We caught up with Touby today by phone in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to find out what she’s been up to, her thoughts on Foursquare and Chatroulette, what her plans are next and more.

One note – many here at Mediaite have worked for Touby including Glynnis MacNicol and Rachel Sklar (FishbowlNY.com) and myself (TVNewser.com).

Mediaite: Since you officially left in late September, you’ve been to Asia, Europe, South America and from the East to the West Coast of the U.S. What have been some of the most memorable experiences for you?

Touby: Probably visiting China. You know, you have a conception of what China is supposed to be like, but actually experiencing it, it’s just mind-boggling how hard they’re trying to catch up with the rest of the world and how successful they’re becoming at doing it. It’s incredibly powerful. The vastness of China’s cities, Beijing and Shanghai, you just cant conceive of it. With the amount of infrastructure created, I no longer feel confident we’re going to be able to stay ahead of them going into the next few decades. Western civilization has to watch out. I never expected that. I thought, ‘Oh sure, they have great architecture, they’re focused on creating infrastructure,’ but I never realized how far ahead they had gotten. It was kind of frightening because of the negligible consideration to the environment there is. It’s kind of all-out development, with no thought to repercussions or consequences. That was kind of frightening to me thinking about the state of the world, and the future.

“I’m kind of competitive. Being Mayor of my home was very exciting, whereas Jon is only Speaker of the House.”

Mediaite: -You said in your ‘exit interview’, “Even if I was away from the office or ‘on vacation,’ I was always doing work constantly…This was my responsibility and I felt very much like it was a child in many ways.” How how is been being away from your child?

Touby: Basically I just can’t stay away. I’ve been continuing to answer emails from people in the community, people who have needs, people who need referrals. I’m turning down a lot of student interviews for theses and things like that. When it comes to helping someone connect to the Learn department, to teach a class, if a customer needs to post a job, I find myself continue that role in a way I hadn’t expected. I don’t feel that far away from it, but I gave the child to a very good adoptive father and Alan [Meckler] has been really careful about keeping the spirit of mediabistro, and he respects it a lot, respects community, and really wants it to thrive. I don’t feel as frightened as I might have if someone else was the owner.

Mediaite: How has your media consumption changed during your sabbatical? What are your go-to news-gathering tools?

Touby: I’m embarrassed to say it is still newspapers, the Times and the Journal. Actually, I’m not embarrassed to say that! I haven’t had or given myself much time to read stuff online. I’ve read more books in the last few months than I’ve read since college. That’s the good news. I’m able to get back to book-reading whereas prior I didn’t have the concentration for it. Our concentration is so fragmented by Twitter, Facebook, now I’ve joined Foursquare and Yelp, it’s really hard to turn that off and sit down with a book. We have Kindles and have just packed them with books.

>>> NEXT PAGE: Touby on Foursquare, Chatroulette, a future tell-all book and more.

****

Conan O’Brien: Ron Weasley

We’ve watched gangly, lovable Ron grow up before our eyes – and so, too, have we watched gangly, lovable Conan do the same thing as he moved up a time slot into Leno’s growed-up shoes. Also, there’s the red-headed thing. If only he could perform an Engorgio! spell on the ratings.

Campbell Brown: Hermione Granger

Campbell Brown recently declared that CNN was the only network “doing journalism” – that reminded us of Hermione scolding Harry that he wasn’t following directions from his potions book correctly. Still, you don’t become a star pupil – or a star anchor – for nothing; it requires brains and hard work. No-nonsense in the library, intrepid on the field of battle – Hermione and Brown have those things in common. Plus, if we may say, a rather adorable button nose.

Bill O’Reilly: Draco Malfoy

Who’s the biggest troublemaker at Hogwarts? Draco Malfoy, Harry’s arch-nemesis and the school bully, throwing taunts and barbs and challenging his enemies. He’s a leader, a lightning rod, and the prime symbol of the Slytherin message. Sort of sounds like – Bill O’Reilly, whose show leads Fox News to ratings dominance, and he’s never been shy about throwing punches. Of course, the top bully needs henchman, so who better than…

Glenn Beck: Crabbe

Keith Olbermann: Goyle

Crabbe & Goyle don’t say much in the Harry Potter books, so in that respect they’re dissimilar to Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann, who never met a subject they couldn’t formulate an impassioned opinion about. However, in terms of raw henchman-y power, they both provide twin support for the O’Reilly model, on the left and the right. Bill O’Reilly chose the weapon – the blunt instrument of bloviation – and they have both learned to wield that weapon to carve out a spot in emulation of their leader. Also, Olbermann is huge. That helps when you’re a henchman.

