Levi Johnston - FishbowlNY

Levi Johnston Bones Brings Playgirl Back to Print

Drew Grant — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:44:49 +0000

Some may say print may be dead…but it can be revived. Case in point: Playgirl, which became web-only just one year ago, is suddenly back in print edition, thanks to the highly anticipated Levi Johnston photo shoot. The father of Tripp Palin, the grandson of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Levi’s career trajectory has basically consisted of “Get naked, get paid.” And while the print Playgirl with Levi consists of no more frontal nudity than its web equivalents, leaked late last fall, it does show how deeply the editors of Playgirl are relying on this particular to inject some interest (and cash) back into their publication.

So why buy the issue at all? Because the cover will become a collector’s item, of course!

Previously: Playgirl Going All-Web, Blood Surges Back to Playgirl With Johnston Shoot: Former Editor Dishes On Pub’s Future

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Former Editor: Playgirl‘s “A Relevant Brand Name Once Again,” Thanks In Part To Levi

Amanda Ernst — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

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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FIshbowlNY Editor Has Nothing But Good News For The Menu

Amanda Ernst — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:45:00 +0000

It seems like there’s only bad news in the media world these days. But this morning on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu, FishbowlNY editor Amanda Ernst and hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven only had good things to report.

That good news included a conversation about Sarah Palin‘s memoir Going Rogue, out today, and Levi Johnston‘s Playgirl photo spread, which is giving the out-of-print magazine buzz that will hopefully propel upcoming print issues.

Other good news: Budget Travel is not closing, despite recent rumors; Daily News owner Mortimer B. Zuckerman has invested in expanding the paper’s printing plant; and YouTube has launched a new channel to better help news organizations like The Huffington Post and NPR manage video submissions from citizen journalists.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

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Playboy In Talks With London Fog Owner

Drew Grant — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:12:54 +0000

Stocks soared today after news that Hugh Hefner‘s publishing house, Playboy Enterprises Inc., was reportedly being negotiated for a sale to Iconix Brand Group Inc. Playboy‘s struggles with its finances this past year have been well-documented, and Hugh’s daughter Christine Hefner stepping down from her role as CEO of the Playboy publisher earlier this year only added to the unraveling faith in the company that had felled 76 percent of their stock in under five years. However, reports of a buy-out jumped the publishing house 33 percent up to $3.80 before noon, and may have closed the company at a 66 percent increase for the day.

Both Playboy and Iconix have refused to talk to reporters about the upcoming sale, since the negotiations have not been finalized.

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Blood Surges Back to Playgirl With Johnston Shoot: Former Editor Dishes On Pub’s Future

Amanda Ernst — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:00 +0000

The Internet has been abuzz about Palin-impregnator Levi Johnston‘s plans to pose for Playgirl, so let’s just assume you know all about the photo shoot that’s going down right now here in New York. It seems the magazine, which went online only after its January/February 2009 issue went to press last year — with little success — is planning a comeback of sorts.

So we asked Nicole Caldwell, who formerly served as editor-in-chief at Playgirl before its print edition was shuttered, to let us in on the behind the scenes workings at Playgirl today. Caldwell has been brought back on board to help put together one “special” issue of the magazine for this year and four more for 2010. She will be interviewing Johnston during his shoot today and tomorrow, and the whole package (ahem) will run online only — and may be up on Playgirl.com by next week. She spoke to us about the relationship between Johnston and the struggling Playgirl brand, shooting down the idea that the magazine faltered because of a disconnect between the staff and the magazine’s audience.

“What matters is Playgirl being back in the public eye if for no other reason than the one I joined the magazine in the first place for: Women should have every available sexual outlet men do,” Caldwell told FishbowlNY. “Levi is symbolic: He’s become a public figure, he holds allure for a wide cross-section of the American public, he knocked up the VP contender’s daughter, and he’s willing to pose nude at a time when most people stubbornly continue to consider male nudity more extreme than female nudity. He’s young, he’s hot, he’s virile, and he goes against every stereotype out-of-touch people have for a magazine they’ve never read: that Fabio-type guy with locks down his chest who I’ve only seen in 1980s Playgirls.”

More questions for Caldwell, after the jump

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CBS “Early Show” EP Shalev On The Menu: “There Is A Real Value Proposition In Morning Television”

Amanda Ernst — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:50:00 +0000

Today the Morning Media Menu podcast welcomes CBS’ “The Early Show” executive producer Zev Shalev, who speaks about what’s coming up this summer on the morning show, including the summer concert series on the U.S.S. Intrepid.

Shalev also discussed the “Early Show”‘s ability to get interviews with of-the-moment subjects like Susan Boyle and Levi Johnston, despite its third place standing among network morning shows.

“We are number three so we’ve got to make it up in a lot of other ways,” he said. “And we do it by developing strong, deep relationships that really put our anchors in a position where they’re comfortable with the people they are interviewing but they’re also able to still ask those tough questions, still get the full story out.”

Shalev also said he didn’t worry about competition from online media news sources, which are fighting with traditional media for audiences. “Most of the online news sources [are] aggregators, they’re picking stuff up from other wires. They’re not actually going out and doing the work,” he said. “The traditional news network is still the place where you can get real journalism, real reporting, real analysis. The kind of experts we have on our team…these people know their stuff in a way that you can’t get online. So there is a real value proposition in morning television. There is still a value proposition in television in general.”

Other topics discussed: CBS’s success with awards shows and big revenue number reports for Craigslist.org.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

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