It's a bird, it's a plane! (Well, it is a plane.)

Or were they thinking "What a great ad campaign for that movie about teenagers who can crush cars and stuff with their minds"?


Despite lamentably little information to go on in the video, TechCrunch figured out that the project was a promotion for the movie Chronicle, which makes sense since the YouTube account was created three days before releasing this video, under the name ChronicleNYC. We guess that creating whimsical flying men for their own sake just isn't "cool" enough anymore: these days, everything has to be part of some company's viral marketing plan.

Traditional media companies, the FCC's "Future of Media Report" has nothing to offer you. [WSJ]

Time Warner is in talks to buy the American version of OK! magazine, which is like a British version of People, from owner Richard Desmond. [BSkyB]

NBCUniversal will pay Blackstone $1 B for their stake in Universal Studios Florida, giving them full control of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at last. [Los Angeles Times]

Watch Jon Stewart cut his wrist on set while taping a Weiner sketch. It'll make sense when you get to the part with the blender.  [Media Decoder]

Page One director Andrew Rossi says Bill Keller had the air of someone about to "throw in the towel." [Esquire]

kstoeffel@observer.com :: @kstoeffel

This year, editors are having their feelings hurt in advance.

On Monday, the American Society of Magazine Editors overhauled the way its biggest awards are judged, so that titles will compete on the basis of content and audience instead of by raw circulation numbers. "This is something that everybody always talks about, but nobody has ever done anything about," said Sid Holt, ASME's chief executive. Under the previous system, incongruent glossies like ESPN The Magazine and Better Homes and Gardens faced off in the same top category, on the premise that at least they had similar resources. Meanwhile, obvious rivals like Time and Newsweek were split up.

Now, the same number of general excellence awards will be handed out, but in six broad categories. "Magazines ought to be judged against their peers," Mr. Holt said. "Instead of apples and oranges, we'll get apples and apples—even if it's large apples versus small apples."

While the old system was disliked for its arbitrary matchups, there was something objective about grouping magazines by one simple measure. The Holt system has plenty of its own odd matchups—US Weekly and The Economist are now direct competitors—but more importantly, it has upset the way elite magazines think about themselves.

Take the new top category of news, sports and entertainment: of the 29 magazines listed, 19 of them competed in "lower" categories last year. That's a lot of newcomers. And then there are the 16 magazines no longer listed in the first tier. Thirteen of them are women's titles.

Where did they go? To the "fashion, service and lifestyle magazines" category, which ASME describes as honoring "women's magazines, including health and fitness magazines and family-centric publications." Meanwhile, the men's category, a.k.a. active lifestyles, honors "business, finance and technology."

Staffers at women's magazines groused to the Observer about the implication that the genre isn't serious. But others are glad that the likes of O and Parenting no longer have to compete against general interest magazines for recognition.

"I don't think it's a perfect fit," said People managing editor Larry Hackett, ASME's president. The intent, though, he said, is to give women's magazines a better shot at a gen ex award, and to have them compete between themselves. "The idea was to broaden the possible winners."

Glamour's Cindi Leive was ASME president from 2006 to 2008. "Look, as a woman editor, it's hard to sit in that room and not notice that some years there are barely any women editors on stage, or barely any editors of women's magazines on stage," she told the Observer. "If this changes that, it's probably a good thing." (Ms. Leive was speaking by cell phone on her way to the airport; at a conference for international Glamour editors in Paris, she will give a presentation on magazines and the iPad.)

Last year, Mr. Leive's Glamour won a new "magazine of the year" award, ASME's biggest; Glamour also won for general excellence in 2005, beating out The New Yorker. Now the monthly will compete against Vogue.

Publications have until Jan. 4 to appeal their classification. Mr. Holt said he expects several to do so. Will Wired's Chris Anderson chafe at landing in category three while Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, and even Spin bask in the light of category one? Will Texas Monthly itch to escape the "special interest" category five ghetto, with Guitar Aficionado and Time Out New York, to square off once more with New York or the new W?

"We all HATE the label," an editor at a major monthly wrote in an email to the Observer, about being in category three. Yes, the designation probably means more nominations and awards—great for the career. But it's not so great for the ego, if the wins come against lesser magazines. Instead of facing off against heavyweights like The New Yorker and New York, the competition in category three includes Wakeboarding Magazine. (Coming in the April 2011 issue: coverage of professional wakeboarder Rusty Malinoski, and a piece on "Babes Who Shred.")

