Jann Wenner is very satisfied with naming Gus Wenner, his 22-year-old son, the new editor of Rollingstone.com. To quote Elaine, get out.

Below are some quotes from Jann’s interview with Adweek, along with some FishbowlNY analysis. In the talk, Jann explains why he hired his son without mentioning that he hired his son. Nice work.

On Gus’ age:

“He’s worked at Rollingstone.com for the past six or seven months. He’s reporting to people who are really smart. And he’s not doing any reckless things.” Checklist for becoming a top editor of one of the most iconic magazines ever published: 1) Work there for six or seven months. 2) Avoid f*cking up for six or seven months. You’re hired!

Read more

Jann Wenner, the owner of Rolling Stone’s publisher, Wenner Media, has a son named Gus Wenner. The former Wenner has named the latter Wenner — all 22 years of him— the new editor of RollingStone.com. Seems fair.

In a memo obtained by Jim Romenesko, Jann wrote that he was “very proud” to make the announcement.

We’re sure the staff at Rolling Stone is excited as well.

Monica Herrera is leaving Rolling Stone to serve as managing editor of Myspace’s relaunch. Herrera has been with the magazine since 2011, serving as a senior editor.

Prior to her time at Rolling Stone, Herrera served as online news editor for Billboard, from 2009 to 2011.

Herrera’s last day at Rolling Stone is tomorrow.

Welcome back to another edition of FishbowlNY’s weekly Cover Battle. This week we have two music-centric magazines — Rolling Stone and XXL — duking it out. Rolling Stone went with a photo of Jon Hamm as his Mad Men character Don Draper, who is actually Dick Whitman. If that’s a spoiler you need to watch more TV.

Read more

Rolling Stone has laid off Eric Bates, its executive editor and a member of its staff since 2003. Before his time at RS, Bates held top editorial sports at Mother Jones and Southern Exposure. 

“I’m going to be rooting for them [RS] and looking forward to whatever is next for me,” Bates told the New York Times.

In related news, Mark Neschis, corporate communications director for RS’ parent, Wenner Media, has been let go as well. Neschis had been with the company since 2005.

Yahoo! and Wenner Media are teaming up to create new content as part of a new cross-branding deal. Under the agreement, Yahoo!’s omg! and Yahoo! Music will share content and maintain a brand presence with Us Weekly, Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal; and vice versa.

The reason for the deal is simple: To extend all of the brands’ reach.

“This partnership combines boutique-quality entertainment content with unmatched scale,” said David Kang, Wenner Media’s chief digital officer, in a statement. “Rolling Stone and Us Weekly are iconic brands in music and celebrity news. As a leader in digital media, Yahoo! is the perfect partner to help these brands grow their digital footprint.”

Welcome back to FishbowlNY’s weekly Cover Battle. Today we have Rolling Stone versus New York. For its latest issue, Rolling Stone features Bob Dylan looking like Colonel Sanders’ evil brother. The facial hair only makes things worse. Is Dylan trying to grow it out or is that the finished product? We can’t tell because he’s evil!

Read more

If you’ve ever listened to Rage Against The Machine, or even glanced at a story about Rage Against The Machine, you realize how incredibly stupid it is for Paul Ryan to claim them as his favorite band. Ryan stands for everything that the band has attacked in their songs. Rage’s guitarist, Tom Morello, decided to tell Ryan as much in an op-ed for Rolling Stone.

Below are two highlights from the piece, but the entire article is well worth a read. Unless you’re Ryan, that is.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage’s sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don’t care for Paul Ryan’s sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

Don’t mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta ‘rage’ in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he’s not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions.

[Images: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images and Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call]

Have at it ladies. And men. And everyone! Everyone have sex with Justin Bieber!

Poynter is reporting that at least five staffers at Rollingstone.com have been let go. Evie Nagy, the managing editor, and Matthew Perpetua, an associate editor, were among the cuts.

According to sources, employees were informed that the moves were part of an integration between the site and print staffers.