The Daily Beast and Howard Kurtz have parted company. Under the direction of our newly named political director John Avlon we have added new momentum and authority to our Washington bureau with columnists such as Jon Favreau, Joshua Dubois and Stuart Stevens joining our outstanding DC team of Eleanor Clift, Daniel Klaidman, Michael Tomasky, Eli Lake, David Frum and Michelle Cottle—giving us one of the best politics teams in the business which was instrumental in this week’s Webby win for Best News site.A statement from The Daily Beast, revealing they had dropped Howard Kurtz, days after Kurtz wrote a column for the site suggesting that openly-gay NBA star Jason Collins had lied about a prior engagement—despite the fact that Collins had been up front about the situation in interviews and had specifically mentioned the fact in his Sports Illustrated cover story. The publication retracted the column, though Politico notes that the firing may have had just as much to do with Kurtz’s extremely busy schedule. On top of the Beast, Kurtz also hosts CNN’s “Reliable Sources” and writes for “The Daily Download,” a media criticism site.
And so, as we contemplated the end of our contract with the Beast at the end of 2012, we faced a decision. As usual, we sought your input and the blogosphere’s - hence the not-terribly subtle thread that explored whether online readers will ever pay for content, and how. The answer is: no one really knows. But as we debated and discussed that unknowable future, we felt more and more that getting readers to pay a small amount for content was the only truly solid future for online journalism. And since the Dish has, from its beginnings, attempted to pioneer exactly such a solid future for web journalism, we also felt we almost had a duty to try and see if we could help break some new ground.
The only completely clear and transparent way to do this, we concluded, was to become totally independent of other media entities and rely entirely on you for our salaries, health insurance, and legal, technological and accounting expenses.
Sullivan and his staff are striking it out on their own. “And so last week, the three of us signed an agreement setting up an independent company called Dish Publishing LLC, and agreed to strike out on our own with no safety net below us but you.” Boom.
It is important that we underscore what this digital transition means and, as importantly, what it does not. We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it. We remain committed to Newsweek and to the journalism that it represents. This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism—that is as powerful as ever. It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.
Newsweek is produced by a gifted and tireless team of professionals who have been offering brilliant work consistently throughout a tough period of ownership transition and media disruption. Regrettably we anticipate staff reductions and the streamlining of our editorial and business operations both here in the U.S. and internationally.
Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose—and embrace the all-digital future.
Sad news: This is one of the first really big magazines to drop the print edition.
“The idea that Condi Rice, an African-American conservative woman could team up with a white-guy Mormon to take on an African-American, left-leaning Democrat is just too delicious for reporters to ignore,” says Frank Sesno, director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs and a former Washington bureau chief for CNN.
So why not do it? Why shouldn’t news outlets take the opportunity to pooh-pooh the story as a way of driving clicks and ratings? Simple, Sesno says. If they don’t, someone else will. “The question in newsrooms now is “if ‘so many have seen it, heard it, read it, tweeted it, how can we ignore it?’”
The Daily Beast’s Lauren Ashburn puts it like this: “They know Drudge is a monster traffic-driver and that even if they ignore his tasty tidbits, their rivals won’t.” Why is it that a site which hasn’t updated its approach since 1998 can hold such pull over so many other outlets in the pivot-on-a-dime age of Twitter? (ht Anthony De Rosa)
I obviously still think about that night. I still have some pretty bad headaches from that beating. But I don’t let anger take over when the pain comes. It doesn’t help anything.Rodney King • Speaking in an April interview with the Daily Beast near the 20th anniversary of the riots his case generated. King underwent years of physical therapy after the beating by police, which left brain injuries. “I can remember one of the officers kicking me in the head and saying ‘n——r’ again and again,” he said. “That’s something you can’t forget, particularly today when so many similar things seem to be happening.” King died Sunday at the age of 47, according to TMZ — and also confirmed by Reuters.
McArdle, who is currently on book leave, has blogged about business and economics for the Atlantic since 2007. In August, she will start as special correspondent on economics, business, and public policy at Newsweek/Daily Beast, based out of their Washington, D.C., bureau.
McArdle joins Newsweek/Daily Beast as it slowly but surely continues to expand its roster of prominent bloggers — including, most recently, conservative columnist David Frum, who joined in January — and as the website has seen its highest traffic numbers since launching in 2008 (it received 12.7 million unique visitors in May, according to internal data.)
