Associated Press
"I wasn't happy with the hypothetical paragraphs. A ghostwriter wrote the whole thing, and I OK'd it. But there were a lot of inaccuracies about the case and about how I would have done things. But I figure I'd let it go since I didn't kill anyone."
That's Simpson to the Palm Beach Post, as reported by MSNBC. Simpson goes on to say he's glad the book wasn't published because he "got paid just the same." Funny, we thought Judith Regan made sure he didn't get paid at all.
Courtesy of the Village Voice
After an extensive search, the Village Voice has announced the addition of a new media columnist. Keach Hagey (far right), a guitar-playing Brooklynite who's already been busy snatching the scoops on the Voice website, will be joining the staff after serving as assistant managing editor at the Queens Chronicle. In addition to experience (she's written for New York magazine, the New York Press, and Brooklyn's Courier-Life Publications), brains (she's packing a B.A. in English and M.A. in French Literature from Stanford) and talent (her band, Fur Cups For Teeth, was featured in none other than the Voice's Pazz and Jop "Best Albums" list of 2004), the girl's got chutzpah - a source inside the paper tells us Hagey passed up a permanent job and sold her car so she could start out at the Voice on a trial basis. Kudos to a woman who knows what she wants!
A new study from Insight Research Group reveals that parents are more concerned about their kids' media consumption habits than the usual teenage hi-jinks. The study (commissioned by Common Sense Media, a non-partisan watchdog group) is not available online. But Reuters reports:
Some 57 percent of 1,138 U.S. parents surveyed were either very concerned or strongly concerned about children spending too much of their time with different media outlets. By comparison, about 45 percent of parents said they were as concerned about their kids engaging in sex or using alcohol.
Of course, that's probably because parents see their children's media consumption, while kids tend to drink and have sex outside their parents' view.* Out of sight, out of mind...
* For instance, hypothetically, in the bathrooms of Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Today Wal-Mart announced a big new video download initiative, featuring (for now) 3,000 titles drawn from most of the major networks and studios. Weirdly, since it's Wal-Mart, the service doesn't undercut competitors' prices (ranging from $1.96 for a TV episode to $19.88 for new-on-DVD movies, they're about on par with everyone else's). It's hard to see how this won't be another not-successful attempt by the King of Brick and Mortar to compete in the online entertainment field-- Wal-Mart's rental-by-mail service was basically vanquished by Netflix in 2005, and as we noted in December, their 'pay-a-few-more-dollars-to-download-a-movie-you've-already-bought-from-us' initiative seems misguided.
Los Angeles Times
A few weeks ago, a study group at the Los Angeles Times produced the Spring Street Memo, excoriating the paper to catch up its online operation with those of its competitors, which are better-funded, better-trafficked, and, well, just plain better. Today the LAT announces the hiring of Meredith Artley as Latimes.com executive editor. Artley comes from the online edition of the International Herald Tribune, where she contributed to reasonably impressive growth.
Arianna Huffington
I agree with Joe Klein's assessment that there are "far more important things going on in the world" than a clarification of his position on the war in Iraq. But I can't resist reacting to his seven-point response to my post on him:
1. Klein kicks off his seven-point defense (did I say seven-point?) of his pre-invasion stance on the war by saying, "Arianna Huffington, the doyenne of the Hollywood left, has taken...
Observer.com
Next Wednesday marks the official re-launch of the New York Observer, an overhaul of both print and online that will represent the biggest change at the paper since new owner Jared Kushner took over in July. Despite rumors of tabloid formats and re-vamped web content, staffers are tight-lipped about the specifics. The re-launch comes at a time of heavy turnover at the paper, as older, more experienced staffers move on and younger ones enter. With Choire Sicha heading back to Gawker, Suzy Hansen preparing to depart for a fellowship and Tom Scocca working on a book in China, every senior editor currently on the masthead will soon be gone. Asked whether junior staffers are feeling any pinch following the exodus, one had this to say: "Choire's last day was [recently], Suzy is gonna be around for the next few weeks, Tom is here sometimes and in China other times, so as far as some editorial guidance gap, if there is gonna be [one], we haven't felt it." Meanwhile the paper has been hiring, bringing in new senior editor Tom Acitelli to cover the beefed-up real estate coverage (currently the paper's most highly-staffed section), plus adding Gillian Regan and David Foxley to the roster as general reporters. The paper's vaunted media team, however, remains woefully underpopulated.
But what of the most senior editorial positions? Editor Peter Kaplan, who has served as the organization's patriarch since 1994, previously enjoyed a close relationship with former owner Arthur Carter, who typically appeared at the office no more than a couple times a year and was only too glad to hand his star editor total editorial control. Now, for the first time in his thirteen-year tenure, Kaplan, who in July referred to the youthful Kushner's "25-ness" as "a huge asset," is working with a new owner who spends nearly every day at the paper's offices, sometimes until 2 AM. 
