Courtesy: VanityFair.com

Conde Nast has been sued for libel over Maureen Orth's September 2010 Vanity Fair article, "Cassini Royale," about designer Oleg Cassini and the battle over his estate. The plaintiff is Marianne Nestor-Cassini, Cassini's secret wife from that story, who says that aspects of Ms. Orth's piece were slanderous wrong. Wrong to the tune of $10 million, apparently!

Since everyone's gone for the day we're going to have to limit this post to the ugly, ugly realm of aggregation. But here are some things to consider:

• Ms. Orth tried to interview Ms. Nestor-Cassini. She declined to be interviewed.

• From the piece: "Marianne was not a top girl [read: the prettiest]."

• From the complaint: "Marianne never had a Fifth Avenue apartment in the 1960's nor did she even know Bill Paley; Si Newhouse, Chairman of Advance Publications, should know this to be false, as Marianne was living in Soho, and Si Newhouse would drive her home after dinner at Orsini's on West 56th Street, in the same time period. Si was not married at the time."

Okay, go.

Update, 8/9 Corrected some phrasing.

Leon Neyfakh talks to former Publishers Weekly editor Sara Nelson, who says, "I think these people are rock stars, I always did... I think they're cool. I'm much more interested in hearing about what's going on in Sonny Mehta's head than I am in George Clooney's."

Plus: Martin Schaedel... The Dawn of Post-Journalism... Ravelry.com.

"Eyebrows were raised last week when Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman—not known for her modesty—not only insisted on attending the World Economic Forum in Davos but demanded to fly to Switzerland first class. 'It's just jaw-dropping,' an insider said. 'Not only is her magazine not profitable, but she just laid off almost the entire Web site and fired many others on the print side.'"— Richard Johnson, et. al., Porfolio's First-Class Folly, The New York Post, February 2, 2009.

Mr. Nolan is saying that the magazine's Web site, DNRNews.com, will also be closing. The site calls itself "the industry standard for news, fashion trends and business strategies... the first read and last word for top-level executives. Every week, DNR unites retailers, manufacturers, the media and financial community with an insider perspective that defines men's fashion and fuels the momentum of the industry."

It's a neat metaphor—you can almost hear John Williams' theme from Jaws in your head as you read it—but it doesn't have the staying power of the one proffered by an expert Ms. Blume consulted for the piece: "Right now we're still in the Wild West."

That particular truism is as worn in as an old saddle and hits the mark like a rusty pistol:

"[T]he online world is also a Wild West of spam e-mails and hard-to-trace suppliers, according to healthcare regulators."— Ben Hirschler, Reuters, November 13, 2008.

'Wild west' internet getting wilder as e-crime soars, PC Pro, October 30, 2008.

“It’s the Wild West out there," Anthony Hopp quoted by Tim Landis, Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register, October 27, 2008.

"The Internet can be a lawless wild west, filled with as much evil as good," Toronto CityNews, October 20, 2008.

"Advocates have long boasted about the Web's 'Wild West' character, with no limits on who can publish or what can be said," Cokie Roberts and Steven V. Roberts, MetroWest Daily New, October 19, 2008.

'Wild West' internet needs a sheriff, The Register, August 10, 2007.

"This is the Wild West," Chris McCaleb, quoted by David Lieberman, USA Today, March 13, 2007.

"Today's announcement marks a significant step in transforming the Internet from a Wild West to a popular medium that respects the rule of law," Jeff Zucker, quoted by Gary Gentile, The Washington Post, October 18, 2007.

"Sixteen years ago, a cattle rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist named John Perry Barlow surveyed the landscape of electronic communications and had visions of the Wild West," Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle, May 23, 2006.

"Eight or nine years ago when the internet was really starting to get going, it was the Wild West," Geoff Yang, quoted by Tom Bible, The Age, November 27, 2006.

"[W]e don't want the Internet to become the Wild West of the 21st century," Representative Robert W. Goodlatte (R), quoted by Frank Ahrens, The Washington Post, May 25, 2006.

"It's still the Wild West," Nigel Morris, quoted by Eric Pfanner, The International Herald Tribune, January 10, 2005.

"[T]here is a bit of a Wild West atmosphere on the Web," Carol Sottili, The Washington Post, August 21, 2005.

"The Internet, downloading, file-sharing - it's a whole new Wild West for the music business," Ross Scholling, quoted by Tom Zeller, Jr., The New York Times, November 14, 2005.

"In the Wild West world of the internet, a new sheriff is in town as Microsoft puts a high price on the heads of the virus writers, offering bounties of up to $250,000 for information leading to an arrest," Jane Wakefield, BBC, May 11, 2004.

Wild West, or Mere Conduit?, The New York Times, May 13, 2004.

"When the Internet exploded on the scene as a viable commercial medium in the late 1990's, the phrase 'everything, all the time,' from The Eagles' rock hit Life in the Fast Lane came often to mind. The Internet represented the new 'Wild, Wild West'," Eric J. Sinrod, USA Today, August 25, 2004.

