of little concern to Sheehy: “The downturn is actually helping [Afar], because people are more selective about travel.” Ad pages account for 25 percent of Afar‘s 100-page launch issue, and Sheehy is bullish about the future. The bimonthly magazine hits newsstands August 18, and a Web site and social network component to the print pub is set to debut in early 2010.

Afar co-founders Greg Sullivan (CEO) and Joe Diaz said they came up with the concept for Afar after a five-week stay in India with no set agenda. Sullivan said they realized that this “beneath the culture” travel had no media representation, and they believe Afar can fill that niche need in the crowded travel mag market. Said Sullivan, Afar “should be a media brand that inspires this kind of [experiential] travel,” he said.

But can another travel mag really endure the journey to success in these hard publishing times? Sullivan (who, by the way, sank $10 million of his own money into this project) seems to have no doubts, saying, “It sure seems like we’re touching a chord here… We really think this could be a big thing.”

Check out photos from the event (didgeridoos included) after the jump…

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