Thursday, March 26, 2009Sign of the timesYesterday's New York Times Dining In/Dining Out section, aka the food section, had eight pages. Excluding advertisements by and for the New York Times, there was a single full page display advertisement and two small display classified advertisements. If that doesn't make the Times management a little nervous, I don't know what does.In other New York Times Dining News, Kim Severson and Julia Moskin had dueling dinner parties to see who could cook the best meal. Frank Bruni, the restaurant critic for the Times was the judge. Unfortunately, in a non-critical piece, he ultimately weaseled. Unsurprisingly, it's more difficult to criticize people you know and work with than it is to visit restaurants anonymously and potentially destroy their livelihoods with your critiques. Monday, November 24, 2008Fake New York TimesLast week, while I was still at PhotoShelter, a coworker and I looked out the window and wondered what the commotion was outside of a van in Union Square. it turns out that it was newspaper distribution. The next morning, she picked up what seemed to be The New York Times from a person handing them out. The New York Times wrote an article about the prank; there is also a well-done companion site. Friday, October 31, 2008Other magazine notes...Today it was announced that Condé Nast would be cutting 5% of it's staff and 5% of it's budget. I personally know one person who has lost their job; I hope I do not find out about others. American Express also announced layoffs of 7,000 jobs worldwide, and American Express publishing has announced a layoff of 22 positions, or 10% of its staff. Cutbacks by Gannet and the Tribune Company have also been reported.Both of the publishing cuts come on the heels of the Time Inc. announcement. These cuts will certainly have a large impact in New York City in combination with the financial industry meltdown. Tuesday, October 28, 2008Stunning Time Inc. newsThere have been a lot of rumors swirling about the last few weeks about my old employer, Time Inc. Folks I talked with has said that approximately between 200 and 300 people would be laid off: it seems that the number is much higher. The New York Times reports Time Inc. Plans About 600 Layoffs.One of the changes described by the article is that the publishing division of the "lifestyle" magazines will directly control the editorial content. Time Inc. had always had a principle of "Church and State" where the editorial and publishing divisions had strictly separated reporting lines. And while the editorial side lost some control of the company during the formation of Time Warner, the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Brothers, there was always a culture of editorial independence. In addition, it's notable that "the news and entertainment units will continue to report to John Huey." At first glance, this appears that Huey's responsibilities are continuing as usual, but as I just noted, the article states that the "lifestyle" magazines will not report to Huey. From the outside, these might not seem like significant changes, but they may be the most significant change in Time Inc. since the creation of Time Warner. I'm hoping my friends at Time Inc. are doing okay. The Times also reported on another significant media event today: Christian Science Paper Ends Daily Print Edition. This is one of the first national newspapers to switch to an all online format; I certainly don't believe it will be the last. And in other media news, less significant to the general populace, but more significant for my company: Digital Railroad Shuts Down and Confusion as Digital Railroad Shuts Down Labels: media 
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