Andrew Fedorov
Stoop and Cover
Treasure hunting with Pitchfork head of video Arjun Ram Srivatsa and Artnews senior writer Karen K. Ho
The First Time Matt Taibbi Named Something ‘Racket’
After years of dithering, the Substack star and Elon Musk collaborator chose a title for his subscription newsletter that was awfully familiar to the veterans of his aborted First Look Media venture
Arts and Graphs
On the town this week: Mangesh Hattikudur, Hillary Frey, Ashley Carman, Colin Stokes, Charlotte Klein, Kate Osborn, Foster Kamer, Costas Linos, Philip Bump, China Ziegenbein, Jen Doll, Dashiell Bennett, Sarah Yager, James Hamblin, Brian Feldman, Samantha Guff, Allie Jones, Kelly Connaboy, Leah Finnegan, Donie O’Sullivan, Josh Sternberg, Michelle Carney, Elle Reeve, Jeremy Greenfield and many more…
Let’s Play Penskopoly!
A little over a decade after wading into the Hollywood trades, automotive heir Jay Penske has mastered the art of buying distressed media properties and dominating once-thriving niches such as entertainment, music, fashion, and now (he hopes) fine arts.
Screen Tests
Ready for their close-ups: Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Archer Sylvan, Tom Junod, Seth Wickersham, Chris Heath, Ryan D’Agostino, Devin Gordon, Mark Byrne, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Reyhan Harmanci, Patrick Hoffman, Edgar, John Cook, Allison Benedikt, Raphaël Bourgois, Ben French, Noah Robischon, Rachael Savage, and more…
High Resolutions
Marking new beginnings: Scott Nover, Rebecca Fisher, Leanne Shapton, Colin Grant, Christopher Browning, Laura Marsh, and more…
Holiday Slide
Reveling this week: Hannah Zeavin, Alex Colston, Mark Krotov, Lisa Borst, Marco Roth, Lila Shapiro, Blair McClendon, Kay Gabriel, Hussein Omar, Alana Pockros, Medaya Ocher, Bela Shayevich, Matthieu Aikins, Jon Lindsey, Allie Rowbottom, and many more…
Season’s Fleeting
Making merry this week: Laurel Touby, Jon Fine, Christopher Bonanos, Michael Hirschorn, Allison Fass, Esther Dyson, Jennifer Saba, Katy Waldman, Kate Lindsay, Nick Catucci, Alec Meeker, Sam Eifling, Justin Peters, Alexa Mills, Nancy Einhart, Nestor Lara Baeza, Tommy Craggs, and many more…
In a Celebratory Mood
For science journalist Sabrina Imbler, a book launch isn’t just about worrying whether people will turn up at the Strand, a ritual of eating cheeses and gummies, and filing stories about mice penises — it’s a mindset
‘Make a Beautiful Magazine — Here’s Some Money’
Born out of a collision between China’s economic boom and a New York literary scene accustomed to skimpy budgets, the fate of short-lived Astra magazine came down to global economic forces far outside its editors’ control
Will Sam Bankman-Fried Show Up for Next Week’s DealBook Summit?