This is the second big-time blogger the company has poached from The Atlantic — the first was Andrew Sullivan, who has written a number of cover stories for the magazine, most infamously this one. In The Atlantic’s defense, they’re also seeing some record traffic numbers and scoring some big hires.
So why this desire to paint Martin, rather than the man who shot him, as the guilty party? Partly, of course, it’s just a reaction to his death becoming a cause célèbre on the left—it’s the same sort of impulse that leads some conservatives to delight in “Fry Mumia” T-shirts. Beyond that, though, some on the right are deeply invested in the idea that anti-black racism is no longer much of a problem in the United States, and certainly not a problem on the scale of false accusations of racism. You might call these people anti-anti-racists. They are determined to push back against any narrative that would suggest that a black man has been targeted for the color of his skin.
The Daily Beast’s article is largely a response to a Daily Caller piece that published a series of tweets from an account owned by Martin. We think it has something to do with Obama taking an interest in the story — kinda like how Rush Limbaugh found a way to criticize Michelle Obama’s trip to Target, the mere association with the president is enough to make Martin a target.
You have nothing to feel ashamed of. I want you to know you didn’t do anything wrong. Please know that you were chosen by a monster. It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask for it and, most of all, you didn’t deserve it.Writer-director Tyler Perry • In an open letter, published by The Daily Beast, to an 11-year-old alleged victim in the Jerry Sandusky case. “Do you know that at the young age of 11 you had more courage than all the adults who let you down?” he writes. “All of the ones who didn’t go to the proper authorities, all of the ones who were worried about their careers, reputations, or livelihoods. All of the ones who didn’t want to get involved. Or even the ones who tried to convince your mother not to fight. You are stronger than them all! I wonder what they would have done if it were their own child.” You rock, Tyler.
The Daily Beast dissects the iconic photograph of the White House Situation Room as Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden’s Abbotobad compound, offering insight into the mysterious room. (For example: it’s not as mysterious as we might think. When not in use for top secret national security operations, any White House employee can hold meetings in the Situation Room). From coffee cups to a blurred photograph to secured laptops, no detail is overlooked.
Kudos to The Daily Beast for finding a new angle on this fairly-played-out story.
Sidney Harman, he of late-blooming media empire: Last August, audio mogul Sidney Harman bought Newsweek from The Washington Post Company, setting the stage for the blockbuster merger of the magazine with The Daily Beast (that’s Tina Brown tweeting above). He was 91 at the time. Before this, he was largely known for being one of the men behind the modern speaker. His Harman Kardon corporation, founded in the 1950s, was responsible for selling some of the first high-fidelity stereo speakers to large audiences. He also put in some time as a top Commerce official under Jimmy Carter, and his wife is former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman. He lived a pretty full life. He died last night at 92. source
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Just ”The Dish” now. No “The Daily Dish.” Still worth a read, no matter the masthead. (Maybe they took it out because “The Daily Dish on The Daily Beast” might be a tad bit annoying to say?) Though we stand behind our prior LeBron-to-the-Heat comment.
Ironically, it was living in The Daily Beast’s fast and furious news cycle for the past two years that revealed to me what a newsmagazine can bring to the table when it’s no longer chasing yesterday’s story. It’s about filling the gaps left when a story has seemingly passed, or resetting the agenda, or coming up with an insight or synthesis that connects the crackling, confusing digital dots.Tina Brown • Explaining in her redesign-launching letter what Newsweek’s relaunch means. She’s absolutely right, really – her time with The Daily Beast makes her pretty much the perfect person to play the role of editor of a newsmagazine in 2011. She can take the lessons from the Beast and build a shared vision between two entities which are designed to handle different parts of the media pie. We wish her the best. source (via • follow)
The Society of Publication Designers has a first look of Dirk Barnett’s redesign of Newsweek, along with an interview:
Tell us about your plan with infographics in the magazine.
Infographics, another element killed off over the past few years at Newsweek, will definitely be coming back. While we plan to up the presence, we have no plans to blow them out in aBloomberg/Wired direction, our content just doesn’t require or sustain it (plus, Bloomberg Businessweek is killing it, who can compete with that?!). Rather, it will be a vital tool to telling elements of stories that photogrpahy or illustration just don’t nail. We have introduced a new page, DataBeast, that will give us the opportunity to do a weekly infogrpahic on various subjects.
Click through for more pages from the new Newsweek.
A great look for a great magazine looking for a fresh spark. The biggest change? No more slab-serif logo. It’s kinda like what would happen if Time got rid of the red borders on its front page. Bold.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