Graydon Carter: Lucius Malfoy

We’re not saying the editor of Vanity Fair is evil, exactly – we’ll leave that to Toby Young. But you can’t deny certain similarities between Graydon Carter and Lucius Malfoy, the imperious, imposing figure at the top of publishing/wizarding society. Like secret meetings at Borgin & Burkes, Carter’s Waverly Inn only admits the invited few; if you’re of mere Muggle stock, you might as well not bother.

Malcolm Gladwell: Professor Trelawney

Brainy, cerebral, casting your mind out to the universe to divine the secret interweaving patterns that determine the behavior of those around them – sounds like Malcolm Gladwell found a mind-mate in the all-seeing Sybil Trelawney. Also, there’s the hair.

Arianna Huffington: Bellatrix Lestrange

Like Voldemort’s top lieutenant, Arianna Huffington is skilled, sexy, and widely feared. Only instead of stealing prophecy orbs she (arguably) steals other people’s content. Please don’t Crucio us, Arianna.

p.s. Both are by far the most likely on this list to make a “wandwork” joke.

Chris Matthews: Mad-Eye Moody

He barks. He blurts. He sometimes seems a little nuts. Need we say more?

Anderson Cooper: Fleur Delacour

That silvery hair…those bewitching eyes…how could you not be transfixed? This is what Fleur Delacour and Anderson Cooper have in common. Yes yes, they’re both very accomplished – she competed for Beauxbatons in the Triwizard Tournament, he is a cornerstone of CNN’s primetime – but really, they’re just both so pretty.

NEXT PAGE: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, STEPHEN COLBERT, AND MORE

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/online/media-muggles-harry-potter/feed/ 370 http://www.mediaite.com/online/bloomberg-axe-falls-at-business-week-jon-fine-out/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/bloomberg-axe-falls-at-business-week-jon-fine-out/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:34:48 +0000 Glynnis MacNicol http://www.mediaite.com/?p=48197 Bloomberg, which acquired Business Week last month, announced this week that they were looking to layoff 100 positions or 25% of its staff. Judging from Twitter it looks like the layoffs took place today (h/t FishbowlNY).

Included in the list of those leaving in addition to BW editor Stephen Adler, are community manager Shirley Brady, technology writer Stephen Baker, department editor Lauren Young, and staff writer Amy Choi. Also not returning is media columnist Jon Fine (side note: Fine is married to my former employer Laurel Touby), who twittered the news earlier today.

As we reported last week, Bloomberg expressed interest in BusinessWeek late in the process, but was given extra time to perform due diligence.

Regarding the bid, Fine reported today:

After being given a few days’ grace past the September 15 deadline for final bids for BusinessWeek, Bloomberg LP submitted its bid for the 80-year old business magazine, according to executives familiar with the situation.

A Bloomberg spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email, but previously declined to comment on Bloomberg’s interest, real or imagined, in a bid for BusinessWeek. A spokesman for BusinessWeek parent company McGraw-Hill declined to comment on the number or identity of final bidders, but said the company was “very pleased with the meaningful interest” displayed in BusinessWeek.

Other than Bloomberg, among the bidders—plural, as there are more than one—for BusinessWeek is OpenGate Capital, the private equity firm that owns TV Guide magazine.

A bid from Bloomberg is widely expected to make the business information giant the prohibitive favorite to purchase BusinessWeek.

Fine goes on to dig up a quote from a previous interview he’d conducted with Norm Pearlstine, the former Editor-in-Chief of Time Inc. and current Chief Content Officer of Bloomberg: “We’re looking at potential acquisitions,” sa[id] Pearlstine. “We’re just sort of saying: ‘Hey, we’re looking for good ideas.’”

Fine seems to imply that the acquisition of BusinessWeek is a “good idea.” Or is that just wishful thinking?

BusinessWeek‘s Jon Fine reports:

Given Bloomberg’s late entry into the fray—-its interest kindled quickly last week, and a coterie of its company executives just met with BusinessWeek management on Monday—it’s expected that the company will get an extra couple of days to perform due diligence and decide upon its bid. (Slightly extended deadlines are not wholly unusual in sales of media properties.) A spokeswoman for Bloomberg declined to comment, and a McGraw-Hill spokesman did not respond to multiple messages on Tuesday evening.

A bid is expected from private equity player OpenGate Capital, the recent buyer of TV Guide, though a spokeswoman for the company declined to comment. Executives for ZelnickMedia declined to comment, though I see that private-equity player as a likely bidder as well. The ultimate intentions of Platinum Equity and Fast Company owner Joe Mansueto, both of whom have participated in the process thus far, were opaque, at least to me, as of 10 PM Tuesday evening. (Platinum is chasing a possible deal for the Boston Globe, according to the Globe itself; a Platinum spokesman said the company does not comment on potential acquisitions.)