"I think of the Internet today as being in the wild, wild west stage of society development," Kristy Pryma, IT World, January 30, 2003.

"Bounty hunters worked in the Wild West: They might tame the Internet, too," editorial, The San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 2003.

"So far, the internet has generally been compared to the Wild West," Jack Schofield, The Guardian, September 11, 2003.

"It's still the wild, wild West, Ken Leebow, quoted by Jane Black, BusinessWeek, March 7, 2002.

When it comes to ticket scalping, the Net's the Wild West, USA Today, October 7, 2002.

"The Internet is not the Wild West and laws that exist in other media or other forms don't disappear," Dave Baker, Associated Press, December 16, 2002.

"With most organizations now past the Wild West days of the Internet, many of them have begun to rethink their Web site strategies," Michael Vizard InfoWorld, February 2, 2001.

'It's been a bit like the Wild West', The Guardian, April 17, 2001.

"The model for streaming companies today has been like a Wild West model," Tim Schaff quoted by Brad King, Wired News, June 21, 2001.

Internet slowly losing Wild West image, The Albuquerque Journal, January 3, 2000.

"How many presentations about the internet refer to it as the Wild West?," David Birch, The Guardian, August 17, 2000.

Is the Internet the Wild West of lawlessness?, ZDNet Australia, November 7, 2000.

"It's the frontier, the political equivalent of the Wild West,'' Robert Bauer, The New York Times, May 20, 1999.

"It's the wild west. It's unregulated, it's crazy, it's a little dangerous, very seductive and everybody wants to go there," Ian Anderson quoted by Richard Skanse, Rolling Stone, August 31, 1999.

"The Internet may no longer be the Wild West," Kristen Philipkoski, Wired News, November 9, 1999.

"The Internet has proven to be the wild, wild West of the business world," Rock Lockridge, CNN, March 27, 1998.

"With Web publishing technically easy -- any high school student could put up a site -- doubters questioned the caliber, not to mention credibility, of on-line work. They saw the virtual world as a journalistic Wild West, lacking the ethical rigor of a conventional newsroom," Jamie Heller, The New York Times, August 3, 1998.

''It's a Wild West out there,'' Stephen Negron, quoted by Bonnie Rothman Morris, The New York Times, August 20, 1998.

"The Internet is like the Wild West right now," Peter Yesawich, quoted by Roger Collis, The International Herald Tribune, February 14, 1997.

"[T]he new frontier of the World Wide Web is often compared to the Wild West," Matt Richtel, The New York Times, June 9, 1997.

"It's like the wild, wild West out there," detective Michael Geraghty, quoted by Thomas Goetz, The Village Voice, September 30, 1997.

"From hackers to tricksters, the Internet is a kind of electronic Wild West," George Avalos, The Seattle Times, March 16, 1996.

"It's like the Wild West,'' Kim Polese, quoted by Robert D. Hof, BusinessWeek, May 20, 1996.

"Unregulated and unpoliced, the Internet resembles a Wild West frontier town without a sheriff," Barry James, The International Herald Tribune, August 5, 1996.

"The Internet is like the wild, wild West," Rich Bernes, quoted by George Tibbits, The Associated Press, November 21, 1995.

"Until more safeguards are added, he said, the Internet is 'the Wild West. People need to be very, very careful'," spokesman for American Society of Travel Agents, quoted by Christopher Reynolds, The Seattle Times, December 3, 1995.

The Wild West of the 21st century, The Jerusalem Post, December 24, 1995.

"The Internet is still the wild wild West," Greg Gerdy, quoted by John Markoff, The New York Times, January 30, 1994.

Internet Security A Bit Like Wild West, Sun Herald, April 18, 1994.

"In this new Wild West, there is no sheriff and, more important, no shortage of rogues silently probing network corridors and prying gently at the door of each computer, seeing if they can sneak in," John Markoff, The New York Times, October 24, 1994.

Ever the optimist, Mr. Friedman says, "You know what? It's still a good magazine and it can survive." (This comes via Jim Romenesko.)

How? According to Mr. Friedman (spoiler alert!), "It needs one thing especially: A killer cover that people can talk about at the water coolers." (Laid off workers have water coolers?)

In his accompanying column, he writes:

(What, no love for Waterworld?)

Mr. Friedman also offers some counterintuitive journalism fan fic:

(What, no love for Muhammad Ali?)

Like the natty yet faceless figure in the opening credits to Mad Men, Condé Nast editors could be forgiven for feeling like their world is collapsing around them and their lives—not to mention their lifestyles—are in a state of free-fall.

How good was it at Condé Nast before the fall? Very, very good, according to Slate's David Plotz, who offered a snapshot of life in Si Newhouse's gilded aerie in a piece from December 1997 headlined Let Si Get This.

