Welcome back to another edition of FishbowlNY’s weekly Cover Battle. This week we have Entertainment Weekly squaring off against Elle. For its latest cover, EW went with a photo of Michael C. Hall almost completely submerged in a giant vat of sangria. Hey, reminds us of last Friday night! Thank you! We’ll be here all night.

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“No one here is concerned that the print magazine is going away,” said Entertainment Weekly managing editor Jess Cagle when asked about Time Inc.’s impending spin-off from its parent company. “The print magazine is still the spine of our brand.”

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do?, Cagle also discussed what he’s doing to keep the established brand fresh (forays into TV and radio), digital vs. print and why you won’t see “sponsored” content in the mag’s pages.

“Obviously, print advertising is a challenge, but there’s not a lot of overlap between our print audience and our digital audience,” he said. “The print audience has held really steady the last few years. It’s about 1.7 million. They haven’t left for the digital space; our audience has just grown because of digital. The magazine’s audience is something like 11 million, and the overall audience is around 18 million.”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Jess Cagle, Managing Editor of Entertainment Weekly?

Yet another big name departure from Entertainment Weekly to report today: Ken Tucker, who was part of the magazine when it launched over 20 years ago, has taken a buyout. Tucker was EW’s TV critic, and with him leaving, EW is now out two veteran critics in just two weeks. Last Wednesday Lisa Schwarzbaum left the magazine as well.

“Way back in 1989, when the first Bush was president and EW.com was just a twinkle in Bill Gannon’s eye, Ken was on the start-up team that launched Entertainment Weekly with this original mission statement: ‘We must be opinionated and we must be talked about,’ wrote Jess Cagle, EW’s managing editor, in a note. “Ken never stopped fulfilling that mission, and even though he’s leaving EW, his voice, sensibility, humor, passion, incomparable wit and humane spirit will have a lasting and benevolent impact.”

“So, yes, I’m leaving @EW, my home base since 1989,” tweeted Tucker. “Had a great time helping launch that super-fine mag/website. Time to write elsewhere.”

Cagle’s full memo is below.

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Sue Simmons Gives Rare, Candid Interview, February 4
2. ESPN The Magazine‘s Music Issue Features Iconic Album Covers Recreated with Athletes, February 5
3. WNYW Anchor Dari Alexander‘s  Unfortunate ‘Sitting Shiva’ Misspeak, February 5
4. Media Reporters Finally Realizing No One Cares About Media Reporting, February 5
5. Lisa Schwarzbaum Departs Entertainment Weekly After 21 Years, February 6
6. Sally Preston, Others Dropped by Time Inc., January 31

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Lisa Schwarzbaum, who has been with Entertainment Weekly since 1991, is one of the biggest names to emerge from the list of Time Inc. cuts. Schwarzbaum decided to take a buyout and move on to “expand the kind of writing (and kind of living) that I do,” according to an internal memo.

Schwarzbaum became EW’s film critic in 1994 and is responsible for some of the magazine’s most impressive pieces, including a massive feature on a TV show that no one was paying much attention to at the time. It was called Seinfeld.

“There will be more writing from Lisa,” wrote Jess Cagle, managing editor EW, in the note. “A book idea is brewing. So is an online venture, as well as other developing projects. And she does want to keep writing about movies when inspiration strikes. I will miss her, but look forward to becoming just another Lisa Schwarzbaum groupie.”

The full note from Cagle is below.

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Dave Karger made quite a splash when, after almost two decades at Entertainment Weekly, he went to work for Fandango as chief correspondent. Now that he’s settled into the role, he tells Mediabistro what he’s been working on lately and offers up some advice for print journos looking to transition to TV. Here’s an excerpt:

How can someone position themselves for TV appearances of the kind that you make regularly? For a writer looking to get into that, is it just about getting the right job (where producers come to you), or is it about actively pitching yourself?
I think the important thing is just to know what you’re talking about and really study it. Find something that you’re extremely interested in, so that becoming an expert in it doesn’t feel at all like a job or a chore. If I didn’t have the job that I have, I would still be obsessed with the Oscars and I would still know who Quvenzhané Wallis is. It just happens to be that this is what I get to talk about for work.

I feel like all the great stuff I’ve gotten to do over the years, whether it’s the Today show or being the Academy greeter, it was never a calculated plan. I just tried to be comfortable in front of the camera and really develop an expertise. I think the fact of the matter is that I’m really interested in this, and that just shows when I talk about it or in the past when I have written about it.

For more, read So What Do You Do, Dave Karger, Chief Correspondent for Fandango?

Welcome back to FishbowlNY’s weekly Cover Battle. Today we have Entertainment Weekly versus T: The New York Times Style Magazine. We had to choose EW’s cover because 1) Star Wars is awesome 2) Star Wars is awesome and 3) They thankfully didn’t include Jabba The Hutt.

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Veteran Hollywood writer Geoff Boucher is taking on the scene nationally. Boucher has been named Entertainment Weekly senior writer. He’ll be part of EW‘s Movies team, starting October 1. In addition, Boucher will provide unique pieces to the EW digital and print platforms.

Boucher spent more than 20 years at the Los Angeles Times, where he became famous for his Hero Complex blog, which explored and celebrated the life of comic books and the fanboy culture. His popularity flowed by anchoring the video show, Hero Complex: The Show. Boucher has hosted numerous live events, including Comic-Con.

Boucher will remain based in Los Angeles.

Jeff Giles has been promoted from Executive Editor to Deputy Managing Editor of Entertainment Weekly. Giles has been with the magazine since 2006. Prior to EW, Giles was a Senior Editor at Newsweek.

Giles reports to Jess Cagle, Managing Editor of Entertainment Weekly.

New York-based Adweek has named the finalists for this year’s Hot List. For the first time, the list expands from best in magazines to include television, print, and digital banners.

The winners will be revealed next week, but FishbowlNY has learned exclusively about several of the honorees.

CBS has been chosen for the Hottest Drama on broadcast television, while ABC has been awarded for the Hottest Comedy. On cable, MTV was picked for Hottest Reality show. Adweek does not reveal the hottest shows by name.

In digital, the Hottest Celebrity Website is TMZ. Spotify is taking home two awards: Hottest Startup and Streaming Web. Zynga is selected as Hottest Gaming Company.

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