The fallen crypto mastermind was announced as a speaker at The New York Times’s conference weeks before his multi-billion-dollar empire crumbled, but he hasn’t been taken off the list for the event — yet
Catching the Light
Glimmering this week: Mangesh Hattikudur, Oz Woloshyn, Rowan Jacobsen, Joanna Coles, Glynnis MacNicol, Rachel Sklar, Michael Wolff, Foster Kamer, Leon Neyfakh, Mickey, Kate Osborn, Felix Salmon, Paul Greenberg, Kate Dwyer, Ben Mullin, Colin Stokes, A.J. Jacobs, Ryan Brown, Allie Rowbottom, Jon Lindsey, Brock Colyar, Delia Cai, Elizabeth Nicholas, Helen Holmes, Tyler Bainbridge, Terry Nguyen, Drew Ohringer, and many more…
Inside the Big Metrics Fight at Insider
A newsroom known for emphasizing traffic quotas for its writers, Insider is the center of a union battle to end the use of metrics to discipline journalists
A Very Close Reading
Representatives of former HBO head Chris Albrecht have been diligently monitoring coverage of Felix Gillette and John Koblin’s recent book about the rise and fall of the cable channel, leading to corrections and additions to a New York Times book review, a Bloomberg news article, and Dax Shepard’s podcast
Peaks and Bounds
Radiating this week: Benjamin Soloway, Malcolm Harris, Rebecca Panovka, Kiara Barrow, Lake Micah, Chloe Arnold, “bookstore guy,” Suzy Katz, Greta Rainbow, Thayer Anderson, Felix Gillette, John Koblin, Chris Rovzar, Joel Weber, Gilbert Cruz, Alexandra Jacobs, Sadie Stein, Ellen Pollock, Susan Berfield, Ashley Carman, Alexandra E. Petri, Chris Cohen, Devi Lockwood, Max Tani, Amy Padnani, Nicole Blades, and many more…
Taro and Mishi Take Manhattan
The charming tale of how two humble rats made it from Bed-Stuy to become New York magazine cover stars
The Bold and the Bountiful
Making the scene this week: Win McCormack, Molly Jong-Fast, Craig Newmark, Margaret Sullivan, Jeremy Peters, Michael Grynbaum, Shawn McCreesh, Brian Stelter, Jamie Stelter, Sarah Ellison, Carl Swanson, Noah Shachtman, Elizabeth Spiers, Kelli Korducki, Michael Calderone, Sophie Kleeman, Anup Kaphle, Michael Zelenko, Sophie Schmidt, Camille Bromley, Sarah Todd, Gabriel Boylan, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Paul Ford, Clay Shirky, Leslye Davis, Charles Leerhsen, and many more…
Editing Among the Kamikaze Drones
The Village Ukraine editor Yaroslav Druziuk reflects on the irreality of pivoting a website that once chronicled Kyiv’s new bars and restaurants amidst Russia’s aerial siege of the city
Treks and Memorials
This week we follow the journeys of Dodai Stewart, Max Pearl, and Rick Paulas and check in with the manager of the Elizabeth Wurtzel estate sale
A New Life and New Editor-in-Chief for Popula
Tom Scocca, a veteran of Slate, Gawker, and Deadspin, is relaunching which began as a Civil cryptocurrency publishing experiment and has fresh support from Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive
Chaos and Raincoats
Making the scene this week: Victor Navasky, Jeet Heer, Chris Lehmann, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Richard Kim, Robert Boynton, D.D. Guttenplan, William Lewis, Kamal Ahmed, Matt Murray, Daisy Veerasingham, Jessica Coen, Nadja Spiegelman, Wayne Koestenbaum, Brontez Purnell, Julian Lucas, Jack Crosbie, Kara Mavros, and many more…
The Shrinking Roster of New York Times Subscriber-Only Newsletters
A little over a year after the opinion section brought on seven “new voices” — including Kara Swisher, Jay Caspian Kang, and Tressie McMillan Cottom — for the highly touted initiative, most have departed the project
Commitments and Dissents
Turning a page this week: Pat Kiernan, Blake Montgomery, Julia Black, Emily Stewart, Sara Morrison, Vladimir Sorokin, Max Lawton, Mark Krotov, Aaron Timms, Jennifer Wilson, Lisa Borst, John Maher, Andrew Eckholm, Natasha Lewis, Paul Berman, Deborah Meier, Christopher Shay, Sarah Jones, Ross Barkan, Sam Adler-Bell, and many more…
Lost and Found
Finding their place this week: Joe Hagan, Samantha Hunt, Valerie Ricordi, Nick Flynn, Mark Rozzo, Danny Hakim, Molly Jong-Fast, Joel Smith, Will Lawrence, Jessica Winter, Kiki, Noah Hurowitz and many more…