"It's like being Boise State," the monthly editor wrote. "Yeah, we'll win a lot, but are we gonna feel awesome about beating Southwest Montana State?"

Martha Stewart Living takes an especially obvious hit, dropping from the top circulation tier to the new category four (food, travel and design); every other title in last year's top bracket either stayed put, or moved to categories two and three. MSL now competes against the likes of Garden and Gun, instead of National Geographic. A rep for the magazine said no editors were available for comment.

One outfit that may profit from the reshuffling is Time Inc., whose titles haven't won a general excellence Ellie in years. "There's been a lot of frustration at Time Inc. over the lack of an ASME in the building. So any change is a welcome change," said a source at the publishing house.

Mr. Hackett was named president of the organization in May. In early August, Mr. Holt asked a panel of editors from Redbook, Popular Science, GQ, Prevention, Yoga Journal and other titles to examine ASME's awards program from top to bottom, with a focus on rehabbing general excellence.

It was an idea that had been gestating for some time. "Literally every time I sat down and had lunch or breakfast or a drink—especially a drink—with anybody to talk about the National Magazine Awards, this is something that always came up," Mr. Holt said. The panel agreed. "I put together some rough new categories for the committee to take a look at, and everybody in the room said, 'Yeah, that's the way we ought to do it,'" Mr. Holt recalled. "I had this big fancy PowerPoint presentation on the general excellence category that I never got to give." Some 20 different configurations were considered, but certain laws were inviolate, such as putting GQ and Esquire in the same category, and The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. Mr. Holt said he was still putting the finishing touches on the names of each category the night before they were announced.

But despite all the changes, an Ellie—so named for the weird but beloved elephantine sculpture that winners get to heft during acceptance speeches—is still an Ellie.

"You should feel good about taking it home," Mr. Holt said.

 nsummers@observer.com | @nicksumm

Here's the release:

PEOPLE MAGAZINE NAMES ANDREA DUNHAM DESIGN DIRECTOR
(NEW YORK) – Andrea Dunham has been named Design Director of PEOPLE magazine, effective Monday, August 2nd. The announcement was made today by Larry Hackett, Managing Editor of PEOPLE.

Ms. Dunham served as Creative Director of Women’s Health for the past five years, where the magazine grew to an estimated 1.5 million circulation. During her tenure, Women’s Health was named Magazine of the Year by Advertising Age and was recently ranked No. 2 on Adweek’s annual Hot List. She was also creative consultant to the magazine’s brand extensions including international editions, books, DVDs, and iPhone apps.

“Andrea is dynamic and a leader. Her combination of design skills, enthusiasm and understanding of the PEOPLE brand make her the perfect choice for this position,” said Larry Hackett, managing editor of PEOPLE. Ms. Dunham began her career as an Assistant Art Director at New York magazine in 1996. From 2000-2004 she rose through the ranks of the financial magazine category, first at Money magazine as Associate Art Director, then at Worth magazine as Deputy Art Director, and finally landing at INC. magazine as Art Director.

She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design in New York, and was named Vice President of the Society of Publication Designers in 2010. Ms. Dunham is a native of Princeton, NJ and lives in Brewster, New York.

First there was People's Sandra Bullock adoption exclusive and then this week's country star coming-out cover story. And to top it all off, yesterday Mr. Hackett was elected president of the American Society of Magazine Editors.

"It's an exciting, challenging time for the magazine industry," said Mr. Hackett in the release. "I look forward to working with the ASME board as an advocate for editorial excellence and independence."

Mr. Hackett takes over for Runner's World editor David Willey and is joined by seven newly elected board members:

Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired; James Bennet, Editor of The Atlantic; Harriette Cole, Acting Editor-in-Chief of Ebony; Ariel Foxman, Managing Editor of InStyle; Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic; Kaitlin Quistgaard, Editor-in-Chief of Yoga Journal; and Mimi Valdes, Editor-in-Chief of Kidult.com.

Here's the release:

New York, New York (May 4, 2010)-Larry Hackett, Managing Editor of People, was elected president of the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) at the annual meeting of the organization on Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Mr. Hackett succeeds David Willey, Editor-in-Chief of Runner's World, as president.

"It's an exciting, challenging time for the magazine industry, and I look forward to working with the ASME board as an advocate for editorial excellence and independence," said Mr. Hackett. "I also want to thank David Willey for his superb stewardship these past two years."

