Gawker to Portfolio: Cover Your Beat

Why must business mag put Palin on cover in midst of meltdown?

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Mar 17, 2009 10:08 AM CDT

(Newser) – This should be Joanne Lipman's big moment. But the Portfolio editor blew it, complains Ryan Tate at Gawker: Instead of using her position at the helm of a major finance magazine to cover a once-in-a-century financial crisis, Lipman put Sarah Palin on the April cover. It's as bad as her November '08 pick, American Apparel founder Dov Charney, which greeted "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with a story about a t-shirt vendor."

"Does the Portfolio editor detest business journalism? Is she trying to finally get fired?” asks Tate. Because "even Lipman's heretofore steadfast boss Si Newhouse has to be able to see how out of touch his business magazine now looks. Even if the glamor-mag publisher wasn't much concerned with finance 6 months ago, the imploding advertising market ensures he's up to speed now. And he'll be wondering why Lipman isn't."

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Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, participate in a breakfast hosted by Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 at the 21 Club in New York. (AP Photo/Startraks Photo, Bill Davila)

2008 National Magazine Award winners; Joanne Lipman of "Conde Nast Portfolio" is second from left. (706)

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There's some sort of vague business angle involving oil, but come on: Even Lipman's heretofore steadfast boss Si Newhouse has to be able to see how out of touch his business magazine now looks. - Ryan Tate

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Gawker to Portfolio: Cover Your Beat