“Newsweek” on The Daily Caller

Newsweek editor Tina Brown has defended her widely panned launch issue, claiming it is only one step in an “iterative evolution.” (more)

Have things finally reached a point where journalists’ views are susceptible to criticism, even if those views are “surreptitiously” obtained? (more)

It’s not just me! Slate‘s Jack Shafer on the new Newsweek: (more)

I couldn’t get hold of a copy of the new Tina Brown Newsweek out here–not even at LAX. So I’m left to judge it for now by its cover, which is … unexpectedly awful. …  A featured story on Hillary Clinton ( just like the first issue of Talk, which showcased a disastrous HRC profile). …  A piece by Kathleen Parker that’s not about what a jerk Elliot Spitzer was. …  Both apparently linked to some bullshit N.Y. conference Brown is staging for 150 Women Movers and Shakers etc.  … A piece from Harvey Weinstein,  the mogul behind Talk, suggesting that Newsweek may wind up saying more about Tina’s relationships with various bigshots (Harvey, Hillary, the Hundred and Fifty) than about what’s happening in the world. (Maybe staffers could put out a second, riveting, magazine called ‘Why We Really Ran That Piece.’)  The general impression: staleness, meaning a lack of both a) editorial imagination and b) news.  Readers could be forgiven for checking for dust to make sure the magazine didn’t drop from the attic where they stored it around 1999. I had expected that some of the desperate hit-crazed undercurrent of the Daily Beast might carry over into Newsweek‘s initial presentation. But desperation would be an improvement. Desperation is a form of vitality. (more)

Have Blog, Will Travel: I’d just written “email Tucker” in my notebook when Tina Brown’s rep called to say he had “bad news,” the new editors from the Daily Beast were cancelling all the Newsweek blogs that weren’t related to the magazine. It was a little like thinking about breaking up with your girlfriend only to have her break up with you first. Annoying! Luckily, I am not the type to be bitter.
 
Blogging at Newsweek was sort of like setting up your tent in a bombed out building. First the editor who hired me left. Then the editor above him left. Then the executive above that guy left. Then the editor who didn’t really like me but tolerated me left. As a result I was left alone, which was fine. I kept writing; the checks kept coming. But it was only a matter of time before the occupying army moved in.  So I emailed Tucker. (I didn’t try to contact the Beast people because it seemed as if that would lead to one of two possible outcomes, both equally bad: Either they would fire me or they would have big plans for me.)
 
The Daily Caller seems a better home for a number of reasons. Most important–and it was a Democratic politico who first pointed this out to me–the people here seem to be actually having fun, while the people at the Daily Beast seem to be having a desperate sort of faux-fun as they try to madly generate paying hits before Barry Diller’s money runs out subsidizing Ms. Brown’s big bucks staff. Brown could do wonders for Newsweek‘s print edition–she’s obviously extremely smart and seems to genuinely like discovering new talents. I’ve talked with her only once, at the 2008 Dem convention, and was totally charmed. But she’s wasted on the web, where if you hype a new talent you’ll probably just produce an item with a low search engine ranking.
 
The DC isn’t Animal House, but from what I’ve seen there is a slightly disorganized, understaffed rough-and-ready attitude that’s vastly preferable to a perfectly organized hierarchy of editors who busy themselves trying to shape your copy. In about a week the Caller** managed to create a blog template for kausfiles that lets me write short items and have a permalink for each–a technical feat Slate was unable to accomplish in a year and a half, perhaps because until recently Slate bloggers were second-class citizens when compared with “curated” writers. Luckily, I’m not bitter.
 
