Salon.com > Magazine

Time Warner in talks with Meredith Corporation over joint venture

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Meredith Corporation, whose publishing arm owns lifestyle magazines like Better Homes and Gardens and Fitness, is currently in talks with Time Warner over the procurement of several of its magazine titles, including Real Simple, People and Style Magazines.

Although Reuters earlier reported that the deal might take place in the form of a sale, with Meredith buying a substantial number of titles from Time Warner, The Times' DealBook blog points out that Time Warner's publishing arm is currently valued at around twice that of Meredith's, rendering that scenario unlikely. Instead, according to DealBook, the two media monoliths may be considering a joint venture. The Times explains:

Magazines: Hey, look at us!

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:45:00 +0000

It has been a hell of a year for controversial magazine covers. Tina Brown's relaunched Newsweek has given us the single-entendre shot of a pair of asparagus poised mere inches from the widened lips of a eyeless female face (used to illustrate a listicle about restaurants); its "50 Shades of Gray" piece promoted on the cover by a nude woman blindfolded with what appears to be one of those bows they put on Audis at Christmas; and, of course, there's the rainbow-colored Obama that announced the story on the president's shifting stance on gay marriage. But it's hardly the only offender. Time had its infamous breast-feeding 3-year-old cover, and the Atlantic put a baby in a briefcase. This is part and parcel of an increased interest in magazine covers. The New Yorker, which has had its own cover controversies, launched a site (and book) called Blown Covers, showcasing some of the cover art it decided not to run.

Before Nora was Nora

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The following originally appeared on John Blumenthal's Open Salon blog.

Nora and I worked at Esquire at the same time -- she as a columnist, me as a lowly fact-checker. It was 1973. We'd passed each other in the halls occasionally, perhaps rode an elevator together, but she had no idea who I was, and I wasn't quite bold enough to tell her. Not that she would have cared.

Esquire was my first editorial job, and I was lucky enough to serve under the magazine's legendary editor, Harold Hayes, who plucked me out of obscurity from a job as a house painter and whale's tooth polisher on Nantucket Island. Esquire paid me exactly $65 a week, which, even in those days, was chump change.

One day, Nora stalked into the fact-checking area -- a large room containing the four of us who made up the overworked department. It wasn't hard to discern that she was unhappy. For some reason, she chose me to snap at. I forget what it was about, but I snapped back, and she strode angrily out of the room.