By Drew Grant 3/26 7:59pm

off the record

vice02_tca

The Vice Guide to Serious Journalism: How a DIY Drug Mag Became Serious Business for HBO

When Shane Smith, one of the founders of Vice Media, pitched a television show to MTV in 2010, it seemed unimaginable that the company that came out of Vice magazine could establish itself as a respected informational source about, well, anything (other than how to decorate your heroin stash). And yet the network bit, and The Vice Guide to Everything ran for eight episodes, balancing ridiculous segments against heavier fare.

With its latest television program, VICE, which premieres next Friday, the media company is once again trying its hand at American television. Not just television. HBO. And this time, it’s not trading on its nihilistic reputation. Instead, it’s asking audiences to trust in its international-relations acumen. It wants to be taken seriously. Or at least as seriously as it takes itself. Read More

By Zeke Turner 10/13/10 12:50am

A New Gossip Girl at the Post

Last Wednesday night, Page Six reporter Emily Smith was at the club Provocateur in the meatpacking district at a party for the season finale of The Spin Crowd, an E! network reality show produced by Kim Kardashian.

Ms. Kardashian came and left quickly, and Ms. Smith talked briefly with the club’s owner about its alleged Read More

By John Koblin 10/06/10 1:40am

A Print Dream Dies

During those dark days for media in 2008 and 2009, when the freelance well all but dried up, a little savior sprung out of Abu Dhabi.

In 2008, a weekly section dedicated to reportage and art and book reviews began as an insert called The Review in an English-language newspaper, The National. Though you might Read More

By John Koblin 9/29/10 12:43am

It’s Autumn. Do You Know Where Your Magazine Editors Are?

Over the summer, two weeklies announced job searches for two editors. It’s autumn now, and The New York Times Magazine and Newsweek are still on the hunt. So where do things stand with the two biggest media stories of the moment?

When Bill Keller announced that Gerry Marzorati’s time as editor of The Times Magazine Read More

By Zeke Turner 8/11/10 12:56am

Shelling Out the Big Bucks at ProPublica

In October 2007, Paul Steiger told The Observer that he wanted to use a Wall Street Journal pay model to recruit staffers to his fledgling nonprofit, ProPublica.

“I’m prepared to spend $200,000 on the exact right person, but if the exact right person isn’t there, then I’ll get three people at $60,000,” Read More

By Zeke Turner 8/11/10 12:48am

Stefano Shows Off His Very Own Vanity Project

“I think we should have our salad and then we will go fast through the magazine,” said Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W. It was Tuesday afternoon on the fourth floor of 4 Times Square and Mr. Tonchi was wearing a two-button gray suit and an open-collared white shirt. He was showing off his newly Read More