The Baffler Gets Buffeted by Masthead Turbulence
A string of departures including editor-in-chief Jonathon Sturgeon have left the little magazine rudderless, but publisher and benefactor Noah McCormack vows to carry on
All That Glitters
Shining bright this week: Deepti Kapoor, John Maher, Naheed Patel, Lizz Schumer, Nnenna Odeluga, Elizabeth Nicholas, Sarah McGrath, Jynne Dilling Martin, Ed Cara, Jim Spanfeller, Molly Taft, Arielle Angel, Lisa Levy, Daniel May, Rebecca Alter and many more…
Input Logs Off at Bustle Digital Group, While Mic Is Muted
After years of investing heavily in building a Culture & Innovation group, CEO Bryan Goldberg announced a reversal in strategy, shuttering the tech title and gutting the staff of the millennial news site
Championship Nights
Winning big this week: Marlon James, Dayna Tortorici, Mark Doten, Peter Terzian, Caleb Crain, Mark Greif, Allison Lorentzen, Tobi Haslett, Audrey Wollen, Clare Fentress, Leon Neyfakh, Alice Gregory, Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn, Will Purcell, Randall Lane, Mark Davis, Rob Agueli, and many more…
The Art of Quotation in the Age of Automated Transcription
After smartphones made audio recording ubiquitous and A.I.-powered robots made transcribing fast and cheap, that most sacred element of news, the quote, is going through its most profound aesthetic and ethical transformation since the invention of the portable tape recorder
Engagements and Audiences
Going back to school this week: Wendy Lu, Andrew Soboeiro, Abigail Wise, William Mushen, Alex Barker, Adrienne Shih, Mark Jacobson, Noreen Malone, Christopher Bonanos, Kaitlyn Tiffany, Robbie Myers, Alex Vadukul, Jim Windolf, Kate Dwyer, Chris Crowley, Allison P. Davis and many more…
James Pogue on Making It as a Roving Dirtbag Reporter
In the Swing
On the town this week: James Yeh, Jacob and Rebecca Shamsian, the City Swingers, Billy Lennon, David Gendelman, Laura Marsh, David Marcus, Mark Yarm, Garance Franke-Ruta, Shruti Ravindran, Tom Kludt, David Taintor, and many more…
What Is Pamela Paul Thinking?
After struggling to get out of marketing, a brief and quarrelsome marriage to Bret Stephens, and ascending to one of publishing’s most powerful perches, the former editor of The New York Times Book Review made a confounding choice to jump head first into the fractious culture wars
Islands and Coasts
Making waves this week: David Bressler, Brittany Mehmedovic, Eddie Rice, Sophie Erickson, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Liz Boyd, Joe DeLessio, Joshua Hunt, Christopher Hooks, and many more…
The Saga of Erin Overbey
The New Yorker’s library was once a central hub on the office grapevine; after its archive editor shone a light on the magazine’s historic lack of diversity and impugned top editor David Remnick, the institution’s whisper network turned on her.
Broken Windows and Lonely Pretzels
Dodging and weaving this week: Ben Goggin, Chris Miller, Taylor Lorenz, Nick Lichtenberg, Matt Lynch, Joe Coscarelli, Jayson Buford, Delia Cai, Chris Cox, Andrew Rice, Jay Bulger, Noah Hurowitz, and many more…
Bosses at Bat
Tagging up this week: John R. “Rick” MacArthur, David Remnick, Emily Stokes, Lake Micah, Ariel Schulman, Krithika Varagur, Charlie Lee, Elizabeth Bryant, Sophie Haigney, Matt Lynch, Hailey Gates, Tim Rohan, Natalie Meade, and many more…
Avast! Boats and Zines
Making waves this week: Olivia Kan-Sperling, Dean Kissick, Lily McInerny, Amalia Ulman, Andrew Norman Wilson, Ezra Marcus, Arjun Ram Srivatsa, Beckett Rosset, Jessie Kindig, Lisa Borst, Marco Roth, and many more…
Who Won BuzzFeed’s SPAC Debacle?
The company may be a poster child for the short-lived and ill-fated SPAC boomlet, the numbers of shares some executives hold means that sizeable windfalls are still within reach
At The New York Times, News Reads You!
When subscribers started seeing the option to see their “Story Portrait” on the footers of Times web pages, they found something quite similar to artist Brion Gysin’s newspaper cut-ups from 1959.