Peggy Northrop, VP and Global Editor-in-Chief of Reader's Digest, continues as vice-president of ASME. Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief of Self, was elected secretary, and Rosemary Ellis, Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping, was elected treasurer. ASME officers serve one-year terms and are eligible for reelection to a second term.

Seven new members were chosen for two-year terms on the ASME board: Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired; James Bennet, Editor of The Atlantic; Harriette Cole, Acting Editor-in-Chief of Ebony; Ariel Foxman, Managing Editor of InStyle; Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic; Kaitlin Quistgaard, Editor-in-Chief of Yoga Journal; and Mimi Valdes, Editor-in-Chief of Kidult.com.

The annual meeting also reelected James B. Meigs, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics, to his second term on the board and elected Mark Jannot, Editor-in Chief of Popular Science, who was appointed to the board earlier to fill a vacancy, to a full term. A complete list of board members can be seen on the ASME website.

SLIDESHOW: Six flicks that make Iron Man look like The Godfather  >

"Let's call it The Lukewarm List," says Keith Kelly.

We might have gone with "The Suburban Mom List" or possibly "The Dentist's Waiting Room List," but yes.

The company would make up one of the biggest alliances among rival publishers ever formed in print media, with Time Inc., Condé Nast and Hearst all expected to join, houses that together publish more than 50 magazines, including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Esquire and O, The Oprah Magazine.

The company will prepare magazines that can work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices. The company will not develop an e-book, but create something that people familiar with the plans compare to iTunes—a store where you can buy new and distinct iterations of The New Yorker or Time. Print magazines will also be for sale.

John Squires, an executive vice president at Time Inc., is planning to leave Time Inc. and become the interim executive of the new company, sources told The Observer. His term is expected to be six months, during which time the group will search for a permanent executive.

The deal is not done, but if all goes according to plan, the company could be announced within weeks, and other publishers may join in as well.

“It’s very close and more imminent than it’s been,” said one source familiar with the situation.

In June, Mr. Squires gave up his job of running the business side of the news division for Time Inc, and became the digital futurist at the company.

With the blessing of Time Inc. executives, Mr. Squires immediately started taking meetings with other publishers and insisted that they pull together.

“He’s been the one generating interest,” said another source from a rival publishing house.

“Basically, this was his deal from the get-go,” said a source. “He had this idea. These guys are all big competitors and now they’re laying down their arms to try figure this whole new world out together.”

Each magazine publisher now believes it’s too risky to go it alone to find new ways to get consumers to pay. If they all join together, the reasoning goes, they stand a better chance of producing greater revenue.

The deal is taking time to complete because it involves so many moving pieces.

“It’s pretty complicated stuff,” said a source. “The really, really hard part is that you’ve got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want.”

In addition to building up the store, each publisher will actually have to figure out how to build digital versions of their own magazines.

When we reached Mr. Squires on the phone, he would not comment, and referred us to a Time Inc. spokeswoman, who also declined to comment.

But Mr. Squires has been a proponent of building the magazine experience for devices for a while. Indeed, in an interview with The Observer back in February, he hinted that this was the only way out.

“Unlike books and music, I think [for magazines] it involves designing a new product in order for it to be something that consumers really love,” said Mr. Squires. “I like our chances to be able to design a product that consumers will want to pay for.”

In other words, something like the Kindle isn’t changing the form at all. It’s simply a repository for content. Mr. Squires believes that the magazine companies themselves have to remind consumers that the magazine experience, no matter what the form, is worth paying for.

“With magazines, the form has to change,” he continued. “All I’m saying is that there are ways to design magazines differently for that kind of experience that’ll be attractive and will feel different to a consumer.”

jkoblin@observer.com

More from John Koblin: 

Publishers Pooh-Pooh Hearst's New "E-Reader"

Despite Dismal Year, Conde Nast Revives Holiday Hurrah

But she didn’t stop there. She also turned up the heat by speculating that Mr. Ledger had taken his own life, before an autopsy had even begun. Wrote Mr. Fuller of the actor: “None of his gifts, neither talent nor family, appears to have been enough to combat the demons that apparently led Heath to take the pills that could have ended his young life.”

The autopsy yesterday was inconclusive, so authorities refuse to conclusively confirm or deny that theory. Asked about her suicide conclusion, Ms. Fuller told WWD: “The way I wrote it, I didn't mean to say definitively that it was suicide at all. I felt like I left it open.”