SF Chronicle Food Section Fold-In: Recipe for Disaster?

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Reports in foodie-centric San Francisco that the award-winning Food section of the Hearst-Corp.-owned San Francisco Chronicle may be folded into a lifestyle section is stirring controversy, according to a report in yesterday's New York Times.

Chronicle Publisher Jeffrey Johnson would not comment in the Times article on reports that the Food section would combine with content from the Home section and be part of a lifestyle section tentatively called Artisan.  The Chronicle, a multiple winner of the James Beard Foundation award for stellar food coverage and perhaps the only daily that sells its own honey and maintains a roof garden and test kitchen in a building separate from the newsroom HQ, may be forced into the move--reportedly, by Feb. 2014-- by declining readership and dwindling ad page revenues.

Newspapers once provided food for thought, but among Chronicle readers, the thoughts are about food.

Dr. Oz Gives Till It Hearst

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We're just a couple of weeks away from Hearst Corp., publisher of Esquire and Cosmopolitan, unveiling the name of a new magazine that will be branded around celebrity doc Mehmet Oz, Ad Age reports.

According to Ad Age, the periodical's title may be The Good Life and will somehow work in the name of Dr. Oz. And why not, given that the 53-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon has been a hot property since first appearing on Oprah Winfrey's show in 2004, which led to his own series beginning in 2009, cleverly named The Dr. Oz Show.

The Cleveland native, whose parents are Turkish emigrants, has written for numerous Hearst magazines. His own journal is expected to focus on food, beauty, and physical and emotional well-being, according to the Ad Age article. Two pilot issues are expected to debut in 2014, and Ad Age reports the initial issue will have a rollout of 350,000 newsstand copies, while another 450,000 copies will be sent to subscribers of other select Hearst titles.

The magazine publisher is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle in ways that the disappointing O: The Oprah Magazine has not.  It remains to be seen whether a celebrity physician can cure the sagging ad revenues and circulation that afflict magazines nowadays.

Open your mouth and say: "Oz."

Serving 'Cosmopolitan' to a Highball Crowd

Women's Wear Daily reports that Hearst's racy periodical Cosmopolitan is getting ready to unveil a fall  line of lingerie, jewelry, bags and accessories at that cutting edge, smoldering fashion enclave--J.C. Penney Co.?

 Penney execs would not confirm to WWD that their metaphoric, if not literal, "square" brick and mortar stores would be the site of the Cosmo girl garb rollout. For its part, Hearst merely admitted to WWD that it planned a major product launch this fall.

If true, it looks as if Cosmo readers have finally found their "Gee!" spot.

Hearst Thumbs Through, But Doesn't Buy BBC Periodicals

Image via WikipediaWith the New York-based Hearst Corp. ready to open its wallet to pay cash for international magazines from French publisher Lagardere (see "TUOL" post 1/3/11), apparently its National Magazine Co. is turning the page on acquiring BBC Magazines, according to a report in Media Week.

Hearst Magazines International, which boasts ownership of more than 200 magazines in more than 100 nations, will not be adding  Top Gear, Radio Times, Good Food, Gardeners Times or any other BBC periodical to its stable. German publishing conglomerate Bauer is expected to step in to favored prospective buyer role abandoned by Hearst.

Hearst Magazine Shopping in Paris

Image via WikipediaCar & Driver and foreign editions of Elle magazine are among the periodicals that may be joining the Hearst Corp. stable of more than 200 magazines, according to Bloomberg News.

France's largest publisher, Lagardere, is negotiating with the New York-based Hearst for a possible cash purchase of its international magazine titles, Bloomberg reports. The move would enable the French media giant to focus on its book publishing and domestic periodical holdings.

Were the sale to go forward, Lagardere would attempt to retain editorial control of Elle.  Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping are among the journals owned by Hearst.

Virtual Newsstand Aim of Joint Venture of Media Conglomerates

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Four media giants that focus on magazines and the newspaper-heavy News Corp. are joining forces in a joint venture to create a digital newsstand.

Conde Nast, Time, Inc., Meredith, the Hearst Corp. and News Corp. visualize creating an industry-standard platform and an online store, similar to iTunes, where the media consortium can sell  publications to consumers who can view them on their cell phones, electronic readers, the Internet, and other digital devices yet to be devised.  The media moguls believe advertisers will pay a higher price for placement in these digital publications.

The joint venture is thus far, nameless, and none of its members has disclosed a dollar amount they expect to contribute to the effort. However, Time, Inc. executive veep John Squires will serve as the venture's interim general manager.  The success of the project is dependent on the willingness of Amazon's Kindle e-reader and Apple's iTunes to adopt the joint venture's technology standards.

"TUOL" finds it hard to imagine digitally reading magazines in the bathroom and laments the likely extinction of magazine newsstands where cranky vendors short-change the customers and yell at them not to thumb through the adult periodicals.