‘They Gave Us Basically Everything We Need to Be Writers, But Didn’t Give Us Any Kind of Business Help at All’
Last April, Substack committed $1 million to a program to give grants for local journalists to launch publications, but now that the funding has run out, most of the newsletters are no closer to being sustainable businesses, and some are shutting down
Hot Fun in the Summertime
Moving and shaking this week: Zain Khalid, Alexander Chee, Elena Saavedra Buckley, Peter Blackstock, Michael Ames, Nina Mesfin, Matt Sherrill, Marella Gayla, Joanna Biggs, Dan Oshinsky, and many more…
She Soldiers On
After chronicling and glorifying the mercenary ethos for nearly half a century, Soldier of Fortune founder Robert K. Brown has handed command over to longtime contributor Susan Katz Keating, the first woman to ever write for the magazine
Peals and Illuminations
Lighting up the social column this week: Rebecca Greenfield, Daniel Hurwitz, Laura Helmuth, Rebecca Traister, Bhaskar Sunkara, Amanda Kludt, Tom Bissell, Michael Tomasky, Taylor Lorenz, Charles Duhigg, Ben Smith, and many more…
It’s Rivalry Week
On deck this week: Susan Matthews, Emily Bazelon, Mark Joseph Stern, Seth Maxon, Hillary Frey, Steve Bloom, Matt “Skip” Kiebus, Damion DaCosta, Tim Rohan, Sophie Haigney, Zach Helfand, and many more…
The Party Hop Won’t Stop
On the town this week: Katy Tur, Tony Dokoupil, Rashida Jones, Lindsay Lerman, Madeline Cash, Mitch Moxley, Sophie Haigney, Magdalene Taylor, Lake Micah, Cat Marnell, Dean Kissick, Ben Goggin, Chris Miller, and many more…
Unit Chairs in the Hot Seat
So far this year, five heads of media unions in New York — a role they describe as like holding a second unpaid job that can give them a new perspective on the publications they work for — have quit their jobs
Let’s Play Ball!
Making moves this week: Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn, Noah Hurowitz, Kermit Alayon, Joshua Pashman, David Haskell, Tirhakah Love, Choire Sicha, Mark Krotov, Lisa Borst, Jordan Castro, Honor Levy, and many more…
Love Comes Swiftly
Oh, the Hangovers We’ve Seen
Out and about this week: Jacob Shamisan, Jessica Pressler, Emily Palmer, Katie Drummond, Mitch Moxley, David Gauvey Herbert, Preya McMahon, Katie Gee Salibury, Sam Sussman, and more…
How The New Yorker’s Ukraine War Reporting Reaches Russians
Contributing writer Joshua Yaffa’s combat dispatches have found a second life in translation on Mediazona, an independent news outlet founded by members of Pussy Riot
The Wall Street Journal Tires of New York Times Poaching
According to recent departees and newsroom sources, editor-in-chief Matt Murray is increasingly frustrated by the steady of stream of losses to the expansionist Gray Lady
Podcasters Let Loose!
In the social column this week: Leon Neyfakh, Steven Phillips-Horst, Evan Hughes, Emily Blunt (sort of), Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Wesley Morris, perpetual party guest Matt Zeitlin, Elvia Wilk, and many more…
Pulitzer Prizes Come with a Surprise Inside
While awards stalwart New York Times won in three categories, the most unexpected award went to first-time winner Insider for illustrated reporting for a comic about Xinjiang internment camps
Party Politics
In the social column this week: Mari Cohen, Peter Beinart, Jonathan Cohen, Kathleen Peratis, Arielle Angel, Nora Caplan-Bricker, David Meyer, David Walsh, Jacob Pittman, Mark Egerman, and a mask maker on a first date with a poet
Offshoring Comes for Condé Nast’s Copy Editors
After a round of layoffs in New York last year, the publisher set up an English-language copy editing hub in Mexico City, leaving remaining employees fearful their jobs are next to be shipped across the border
Hooking Up with The Believer
After the literary magazine published its final issue and laid off its staff, a novel genre of content is now appearing on its website
The Organization Man
How Joseph Kahn spent nearly a quarter-century navigating the politics and pitfalls of the New York Times newsroom to rise from foreign correspondent to executive editor
Late Spring Is Coming
In this installment of our social column: Matthieu Aikins, Dean Baquet, Mark Yarm, Tina Brown, Leah Finnegan, Kim Kelly, Micah Uetricht, Jad Adumbrad, Molly Jong-Fast, and more…
A Young Man in a Hurry
Propelled by privilege, talent, and ambition, Joseph Kahn’s path to leading The New York Times ran through elite enclaves in Harvard and China where he fit in comfortably with the media’s future power elite
IT’S KAHN! New York Times Picks Next Executive Editor
Publisher A.G. Sulzberger announces that Joseph Kahn will succeed Dean Baquet
Making Sense of Vox Media’s New Org Chart
After years of growing through acquisitions, the publisher recently created a new tier of group publishers who oversee both editorial and business operations of its titles
It’s Gala Season! Plus, a Wedding and a Newborn
In this week’s social column: Nadja Spiegelman, Jackson Howard, Kay Gabriel, Betsy Sussler, Mitch Moxley, Joe Bernstein, Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Kat Stoeffel, Adlai (but not Stevenson), and more…
Springing Forward
In this week’s edition of our social column: Rachel Seville Tashjian, Kira Brunner Don, Abby Rapoport, Jake Silverstein, Andrew Marzoni, Adriane Quinlan, YuJung Kim, and more!
