Columbia Journalism Review editor-in-chief Cyndi Stivers interviewed Lynn Povich, one of the women who sued Newsweek for gender discrimination in 1970. In addition to being sexist, according to Ms. Povich’s account, Newsweek‘s bullpen was a pheromone swamp.

The thing about newsmagazines [in those days] is, you have a class of young women who are coming in, and then you have all these guys: married, single, whatever. It naturally sets up this sort of “office wife” situation, because all these women are checking stories for these guys—the “holy writers,” as one of the women said. It was very tempting, and I must say, whether they were married or single, there was a lot of sex in the office. There just was. And of course, after the sexual revolution of the mid-’60s, even more so. Because there are a lot of people in their twenties, and hormones are raging, and the Pill had come, and the sexual revolution was on, so… [CJR]

Speaking of Newsweek: The New Republic totally Tina Brown-ed Kate Middleton. [The New Republic] Read More

In a particularly lively TimesCast, A.O. Scott and David Carr enjoy a snack and talk journalism movies. Executive editor Jill Abramson weighs in, deeming Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom “a fantasy.”

“It’s an idyllic version of how a modern-day newsroom might operate. [...] There’s been a race to the bottom that has made the public cynical. I worry that the cynicism may undermine the public’s belief in the value of the First Amendment and freedom of the press. The bottom line to me is facts desperately matter and they’re hard to get and that’s what we do. That’s our calling.”

Her favorite journalism movie? His Girl Friday, obviously. [NY Times] Read More

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are reportedly signed on to executive produce an HBO movie about Roger Ailes, the CEO of their cable rival, Fox News. A la Game Change, it’s an adaptation of a forthcoming book, the one due out in 2013 by Gabriel Sherman. The book’s not even written yet, but Mr. Sherman’s reporting has already prompted Mr. Ailes to expedite a friendlier bio by Zev Chafets and cancel Mr. Sherman’s subscription to his upstate newspaper. Does this mean Julianne Moore can reprise her role as Sarah Palin in a cameo? [UPDATE] Sad news: HBO has pulled the plug already. HBO Films president Len Amato told Nikki Finke: “We recently decided not to pursue the Ailes project. It had become clear to us before even receiving a script that due to our company’s CNN affiliation the film could never be seen as objective.” Since when are films objective? [Deadline]

Oops. NJ.com—the New Jersey news site that Advance Publications swears it’s not beefing up in order to make its print product in that market, The Star-Ledger, obsolete—just tried to hire back former Star-Ledger ace reporter Ginger Gibson, now at Politico. This is the second gaffe from new NJ.com content chief Lamar Graham, who previously posted a hiring memo publicly to Facebook. [Romenesko] Read More

A Page Six item quoted New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane weighing in on yesterday’s non-news that Anderson Cooper is gay with uncharacteristic snark. “CNN is reporting that Anderson Cooper is straight,” Mr. Brisbane said, referring to the cable news network’s incorrect report that the Supreme Court struck down Obamacare last week. Except that, as Poynter notes, Mr. Brisbane is not responsible for that particular quip. His parody Twitter account is. [Page Six]

That seems like a much bigger error than poor Alessandra Stanley’s mistaking an old highlight reel for a live broadcast while watching the Today show online. The television critic’s history of errors has made her an easy target for NBC Universal but, in this case, Times culture editor Jonathan Landman takes some blame for asking her to multitask. [Poynter]

In other media news… Read More

On Twitter, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch publicly aired his concern that Governor Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign isn’t tough enough to beat President Obama and save us from “socialism, etc.,” ruffling some feathers within the Fox News favorite’s camp. They can repent by reading the the Declaration of Independence aloud—at least once—on the Fourth of July. [Twitter]

The number of college-aged women reading Seventeen has somehow jumped 17 percent in the last five years, prompting the Hearst teen title to add a 40-page supplement to its August issue called “Seventeen College Style.” It features “campus fashions, creative ways to apply eye makeup for rush week events and affordable ways to decorate a dorm room and make it the ‘hangout, study haven, makeout spot of your dreams.’” So they already got the whole “what kids do in dorm rooms” thing wrong. [New York Times] Read More

The Observer got a little choked up watching Ann Curry smile through the tears as she bid the Today show farewell this morning. But it must have been some auto-sympathy response from our primitive lizard brain because there is no rational reason for Ms. Curry to feel sad, let alone us.

For one thing, television journalists, even those of her suddenly diminished stature, make a mint. And, second, it’s not like she’s just getting pushed off the Today couch. Ms. Curry is trading a job that’s intellectually beneath her but nonetheless insanely cutthroat for a multiyear contract job that gives her a hand-picked, seven-person team to cover the biggest breaking news stories all over the world. Her segments will end up on NBC Nightly News, Dateline, Rock Center and Today. She gets to be an understudy anchor on Nightly News. She no longer has to wake up at 3:30 a.m.!

But then, who are we to say from whence this well of emotion hath sprung? Maybe it was that thing where you’re super stressed out, tired, or angry—like, say, having just gone through the wringer in the press and at the negotiating table with your bosses—and then someone random asks, “Are you ok?” and you just start crying because you’re so glad someone asked.  [HuffPost, USA Today]

In other media news… Read More

By now it’s clear that many people felt a sense of personal loss when Nora Ephron died from complications from leukemia at the age of 71 last night. A family of artists lost its beloved matriarch, Hollywood lost a glass ceiling-breaker and the baby boomers lost their witty escort into old age. As a young journalist, I lost living proof that one could be a reporter and still a good person. Read More

Emma Stone made her Vogue debut in July. No surprise there: she’s about to be in a superhero movie, she was also on the cover of New York, it’s her moment, her sh-bam . What’s weird is that in August, she’ll be on the cover of Teen Vogue, along with Spiderman boyfriend Andrew Garfield, a PR coup didn’t even know was possible. She already did Teen Vogue, naturally, back in September, 2011, when she was still a redhead. Read More

Speaking at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee convention Saturday night, Ed Shadid, cousin of the late Times reporter Anthony Shadid, criticized The New York Times for pressuring Anthony to go into Syria. According to Mr. Shadid, in December of 2011, a security advisor for the Times forbade Anthony from entering Syria from Turkey. After CNN got access Read More

Here’s the Paula Froelich, formerly of Page Six, take on Today host Ann Curry‘s ouster. (She hasn’t been wrong yet.)

“Meredith Viera has turned down Today job – it was offered to her – she said no thanks…  Ann Curry went on air yesterday – even though Today had told Hoda Kotb to do the morning. Ann showed up and was like “Thats still my job!” … #Today plan was to have [Savannah] Guthrie take over – Hoda fill in for a fw weeks so that viewers do not blame Guthrie for Ann leaving #NBC.” [Paula Froelich]

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal agree that the Today shake up is just one example of NBC franchises losing ground to competitors. [NY Times, WSJ]

In fact, some might say Ms. Curry’s better off not having to put up with Today-grade fluff. [Jezebel] Read More