Pratt on Time Inc. short list for InStyle spot
TWO insiders are said to be in the running to land the InStyle editorial director job: People Stylewatch Editor Lisa Arbetter and Jane Pratt, the editor of the Timeowned sites xoJane and xoVain, which the publisher acquired from Say Media last year.
The editorial director of InStyle oversees the magazines and the Web sites.
The opening was created on Tuesday when Ariel Foxman, who held the top job for eight years, resigned — a move that stunned many fashionistas.
One well-placed source said Arbetter is the leading candidate. “I’d say Lisa is a shoo-in,” the insider whispered.
But other Time-sters pointed out that the publisher has announced only that it will name an interim editor shortly.
Pratt has a higher profile, but Time traditionally has less personality-driven editors in charge of its titles than, say, Condé Nast or Hearst.
Before editing the eponymous site, Pratt, 53, was the founding editor of late 1980s to early 1990s sensation Sassy. Pratt then edited Jane, the Condé Nast title aimed at millennials. That magazine folded after she was forced out.
Pratt then hooked up with Say Media when it was still spending its $100 million in venture funding to recast itself as a digital media company. Pratt’s sites were among the last to go in the selloff when Say Media shifted gears.
Arbetter took over Stylewatch in March 2015, making it younger and more shopping-focused. Founder and longtime editor Susan Kaufman was bounced that January.
Foxman leaves Aug. 4. An interim editor will be named after.
Publisher-free
The “publisher” job title will soon be phased out at Time Inc, as part of CEO Joe Ripp’s ongoing re- structuring, sources tell Media Ink.
The move — which could be unveiled within the next week — will be a jarring change for many people, especially those who have spent years climbing the corporate ladder.
The company is taking a gamble that by stripping away the old job titles it will make it easier to compete in the digital media world — without eroding the print base, where it still derives most of its revenue.
Karen Kovacs, the publisher of People, which has long been the most profitable magazine even in tough times, has already been told she will lose that title but will be put in charge of selling the food category across all titles, sources said.
Other publishers are getting the word beginning this week. Some will be shown the door, sources said.
50 exit at Times
At least 50 unionized journalists have taken a buyout at the New York Times.
It could not be learned how many non-unionized workers — also offered a package — had accepted. The deadline was July 17. Regardless, there is likely to be more than a little unease in the ranks as potential involuntary layoffs could still remain a possibility.
Staffers remember that Executive Editor Dean Baquet once sent out mixed messages about such moves.
In 2014, during the last big round of buyouts, more than 100 newsroom hands stepped foward to take a voluntary package — but Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger and Baquet chopped an additional two dozen staffers.
They claimed the number of volunteers had fallen short of the desired number.
The News Guild of New York said of the latest layoffs: “Of the 53 newsroom colleagues applying for the buyout, the company rejected only one. Two applicants have revoked their buyout requests and will remain in their jobs. So, barring any additional revocations, 50 Guild Newsroom colleagues will leave under this buyout, and one Guild member from the business side also will go.”
The buyout was also open to nonunion workers, but the Guild said it had no way of knowing how many had been accepted. A Times spokeswoman declined to comment on the numbers.
New Meredith mag
Meredith, which already publishes magazines for Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart, is hoping to extend its personality-driven magazine franchises by teaming up with Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of “Fixer Upper,” the HGTV show on remodeling and flipping homes. No editor has been named to date and the company also has yet to reveal a title for the new lifestyle magazine. Meredith did say it plans to distribute 400,000 copies of the $7.99 title at newsstands and checkout counters in October and that its plans call for it to be published quarterly. Group Publisher Chris Guilfoyle has bbeen tapped to make sure the magazine pulls in enough ads to at least give it a good start against Hearst’s wildly successful HGTV Magazine. The company said the working title is “Joanna and Chip Gaines Magnolia Lifestyle.”