The National Magazine Awards Ceremony Makes a Return
After two years of handing out prizes remotely, grateful editors gathered to revive one of the biggest occasions on the magazine industry’s social calendar
Taking the Plunge
In this week’s edition of our new social column tracking the ways lives are lived… Kate Lee, Sam Adler-Bell, Ari M. Brostoff, Dana Brown, Emily Nussbaum, Alex Shephard, and plenty of cake
Condé Nast’s Big Union Moment and the Plight of the Permalancers
The announcement that eleven titles representing 500 employees have formed a union comes as welcome news to the publisher’s ranks of “contingent workers” who work full-time for meager wages and without employment protections
Birthdays, Books, Engagements, Trips, and Diplomacy
Introducing our new social column, Vital Moments, tracking the ways lives are lived… featuring Allison P. Davis, Mary Childs, Jack Crosbie, Jo Livingstone, and “that guy Adam”
A Bad Day for BuzzFeed News
After the investigations, politics, science, and inequality teams were offered buyouts, CEO Jonah Peretti says BuzzFeed News going forward will concentrate on “the biggest news of the day, culture and entertainment, celebrity, and life on the internet.”
Growing Up Gus Wenner
A scion of the magazine empire his father, Jann Wenner, founded and sold to Penske Media, the CEO of Rolling Stone is now “basically an employee versus ‘my dad owns the company’”
‘We Are Prepared for This Ukrainian War Fatigue… The Hope Is You Guys Will Continue to Cover These Stories’
Soon after the Russian invasion began, New York magazine scrambled to assemble an ambitious cover package featuring Ukrainians under 30 living through the first weeks after the world they’d known fell apart
The Last Days of Condé Nast Russia
The arrival of Vogue Russia was synonymous with the country’s re-emergence after the Cold War. The decision by it and other American glossies to shut down signals the depths of the nation’s isolation following its invasion of Ukraine.
All Yesterday’s Media Parties
A celebration of Andrew Rice’s new book, The Year That Broke America, draws a crowd nostalgic for their turn of the millennium heyday
A Radical Takes Over as President of The Nation
Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of the socialist quarterly Jacobin, once bemoaned The Nation’s limp leftism. Now he’s in charge of growing its business.
War and Sanctions Hit Ukrainian and Russian Editions of U.S. Glossies
International editions of Condé Nast and Hearst Magazines titles like Vogue Ukraine and Marie Claire Russia face an uncertain future
The Ellies Long March Back to Normalcy
National Magazine Award judging once served as a de facto annual convention for editors. Though this year’s finalists were selected virtually, the winners will be presented (fingers crossed) in person.
Into the Abyss in Ukraine
War came suddenly for the hordes of reporters who streamed into the country ahead of Russia’s full-scale assault of its neighbor
Susan Orlean Gets to Work with the Dead
The longtime New Yorker staff writer on how she’s holding up after enlisting to write a weekly obituary column for the magazine. “David Remnick really wanted me to do Betty White.”
