Wolff Trap

You gotta love Michael Wolff’s visceral reaction to the recent overture from the PR team for MySpace. He was so inspired, he crafted a Newser post titled: MySpace Is Back! Really! Totally! Meet Jason and Mike! Wanna Interview Them?The headline essentially captures Mr. Wolff’s (and others’) intractable notion that MySpace is washed up, and that…… Continue reading Wolff Trap

Bye Bye Bobby

A few friends sent me Jim Barron’s New York Times “City Room” piece on PR man Bobby Zarem’s decision to leave his adopted city for his boyhood home of Savannah, Georgia. And why should I care? Well, other than Elaine’s losing its most famous patron (and promoter), and the city, its most original (and supportive)…… Continue reading Bye Bye Bobby

Future of Media

On Wednesday, I expect to learn the future of media. The day begins with Media Magazine’s Future of Media Forum or “It’s Not What it Used to Be.”At The Times Center in NYC, Wired’s Chris Anderson will take these and other media movers and shakers through their paces: Mark Cuban, Martha Stewart, NPR’s Vivien Schiller,…… Continue reading Future of Media

Wrong Number

A day doesn’t go by without the financial services or pharmaceutical industry taking it on the chin. Both were summarily called to the carpet this week for their profligate behavior — Wall Street for bonuses and big pharma re: drug cost givebacks.Yet relative scant attention is given to the one industry whose transgressions may even…… Continue reading Wrong Number

Mad as Hell: Who’re Ya Gonna Tell?

Much has transpired since last year’s historic U.S. Presidential elections. The dramatic real-time run-up to November 4 kept many of us totally tethered to our digital news screens.Since then, that frenetic and insatiable state of political engagement has pretty much dissipated…until last week.The prospect of a Twitter/SMS/blog-fueled Presidential election to overthrow the Holocaust-denying, WMD-seeking, woman-oppressing,…… Continue reading Mad as Hell: Who’re Ya Gonna Tell?

Stress Reduction

The lead op-ed in today’s New York Times features U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explaining in his own words the rationale and machinations behind the bank stress tests whose results will pop big time later today.Already, the Treasury Dept. selectively leaked some of the test’s more tantalizing tidbits in an effort to temper the anticipated…… Continue reading Stress Reduction

Why Newspapers Matter

In the wake of yesterday’s news that The New York Times had captured five Pulitzer Prizes, bringing its total to 101 — more than any other news organization — executive editor Bill Keller offered the following: “It comes in a year when a lot of newspapers are on the ropes, it is a reminder of…… Continue reading Why Newspapers Matter