FOLIO: Personalities -- The Blog People Page

Following up my previous rant on the business of investigative journalism at magazines, I was happy to see this from Texas Monthly's Evan Smith:

Long-form is not the disease, it's the cure. What distinguishes us from other magazines is that we believe enough in the intellectual and cultural passions of our readers to give them 6,000; 7,000; or 10,000 words, when appropriate, on big subjects. Our circulation numbers are strong, which tells me that rather than going against the wish More...

Given that I live in a city that elected a bar owner as its mayor, you'd think that nothing about politics would surprise me anymore. Still, I couldn't decide whether to be tickled or befuddled at the ongoing rumblings that Philadelphia magazine editor Larry Platt was contemplating a run for Congress. [FULL DISCOSURE: I've been drunk with the guy. Several times.]

As recently as last week, Roll Call was making it seem like a done deal:

Philadelphia magazine edito More...

The latest round of media layoffs has even the New York Times worrying that "Muckraking Pays, Just Not in Profit":

Investigative reporting can expose corruption, create accountability and occasionally save lives, but it will never be a business unto itself. Reporters frequently spend months on various lines of inquiry, some of which do not pan out, and even when one does, it is not the kind of coverage that draws advertisers.

With all due respect to David Carr, and at the risk of seeming like a broken record, I've got to disagree. Four years More...

A tip of the knit hat to my pals at Boston magazine, who did the right thing when the Boston Bruins tried to buy a little love:

"That’s when Wendy Watkins, a marketing executive from Delaware North—the company that oversees the Bruins and all of the various other Jacobs family business concerns—called one of the magazine’s sales reps to ask whether or not the story about Jacobs was going to be “positive.”

If so, Watkins said, the Bruins might be interested in buying a series of ads. If not, however, the deal would be unlikely."

You don't often see the admittedly arcane subjects of postal rates and magazine circulation strategies debated in the mainstream media, but the U.S. Postal Service's recent rate hikes are back in the spotlight.

Here's pundit Eric Alterman:

"Back in March, the Commission voted to approve a plan pushed by a coterie of major magazine publishers that will likely increase mailing costs for small periodicals everywhere by as much as 30 percent—a crushing burden for many small, editorial operations. Big magazines like Time and Vogue, however, may act More...