Not Dead Yet

David Card | August 21, 2006, 01:32 PM

The Journal does a good job covering how magazines are handling news online vs. in print, including reminding me that prophets of gloom had doomed weekly newsmags at the birth of cable news, too. A good bit:

At Time Inc.'s People magazine, there is not much overlap between the magazine and the Web site, says Managing Editor Larry Hackett. "The online users are much more hard-core entertainment aficionados," which is what the Web site primarily covers. The magazine has entertainment news, but "we have crime and heroes and angels and teachers and stuff like that," he says.

But here's the payoff:

American Media Inc. editorial director Bonnie) Fuller, for instance, decided to hold certain details of Pamela Anderson's wedding to Kid Rock for Star's print magazine, even though Star's reporter, on location in St. Tropez, had been posting almost constant updates about the ceremony and subsequent reception online. For the magazine, Ms. Fuller saved the details of the couple's vows, which they read off their Blackberries, as well as their versions of "I do," such as, "Hell, yeah!" from Kid Rock. "We save some of the really exclusive details we have for the magazine," says Ms. Fuller.