Bloomberg is acting much like a company intending to place a bid, but then the same was true about Bruce Wasserstein a few days ago. As (horn toot alert) first reported here earlier today, New York magazine owner and Lazard Chairman Wasserstein decided not to bid for BusinessWeek after what multiple executives described as weeks of intensive study of the magazine’s operations–which continued into early this week. He and his representatives arrived at the decision to forego a bid late last night. Warburg Pincus also elected not to bid, say executives familiar with the situation.

Who

What: MediaBistro’s “Finding a Business Model for News & Online Media,” at Comix

When: July 16, 2009

Thumbs: Up

Even though the panelists admitted off the bat that they didn’t have a business model to rehabilitate all of journalism, that didn’t stop attendees from asking for it anyway. The panelists indicated that each of them was involved, in some capacity, with pursuing a different innovative venture to keep news reporting alive. Those projects include fundraising for donations from the public, subscribing to ad-supported domains, getting wealthy donors to support a site, and working for free in hopes of eventually bringing in advertising revenue.

One potential solution raised was micro-payments, nominal fees for access to online news. Carberry and Rosen correctly pointed out that newspapers never relied on subscriptions as the source of revenue, and it could be a mistake to now turn to readers to finance newsrooms. What news sites must do first, the panel agreed, is to establish and demonstrate its value to readers. While great content or investigations may be valuable to some, it is convenience, said Sklar, that often motivates people to pay for a service.

No matter who is investing in your project, there’s bound to be someone trying to influence your reporting. Rosen, who was at his best, said that all forms of subsidy come with a price – rich patrons with an agenda, advertisers wanting to promote their products, or even publications that cater to traffic patterns on their sites. It appears that while there are many new methods to sample and consider, there is not yet a definitive answer to saving journalism. Ultimately, we had to conclude that there may never be one definitive answer at all. We just hope that those who paid $75 or traveled all the way from Albany for the event felt they took something home.

What They Said

“It’s a fascinating time for media. Of course fascinating can also be a synonym for terrifying.”

- Moderator Jon Fine in his opening remarks. Fine writes a column for BusinessWeek that, it was announced this week, is up for sale.

“It’s almost like having a baby, and ours seems to be sick a lot.”

- Matt Romanoski discussing the setbacks and difficulties of his site, NewJerseyNewsroom.com, which launched this spring.

“Do what you do best and link to the rest.”

- Jay Rosen citing what has become the mantra and aim of many blogs.

“That’s like living with someone, then moving out, and expecting you’ll still date.”

- Maegan Carberry’s take on starting to charge online readers for content after it’s been free for so long. Still, we’ll miss the way your news print felt on Saturday mornings.

“The goal is to create a robust site with different voices.”

- Rachel Sklar is hoping to build Mediaite as a central hub for the ongoing media discussion

What We Thought

• We thought Fine did an excellent job moderating this discussion. He only chimed in to keep the conversation moving, ceding the floor to the panelists. He also contributed to some of the funnier moments of the evening.
• Only at media panels do you hear panelists half-jokingly acknowledge that they are idiots. We like the message and tone this conveys – They’re showing that they are students and observers of the changing media too. This is, we believe, the framework that makes participatory journalism possible and practical. Elitism is mostly dismissed in favor of education.
• We enjoyed seeing two panelists – Sklar and Carberry – not just hold their own with their male counterparts, but also hold their liquor. The ladies of the panel nursed glasses of champagne that commanded sophistication blended with high-class Julius Caesar Twitter jokes.

PANEL RULES!

Some audience behavior seems to repeat itself panel after panel. We’ll be updating a running list of “PANEL RULES!” that will help ensure that you are not the dweeb of the Panel Nerds.

Panel Nerds don’t like…. Dennis Miller Wannabes

Don’t casually make obscure references that no one is familiar with - If there’s a legal case you reference for your question, explain what the case is and how it’s relevant. Give us some background. Have the question make sense- for us and the panelists. If you keep this up, you’ll never last on Monday Night Football.

Etan Bednarsh is a writer and internet marketer in New York City . His writing focuses on the intersection of politics and pop culture. He is currently studying sketch and improvisational comedy at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Danny Groner is a freelance online writer and video editor in New York City. He has worked at several prominent media companies, dabbling in radio, television, and print and online journalism.

Want the Panel Nerds to cover your panel? Email them here: PanelNerds@mediaite.com

[Disclaimer: Mediaite's Rachel Sklar was one of the members of this panel. The opinions expressed in our column were not edited for content. We decided to attend this panel on our own, and not at the behest of anyone representing Mediaite. That Rachel was one of the panel members speaks to our dovetailing interests, and we are in favor of anything that dovetails.]