Read now, Mr. Plotz's essay is like a dispatch from a lost world, where from the moment editors wake up:

And that's all before lunch! (Mr. Plotz also noted that the editors' homes, in some cases, were bought with the help of "low- or no-interest home loans" from the company.)

During the reporting of his article, Mr. Plotz heard some only-at-Condé Nast stories about $50,000 clothing allowances, a cover shoot that supposedly cost $100,000, liberal use of the Concorde, an editor expensing a "$20,000 weeklong trip to Paris," and one Vogue editor who allegedly "furnished her summer house from items purchased for fashion shoots—beautiful furniture, designer pillows, coffee-table books. Vogue assistants have nicknamed the house 'Petty Cash Junction.'"

Need more examples? The New York Times' Alex Kuczynski (an Observer alum), wrote in a profile of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter on March 15, 1999 that:

Ms. Kuczynski also wrote on August 20, 1999 of the "no-expenses-spared ethos of Condé Nast, a company that will send luggage overnight by Federal Express if a fatigued fashion editor does not want to carry it on a flight."

In June 1996, three years before Condé Nast moved its operations to 4 Times Square, John Tierney wondered in New York Times Magazine:

If anything, Condé Nast has grown more elite, sitting atop ESPN Zone and a handbag's throw from Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. than it was, in Mr. Tierney's words, with "the two men's stores flanking the entrance, Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart, [which] have been compared to sentinels at the Temple of Aphrodite and to a couple of tuxedoed gents balancing Marlene Dietrich on their shoulders."

For one thing, the new headquarters features the ultra-elite Frank Gehry-designed cafeteria, which never fails to attract interlopers and gawkers. And who can forget that novel, which became that movie (and was nominated for those awards)? Or that memoir that also became a movie. Not to mention another novel that preceded both and this Web satire that had them all beat, all of which portrayed Condé Nast as the place for young, ambitious writers and editors who wanted a piece of the good life even as they pursued a profession that had been historically under-paid and unglamorous. Seen from outside, who wouldn't want to work at Condé Nast, even if those who did sometimes felt like slab rats who lost friends and alienated people by making deals with the devil?

Nowadays, they're probably just hoping they can find a new job or get into law school.

On Friday, Media Mob's John Koblin broke the news that Radar would be closing. Later that day, he spoke to founder and editor Maer Roshan, who said, "Up until today I thought we could still talk about options for the magazine—in fact, there were no options." Over Stella Artois beers, the staff packed up and left their offices by 3 p.m.

That same day, Felix Gillette brought news that ABC News would be slashing its budget by canceling its holiday parties, print subscriptions, and insisting executives stay in 'B' hotels. Also closing, 02138, the Harvard-centric lifestyle magazine recently bought by Manhattan Media.

On Monday, the Tribune Company cut The Los Angeles Times' staff yet again, eliminating 10 percent of the newsroom.

Tuesday brought news that Double Day was cutting 16 jobs. Media Mob's Leon Neyfakh noted that among those let go were Janet Silver, Tina Pohlman, Gretchen Koss, and Jennifer Josephy.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Time, Inc. would be eliminating 600 jobs, dramatically changing its news operations.

Today, John Koblin reported that Condé Nast would be cutting budgets for all magazines. Men's Vogue took the biggest hit, being absorbed into Vogue and cutting back its run to two issues a year. Porfolio also got knocked, cutting back its run to 10 issues a year and reducing its staff by 20 percent.

This week was one long trick (think razor blades in your apple and a flaming bag of pinkslips in your inbox) with very few treats in sight.

Perhaps one indication of tightening belts at the glossy empire may be a memo sent out to employees asking them shell out their own money for tickets to the Fashion Rocks benefit at Radio City Music Hall in September.

Wanna see Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, and others? According to the email, it'll cost ya' upwards of $129.50 (that's for the cheap seats!).

On the bright side, the money does go to charity. Here's the full text of the email:

Update, 6:45 PM: A spokesperson for Condé Nast emails to explain:

• Tom Wallace, editorial director, Condé Nast: “You’re going to have to go a long way on the Internet to compete with the way we produce words and images in the magazines."
• Steve Newhouse, chariman of Advance.net: “What we’re not doing is trying to turn those companion sites into large Web destinations. They’re there to support the magazines.”
• Jonathan Newhouse, head of Condé Nast international: “I think sometimes commentators throw around these assumptions about what is happening to the industry, going the way of newspapers, and I don’t believe it."

Chuck Newhouse, Condé Nast's C.E.O., offered a little more sobriety: The future, he told Perez-Pena, “certainly will require everyone to take a harder look at profitability.”

But that's before he added this: “But we are the top-end publisher and it has served us well and I believe it will stand the test. Painting cheap stripes on Condé Nast and saying we’re going to serve up Condé Nast Lite would be a huge mistake.”

Steve Newhouse offers (pretty unconvincing) speculation that seems to throw water on talk of a Si "succession plan," that Condé Nast will be run by a committee.