"The feeling was with Kushner was that Peter could be his mentor, that he would be a very weak owner," said one former staffer. "Peter would teach him how to be a newspaper publisher...[I]t has not turned out that way." One current staffer describes the situation as such: "Peter hates change and he's also very loyal. It's almost like Jared's speaking a slightly different language than we're accustomed to speaking."
Conventional wisdom tells us that online media will heretofore be defined mostly by user-generated content. YouTube, MySpace, and so on. I'm not so sure. If you read Sunday's NYT Magazine piece about Bud.tv, you know that relatively massive amounts of money are being invested in online video entertainment.
You might remember something similar happening back in 2000 and 2001. Several start-up sites featuring original video entertainment content ate up impressive amounts of venture capital and corporate backing before fading. There was Digital Entertainment Network; there was POP.com; there was Icebox (which, I was surprised to read in yesterday's WSJ, is still in business, kind of). All of these companies failed because they spent millions of dollars without noticing that most people only had dial-up internet access, and that it was kind of a pain spending an hour to download a five-minute episode.
Now, things are different. Now we live in a world of Wi-Fi and DSL and stream-i-ness. And we think these new ventures like Bud.tv stand a good chance of chipping away the dominance of user-generated sites. After the jump we'll tell you why.
popbytes.com
The March issue of Elle hits newsstands today, featuring a cover shoot and interview with maidenly chanteuse-cum-libertine divorcee Jessica Simpson. The photo features Simpson in a pink baby doll dress and chunky silver jewelry, perched in Marilyn Monroe's classic "clutching skirt over an air vent" pose. The accompanying headline reads, "Jessica Simpson Grows Up, Moves On" above a quote from the starlet promising, "I'm a completely different person." Interesting choice of words, given the use of a bubble gum pink wardrobe, long blonde tresses and Simpson's near-trademark ample cleavage. Inside the issue are more pics of a pink-clad Simpson engaged in activities that appear to channel her inner high school cheerleader. 
ETP hasn't yet read the accompanying article, so Ms. Simpson may indeed have evolved into a bastion of sage sophistication following the breakup of her three-year marriage. Though the "grown up" version sure looks like it regressed around twelve years since the July issue of Maxim.
from joshwolf.net
Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup refused to release freelance videographer Josh Wolf from jail, where he has been for 169 days since being imprisoned for refusing to turn over raw footage to a grand jury. Today, he becomes the longest-running imprisoned journalist in U.S. history.
Wolf, 24, was held in contempt of court in August 2006 for refusing to comply with a subpoena demanding the raw footage from aJuly 2005 protest in which a police officer was injured and allegations of vandalism of police property were made. Wolf's imprisonment for contempt, if uninterrupted, will run until the expiration of the Grand Jury in July 2007 — even though all the underlying criminal charges relating to the incident have been dropped.
Wolf's motion requesting a new hearing was made last week on the argument that the jail term was obviously not going to change his mind and had now crossed over into the realm of criminal punishment in a case where, at this point, there wasn't even a potential criminal. Like that mattered. From the SF Chronicle:
Alsup denied release in a one-paragraph decision, citing a prosecutor's statement that Martin Garbus, Wolf's lawyer, had offered to turn over the tape in exchange for a promise that Wolf would not have to identify anyone who appeared on it. "This reveals a realistic possibility that Mr. Wolf's confinement may be having its coercive effect,'' the judge said.
The Chronicle reported that Garbus had actually suggested that as a possibility to bring to Wolf (i.e. no, his frame of mind has not changed), but actually, various compromise offers had earlier been made by the Wolf team thus far, offering the tape without Wolf's testimony; it's the Court that is refusing to budge. (Wolf has also told the court that the specific incident of vandalism alleged — the attempt to set fire to a police car — was not on the tape). In November, Wolf was denied bail.
Note that Wolf 's case has come before a Federal court rather than a state court, before which he would be protected by California's shield law (there is no federal shield law for journalists, as we learned during the case of Judy Miller). Note also that the burden of proving that the investigation is frivolous or in bad faith in this case has been put on Wolf — a difficult and onerous burden, and the reverse of what is usually required where the deprivation of liberty is concerned (though you would think that pointing out that the event in question was not even on the tape would factor somewhat into the assessment). So torecap: A 24-year old videoblogger refuses to turn over footage that is probably not relevant in a case where there are no criminal charges, to be held until the second the grand jury compelling him expires, just in case he changes his mind. After that, after almost a year in prison, the longest-running imprisoned American journalist will be allowed to go home. It's so great when justice is served.
Imprisoned Vid-Blogger Josh Wolf Denied Request For Hearing, Bail [ETP]