A Headless Slate Awaits the Other Shoe
The site has lost five of its top editorial leaders since New Year’s — including its editor-in-chief, two editorial directors, and an executive editor — while management has begun a push for profitability
James Bennet’s Day in Court Arrives
Since resigning as New York Times opinion editor in 2020, the distinguished editor’s most prominent moments have been as a defendant in Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit
The New Republic’s Pendulum of Power Swings Back to the Beltway
The elimination of New York-based culture staff writer Jo Livingstone’s job comes as part of editor Michael Tomasky’s project to refocus the magazine on political affairs
Sarah Palin Prods a Camera-Shy New York Times into the Spotlight
Former opinion page editor James Bennet ducks the paparazzi as the attention-seeking former Alaska governor’s defamation trial opens following her bout with Covid
An Outsider from Insider Moves In at Fortune
A reputation for micromanagement and meddling preceded Alyson Shontell’s arrival as the first female editor-in-chief of the legacy business title
Catching The Drift
Co-founders Kiara Barrow and Rebecca Panovka explain how their little magazine born at the onset of the pandemic captured the hearts and minds of young literary Brooklyn
About That Napoleon Hat Bryan Goldberg Bought…
Did the French emperor ever truly wear the hat that the CEO of BDG spent $1.43 million on? The 27-year-old Scottish aristocrat who originally bought it while touring Europe sure thought so!
Hanya Yanagihara and Dean Baquet Take the Stage
The editor-in-chief of T talked with her boss about her latest novel, To Paradise, but not about staff departures and complaints at the magazine
All the History Fit to Frame
Tucked inside the New York Times is a museum overseen by David Dunlap, a former reporter whose life has been intertwined with the paper for more than 40 years
A Tempest at T
Hanya Yanagihara’s latest novel has attracted lavish public attention, but the staff who work for her at The New York Times’s fashion magazine say the portrait of her management style is incomplete
What’s Eating Ruth Shalit Barrett?
The fallen star scribe’s nearly 30-year-old journalistic sins were exhumed by missteps in a now-retracted feature in The Atlantic, but her recent lawsuit turns on a decidedly modern magazine concern: television rights.
All the Pandemic’s Parties
How underground nightlife reporters Michelle Lhooq of Rave New World and Brock Colyar of New York shine a light on places where people don’t always want to be seen
Who Wants to Be the Next New York Times Media Columnist?
Ben Smith’s departure for a media startup opens up one of journalism’s plum jobs. Potential successors tell us what they’d do if they were tapped next.
The Way The New York Times Won Its Slack Back
Once a free-wheeling space for the newsroom to air its grievances, the paper has mounted a campaign to pacify its internal chat platform
The Week Omicron Came to Town
A surge in the new variant surprised a media community longing for a return to holiday parties, resulting in breakthrough infections at BuzzFeed, Insider, New York Magazine, and The Paris Review
The Celebrity Profiler and the Viral Tweetstorm
The fallout over Michael Schulman’s piece on Succession star Jeremy Strong has confounded other practitioners of the form
Do Morning Newsletter Writers Dream of the Hectic Half-Asleep?
Surveying the ongoing battle to be the first thing people read when they grab their phones in the morning
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Inside the Ghislaine Maxwell Media Scrum
Pre-dawn lineups, laggy lo-res live streams, print stars turned podcasters, impounded electronics, frantic phone call filing, hotel room cooking, doodles, and more…
What Happens to BuzzFeed News Now?
After the SPAC, the Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom is now a small money-losing division of a much larger publicly traded media company
Anti-Woke-Off Breaks Out at Harper’s
Publisher and president John R. MacArthur considers Walter Kirn’s accusation that the magazine terminated him to appease young leftists an outlandish slur
Curse of the Byline Doppelgängers
As The New York Times’s Julian Barnes (“Not the British Author”) and a pair of Alexandra Petris (Washington Post and New York Times) explain, it’s not always easy sharing a name in journalism
Wirecutter Union to Return to Work After Black Friday Strike
While the 65-member editorial team spent the holiday with family instead of combing the Internet for deals, the site continued to publish without staff bylines