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New York Times
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leaks
wantrepreneurs
Amanda Hesser uses a computer, therefore qualified to run Web startup
Former New York Times editor Amanda Hesser is starting a new company called Seawinkle, which may or may not be named after an obscure character from the My Little Pony universe. It will aggregate content you produce online into one happy page, she promised in a tetchy response to New York Magazine's insinuation that she was politely kicked out of the new Times building. Hesser also detailed her qualifications as a wantrepreneur: More »
great moments in journalism
New York Times finally discovers Ritual Roasters, long after San Franciscans have moved on
Did you hear? Doing business in coffee shops is all the rage in San Francisco! Especially at this trendy little spot in the Mission you may not have heard of, Ritual Coffee Roasters. Seriously, if getting a table at Ritual wasn't hard enough already, you can thank the Times for making it that much harder — now every wannabe in khakis and a biz-dev-blue shirt will be jostling with the skinny greys set arriving on fixies for prime seating real estate. Since the Times seems to love reusing blog posts from 2006, I'll throw them a bone and present "The four cafes Times readers can be expected to ruin by 2009": More »
hires
New York Times board member's claim to fame: e-commerce failure RedEnvelope
Scott Galloway of Firebrand Partners scored a coup recently: The New York Times Co. agreed to nominate him and a fellow activist investor for a seat on its board. Did the Times do any due diligence on him? Galloway's chief accomplishment online is cofounding RedEnvelope, a San Francisco-based online retailer. More »
silicon valley users guide
I recently reported on blogging secrets of the stars. But as a Valley worker, you may end up blogging on your company's site, not your own. Corporate blogging is very different from personal blogging, regardless of what The 250 will tell you for a small fee. So I created this stack of product-managerese slides on how to write a company blog worth reading.
How to write for your company's blog
I recently reported on blogging secrets of the stars. But as a Valley worker, you may end up blogging on your company's site, not your own. Corporate blogging is very different from personal blogging, regardless of what The 250 will tell you for a small fee. So I created this stack of product-managerese slides on how to write a company blog worth reading.
death of print
Mercury News editor leaves troubled newspaper for slightly less troubled one
San Jose Mercury News business and technology reporter Vindu Goel is returning to the New York Times, where he once interned as a young cub reporter, to be the new deputy technology editor. The Michigan and Harvard alum likes fine wine and long walks in the woods. The Times is hoping to boost its technology coverage, while the Merc loses yet another veteran from a once-esteemed tech-reporting staff. More »
breakdowns
Spitzer apologizes, kills NYTimes.com
Here's New York Governor Eliot Spitzer apologizing for, well, no doubt you've heard. The scandal hasn't yet brought down Spitzer, but it did lay NYTimes.com low for a while.
exits
Scott Meyer ousted in About.com staff revolt
About.com's Scott Meyer was forced out as CEO of the New York Times-owned website after his senior staff threatened to quit unless he left, a tipster tells us. NYT CEO Janet Robinson had wanted to keep Meyer on, even though his reports ridiculed him as a biz-dev type who was clueless about the Web. That he left without a replacement indicates how deep the revolt went. For NYT Digital chief Martin Nisenholtz, who's running About.com for the time being, the gig is temporary, and involuntary. "Martin definitely doesn't want to run About," says our source — though he also pressed Robinson to do something about Meyer. As for replacements? Ron McCoy, the company's chief digital architect, and an early pioneer of search-engine optimization, is the heavy lifter at About.com, but he's not a candidate for the CEO spot: He flies in from Atlanta, and is said to be uninterested in management.
breakdowns
David Pogue blacklists Google, sings uplifting show tune
I tried to send an email to New York Times columnist David Pogue, but I failed. It appears that Google's Gmail has been blacklisted by the Sorbs spam-blocking system. At the moment, Sorbs claims to be in a "maintenance period." Pogue's email provider could be blocking all mail because it can't reach Sorbs — but why would it be down for maintenance in the middle of the day? See the full error message after the jump and tell me if you can figure it out. In the meantime, David, call me? Everybody sing! Let the sound of your voice turn winter to spring. More »
mysteries
Why is Martin Nisenholtz running About.com?
About.com, the '90s-vintage mess of protoblogs the New York Times Co. paid $410 million for three years ago, has lost its CEO, Scott Meyer, left. The departure is characterized as "amicable"; the circumstances, curious. The Times has been rumored to be shopping About.com, though the company denies it. Regardless, Meyer is not being replaced. Instead, Martin Nisenholtz, the digital chief at the Times, right, will run it directly. There are two interpretations here. More »
Gannett, Hearst, the New York Times Co. and Tribune, in the grand tradition of doomed online-newspaper joint ventures, is creating an ad network, QuadrantOne. The new partners said QuardrantOne will reach more than 50 million monthly visitors through more than 120 papers. But not the New York Times or USA Today, which already have national sales operations. Yahoo launched a similar newspaper consortium last year, to no visible effect. [WSJ]
google
New York reporters scooped on YouTube by blabbing blogger
Google hosted an event in Manhattan yesterday to pitch advertisers on YouTube. Silicon Alley Insider's Michael Learmonth tried to crash and got booted. The New York Times's Louise Story played nice and apparently got to stay, but later told readers the "bulk of the event" was "off the record." Apparently, neither tried Google search. Attendee Ian Schafer, CEO of a digital marketing agency, was happy to blog everything. More »
great moments in journalism
New York Times deigns to note Mark Zuckerberg's turn on TMZ
"TMZ seemed to be straining to find material" when it posted video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week, the New York Times reports today. A week later. Then reporter Maria Aspan cites a Valleywag commenter at the end of the article. Clearly, we're witnessing the decline the of an old media dino — Wait. The New York Times quoted a Valleywag commenter? OMFG! JediTilo, you got quoted in the freaking New York Times. Count me impressed. Me and your mom.
Marc Andreessen savages the New York Times Co.'s board for their lack of Internet experience: "So, if you want to issue bonds to pay for FCC-approved snack cake manufacturing in a submarine on display at a national park by a sundress-wearing cigarette-puffing Levitra-popping Judy Miller, you're pretty much set. Go team!" [blog.pmarca.com]
blogging for dollars
Blogs beat New York Times 4-1 in five-year contest
Five years ago, daddy-blogger Dave Winer bet NYT president Martin Nisenholtz that by 2007, blogs would be more relevant sources than the Times in Google search results for the year's top news stories. (Obligatory brag: The bet was my idea.) The Long Now Foundation has handed down its final decision on the bet. The Times came out ahead on the mortgage crisis. Blogs won on the other four topics — the Iraq war, Virgina Tech's shootings, oil prices, and Chinese exports. But you need to know that the Long Now panel blamed the bet's terms for its lopsided outcome: More »
new york, minute
New York Times trying to offload About.com
The New York Times has hired a bank in order to sell About.com, Silicon Alley Insider reports. The Times bought the site — a collection of bloggers posting Google- friendly content — back in 2005 for $410 million. SAI's Peter Kafka figures the Times will ask for around $450 million. And will be happy to get it. Makes sense. How much can a company full of permalancers paid by the pageview be worth, anyway?
new york times
I've excerpted the relevant parts of Harbinger Capital Partners' letter to New York Times management proposing four new directors and a more aggressive online strategy.
More »
NYT takeover -- the 100-word version
I've excerpted the relevant parts of Harbinger Capital Partners' letter to New York Times management proposing four new directors and a more aggressive online strategy.
More »
media
