Newsweek Running Out of Swords for Higher-Ups to Fall On

Image via WikipediaThe New York Times reported yesterday that Publisher Ray Chelstowski, Managing Editor Tom Weber and Executive Editor Edward Felsenthal are all out at beleaguered Newsweek.

Moribund ad sales reportedly are to blame for the management team shake-up in which Chelstowski purportedly was ousted and Weber and Felsenthal resigned. Last year, the once-venerable newsweekly magazine merged with The Daily Beast to form the Newsweek Daily Beast Co. under editor-in-chief Tina Brown (see "TUOL" post 11/12/10).

Alter Uninterested in What Brown Can Do for Him

Image by elycefeliz via FlickrLong-time national correspondent Jonathan Alter has departed Newsweek, where his byline has appeared since 1983, according to the Website Politico.

It must be a beast daily for Editor Tina Brown to keep marquee journalists at the newsweekly, which merged with The Daily Beast last November (see "TUOL" post 11/12/10).  Last year saw the departure of Newsweek mainstays Howard Fineman, Jon Meacham, Michael Isikoff, Evan Thomas and Fareed Zakaria (see "TUOL" posts 9/21/10 and 8/10/10).

Fans can still worship at the Alter by reading Bloomberg News, The Huffington Post and NBC News, where he continues to write columns, blog and offer analysis. His most recent book is The Promise.

Will Newsweekers Take Voluntary Buyouts Before Things Get Too 'Beastly'?

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeApproximately 30 Newsweek staffers are weighing generous voluntary buyout packages that offer four months' salary topped off with extra cash, Yahoo blog The Cutline reports.

Four months since the announced blending of Newsweek and The Daily Beast under the leadership of Tina Brown (see "TUOL" post 11/10/10), which involved smoothing out the non-union Beast operation and the newsweekly's collective bargaining agreement, a select class of Newsweek employees yesterday were given the buyout option.

 Staffers under age 40 have 21 days to accept the buyout, while those older than 40 have 45 days to decide, according to The Cutline post.

Newsweek & The Daily Beast Merge

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Beleaguered news magazine Newsweek, which 92-year-old audio magnate Sidney Harmon acquired for $1 in September [see "TUOL" post 8/2/10], has merged with The Daily Beast Web site to create The Newsweek Daily Beast Co. that will be co-owned by Harmon and Beast financier Barry Diller, chair of  IAC/Interactive Corp. Tina Brown will serve as editor-in-chief of both entities.


As initially reported by The New York Observer and confirmed in today's The New York Times, under the 50/50 merger, the editorial staffs of  The Beast and Newsweek will combine under the control of Brown, who, nine days shy of her 57th birthday,  re-enters the print magazine industry after a decade-long hiatus. The flamboyant Brown previously served as editor of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the defunct Talk magazine.


The Beast will act as the digital operation of Newsweek, though for the time being, each entity will retain its name.  A wise decision, as neither NewsBeast nor The Daily Week  inspire confidence. It's a May/December wedding of a stodgy 77-year-old news magazine and an edgy 2-year-old Web site.

Kurtz Leaves Wash. Daily for Beast Daily

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Another sign that metro daily newspapers are passe: long-time media critic for The Washington Post Howie Kurtz, has bolted for Tina Brown's The Daily Beast, where he will serve as Washington Bureau Chief.


Kurtz will continue to host Reliable Sources on CNN. He will report on politics and the news media for the Daily Beast.

Plagiarist Posner Punted from 'Daily Beast'

Cover via Amazon

Author/attorney Gerald Posner, the chief investigative reporter for Tina Brown's year-old Internet news site The Daily Beast, has quit the online publication amid charges of plagiarism.

According to a report in today's Miami Herald, Posner blogged and tweeted his resignation from The Daily Beast after a discussion with Managing Editor Edward Felsenthal concerning an internal investigation of alleged plagiarism by Posner, the author of 11 books, including Miami Babylon. The internal probe was prompted by initial accounts by Slate.com's Jack Shafer that revealed a purported instance of Posner filching five sentences from a Miami Herald article.  A follow-up piece by Shafter alleged multiple instances of Posner plagiarizing works from The Miami Herald, Texas Lawyer, and a journalism blog devoted to healthcare issues.

Reportedly, Posner attributed cribbing others' writings to his "master electronic files system" and the "warp speed of the Net." Way to step up and accept responsibility for one's actions.