I also hope that writing for a conservative site will perversely move me a bit back toward the left. My default M.O. seems to be to cruise the web until I find something I disagree with, then blog about it. Since you tend to cruise in your own neighborhood, I suspect I’ll find lots of DC items to react against. Like the headline about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposed anti-union legislation, “Details of the bill show it may not be that bad.” Hello? Who said the bill was “bad”? Do you mean it may not be that good? Why should the DC be defensive about Gov. Walker unless it’s still a wee bit trapped in the cocoon of Beltway respectability? [That puts you to Caller's right, not left-ed  Huh. So it does. Next time, then]
 
Today, the Daily Beast announced it has hired Andrew Sullivan, which will bring them tens of thousands of new readers. The DB now employs two former New Republic editors who righteously decry the Iraq war after spending years (when it counted) equally righteously promoting it. Ms. Brown calls this being “willing to admit mistakes.” Luckily …
 
What is it that the Israelis say–’We will retailiate in a time, place, and manner of our own choosing’? Or when Newsweek‘s final check clears. Whichever comes first. … (more)

The NewsBeast is ALIVE! (more)

In the aftermath of Keith Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC, some are speculating on whether he’ll end up at another network or return to sports broadcasting. (more)

UPDATE (5:30pm): The Center for Public Integrity responds to inquires made by TheDC. (more)

Sometimes criticism comes in the unlikeliest of places. (more)

“Personally I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.” — Richard Chamberlain, a gay actor (more)

NewsBeast isn’t ready to come out of the cage quite yet. (more)

There’s an opportunistic “conservative media” ready to pounce on President Barack Obama. Who knew? (more)

Consider Newsweek blogger Mickey Kaus. Failed Senate candidate, yes. And his iconoclastic views on immigration and unions drive some liberals nuts. But “stupidest human alive?” (more)

With The Daily Caller approaching its first birthday (the site was launched on January 11, 2010), I thought it would be appropriate to recount the 20 most interesting Daily Caller op-eds of 2010 (according to me). Collectively, these op-eds garnered hundreds of thousands of page views and over ten thousand Facebook recommendations (though, due to a Facebook glitch, the Facebook recommendations for most Daily Caller articles that were published before December 10th have disappeared. You’ll have to trust me on this one.) The articles are listed in no particular order. (more)

In the private sector, the capstone of your career is marked with a laudatory going-away party, perhaps a gold watch or other recognition of your years of service, and your retirement — it’s a clean break. The company goes on with its business and you go on with your life. (more)

Enron, joined by BP, invented the global warming industry. I know because I was in the room. This was during my storied three-week or so stint as Director of Federal Government Relations for Enron in the spring of 1997, back when Enron was everyone’s darling in Washington. It proved to be an eye-opening experience that didn’t last much beyond my expressing concern about this agenda of using the state to rob Peter, paying Paul, drawing Paul’s enthusiastic support. (more)

Even the Washington Post’s Chris Cilizza noticed. He designated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as having “the worst week in Washington,” a week ago. This is something of a comedown among liberals, who have been fawning over Hillary. Cilizza noted it was an unusual slip. “She has traveled the world, winning kudos everywhere she goes for her grace and, um, diplomacy.” (more)

’Tis the season for John Lennon. The former Beatle had the misfortune of being murdered on Dec. 8, 1980, mere weeks after his 40th birthday, and so for the past few months we’ve had to endure a wearying deluge of documentaries, reissues, biopics, and exhibitions of the sort that only the twinned, round-number, life-bracketing anniversaries of an assassinated pop legend could possibly occasion. At first, it seemed as if the releases might reveal something new about Lennon’s music. But now that the date of his death is approaching and the tributes haven’t stopped, it’s clear that the most revealing thing about this year’s anniversary extravaganza isn’t some remastered version of “Imagine.” It’s that Lennon’s celebrity—the very thing that killed him—is still large and lucrative enough to inspire such a frenzy of “commemorabilia.” (more)

On Monday, Sarah Palin began her media tour for her latest book with an interview in which she defiantly declared that she would never do another interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric and castigated her for being an example of why journalism is in crisis. (more)

Newsweek’s depiction of President Obama on its latest cover has irked some Indian Americans who, fresh off Obama’s visit to the world’s largest democracy, are not happy with the image of the U.S. president as the Hindu deity, Lord Shiva. (more)