Matt Haber - FishbowlNY

Matt Haber Leaves Media Beat Behind

Amanda Ernst — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Calling covering the media “futile,” Matt Haber, currently writing about the industry at Portfolio.com, said today that he is leaving his post — and his position as a media reporter. We can’t say we don’t know how he feels.

Explained Haber, eloquently, of course:

“Reporting, blogging, aggregating, and thinking about the media on a daily basis feels increasingly like a fool’s errand. Tracking the narrative — not just of an industry’s decline but of all the incremental steps being taken to revive whatever remains salvageable for the platforms and consumer habits of the future — is futile, at least for the time being. In order to get a little perspective — and, to be honest, some rest — I’ll be stepping away from the daily media beat, at least for the foreseeable future.”

Haber is no stranger to the horrors of 2009 that claimed countless jobs this year, having been among the ranks of those laid off. He told us “All’s well,” after The New York Observer axed a slew of reporters in June, and then started writing for Portfolio.com, the revived Web site of the shuttered Condé Nast business pub, later this summer. In his parting missive, Haber doesn’t miss a chance to comment on the existence of the site where he ended up:

“The very existence of this website after the spectacular 2007 rollout and 2009 fold up of Condé Nast Portfolio is proof that sometimes the damsel does get saved before the train runs her over.”

The train doesn’t seem to have missed Haber this time around. We’ll be pouring one out for him tonight.

Pressing On –Portfolio.com

Previously: Breaking: Layoffs At The Observer

(Photo via flickr)

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Breaking: Layoffs At The Observer

Amanda Ernst — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Earlier this week, The New York Observer said good-bye to editor Peter Kaplan, and now there are rumors swirling that more staffers are heading out the door.

Daily Intel has a report that newly appointed editor-in-chief Tom McGeveran is handing out pink slips today, while Gawker has a tentative list of those who are rumored to be victims of the axe, including Matt Haber, Spencer Morgan, Doree Shafrir, Chris Shott, Peter Stevenson and John Vorwald.

We’re going to keep on this story as it develops but drop us a line or leave us a note in the comments if you hear anything.

Update: Doree Shafrir reposted the Gawker item on her Twitter feed basically confirming the whole mess. Sad times!

Another update: Haber tells us through his Observer email “All’s well.”

More: The New York Times Media Decoder blog has more information about the bloodbath, revealing that a bulk of the layoffs came from the newsroom, one third of which got the axe.

“Reducing the size of our reporting staff was not an easy decision to make,” Christopher Barnes, president of the Observer Media Group, told the Times in a written statement. “Unfortunately, the New York Observer is not immune to the economic pressures being felt industry-wide. The reality is we had to cut back in order to move forward.”

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Why I Followed Andrew Sullivan to the Financial District

Glynnis — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:28:37 +0000

It’s sort of fitting that my last FBNY post should be about The Atlantic dinner/conversation I attended earlier this evening, which featured Michael Hirschorn and Andrew Sullivan, since this post was actually my first foray into this whole blogging thing (and remains my top Google result).

The talk — the dinner part included chili, cornbread, and brownies — was billed in the invite as “A Conversation on the Future of Media” and the crowd that packed Justin Smith‘s downtown apartment included a whole lot of very recognizable New York Media names who will no doubt be heavily involved in that very Future. Here’s a non-exhaustive list: Bonnie Fuller, Harry Smith, Richard Perez-Pena, Nick Denton, Tad Friend, Duff McDonald, Gabriel Snyder, Jeff Bercovici, Matt Haber, Danny Shea, Brian Stelter, Rachel Sklar, Jon Fine, Dylan Stableford, Laurel Touby, James Bennett…and also, strangely(?), (the very tall) Sigourney Weaver.

Alas, neither Sullivan nor Hirschorn appeared to have any definite ideas about what ‘Media’ might look in the future other than that it would probably be very different from what we currently have, but also that the New York Times is in a lot of trouble. For those of you keeping score Andrew Sullivan still reads the dead tree edition of the Times every morning and does not Twitter. @LaurelTouby, @BrianStelter, and @RachelSklar, however, all have nice tweets from the party. Now(!), before I sign off for good here’s a couple of other interesting things I read today:

Choire speculating on, among other things, the equality of words.

Chris Lehmann talking about his “crash course in the staggering unselfawareness of Manhattan class privilege.”

Gay Talese, who is described solely in this article as “an author who writes on the sex trade.” Ahem.

Garry Trudeau on journos “Smitten With The Idea Of A Personal Broadcasting System” Also, Twitter’s greatest hits…and misses.

This, for reasons which will become clear at some point tomorrow.

And this, because it’s had me laughing all day. The video in the top corner of this post, by the way, is purely for the enjoyment of my managing editor Rebecca Fox, and for the edification of my Menu cohort Steve Krakauer.

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How to Make Money Online? Print It!

Glynnis — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:12:27 +0000

Can this be considered the dog wagging the tail 2.0? Wired is reporting that The Printed Blog is aiming to aggregate local blog posts and offer them as a free twice-daily paper(!) in select cities. The current plan is to launch the paper in on January 27 at various locations in Chicago and San Francisco, with New York to follow.

The hope is that the hyperlocal content will attract local advertisers who can spend less to reach out to their target audience. Ads are relatively cheap in comparison ($15-$25) and the paper has already lined up a number of Chicago-based businesses for its debut. It will also host classified ads.

Over at the Observer Matt Haber points out that technically this isn’t the first time blogs have made the reverse trip to print, though it’s the first time someone has tried to create a newspaper out of them. Want to see your moveable type in print, you can submit your stuff (including Twitter and Flickr) here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Election Night ’08: Party Lines

Glynnis — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:22:17 +0000

You don’t need us to tell you that last night was a night for celebration! Parties abounded across the city. While FBNY was twittering the night away at the CNN Grill, a number of other media types stuck to Will Leitch‘s apartment in Brooklyn. By all accounts we missed a good time at HuffPo’s big 23/6 bash (pictured NYO‘s Matt Haber and Portfolio‘s Jeff Bercovici). And for a sense of the scene on the streets check this out.

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Page Six Magazine: Deja Vu All Over Again?

Glynnis — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:09:17 +0000

We happen to think Page Six Magazine is a great reason to buy the New York Post on Sundays — it’s like reading page six but more, and in color! That said, do you ever look at it and feel like maybe you’ve read that before (and we’re not referring to pictures of Lydia Hearst) because the New York Observer appears to be suffering from multiple cases of deja vu where Page Six magazine is concerned.

The Observer‘s Matt Haber has whipped up an entire list of coincidental examples including beards as sex symbols and power restaurant seating (though, to be fair, the P6 coincided with the NYT in this instance. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Judge for yourself.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.