Miley Cyrus Brings 915 Letters To Vanity Fair [Journalismism]

Mostly angry, and run next to the self-parody pictured at left. "No story has apparently come close to sparking such a response." [WWD]

How Julia Allison Goes National [Crossovers]

Wired posted its profile of Julia Allison, the Time Out New York dating columnist and onetime protocelebrity (now in the process of crossing over into the real thing). Yes, the cover story (preceded by the cover itself) retreads much that Gawker readers already know about Allison, and many of you will, no doubt, find the piece altogether too friendly, a celebratory, rather than judgmental, distillation of her techniques for self-promotion and attention whoring. But there is news. Confirmation, for one, of Allison's long-rumored Bravo reality TV show for Bravo, IT Girls. Wired said the deal was signed in June, though it's clearly been in the works for much longer. Then there's a terrifying new wrinkle to Allison's new "lifecasting" Web venture, Non Society:

She signed up [reality show partners Mary] Rambin and [Megan] Asha to act as cofounders of the site — nonsociety.com — and began developing content: lip-sync videos, a talk-show series modeled after The View, and the collected musings that the trio were already posting on their own blogs.

(Emphasis added.) There's no doubt that after four years of fameballing her way around the New York media and Web startup scene, Allison will be able to drum up some decent guests for her talk show. But will she and her co-hosts be able to host any conversations worth listening to? Allison's hardly had occasion to develop interview skills, what with her decidedly non-journalistic work as a sometime society chronicler, dating columnist and stint as Star's official talking head for television.

Talk show aside, between the Wired cover, Bravo show and deepening roots in the tech/media investment community, Allison is clearly revving up to take her act national, a point the Wired profile neatly crystallizes. Here's how it recasts her West Coast forays, which have seemed like nothing so much as shopping excursions for geek talent and VC money, as part of a national expansion of the Allison machine:

In July 2007, having conquered — and perhaps oversaturated — the Manhattan media market, Allison set her sights on a new target: the Silicon Valley startup world. In a flashback to her Gawker breakthrough, she flew to the Bay Area to attend the annual TechCrunch party thrown by influential blogger Michael Arrington. Dressed in a flattering Diane von Furstenberg dress, Allison made an immediate impression among the blue-shirt-and-khaki-wearing attendees. The next day, Arrington posted a video on his site of Allison cooing for the camera, telling her audience that she had a thing for geeks, and urging them to call her. Soon Allison had become a Valleywag staple, befriended the likes of CNET's Caroline McCarthy and Sequoia Capital's Mark Kvamme, and — like Jack in the Box opening a new crosstown franchise — introduced her brand of ignore-me-if-you-dare provocation to the Web 2.0 startup world.

Other noteworthy points from the story:

• Former Gawker managing editor Choire Sicha says Allison's fame happened "in a way that seemed seamless and kind magical."
• While an undergraduate at Georgetown University, Allison wanted to date med students, so she got a job in the medical school library and did, well, did her thing. She became known as the "Medstitute" — and a fixture at med school parties, even shown in a slideshow at med school graduation.
• Allison debuted on Gawker when Nick Denton "demanded" Chris Mohney write about her.
• Gawker writers, "facing an unrelenting 12-posts-a-day workload, couldn't resist the easy productivity of a quick Allison item." True!
• Allison had a "burgeoning relationship" with Digg founder Kevin Rose, but it was "killed" by Valleywag's very early coverage.
• Allison talks to Rambin like "a mother comforting a child after a deflating T-ball game:" "I thought that Gawker post about you today was very nice."
• Non Society in a nutshell: "Two C-list starlets can get together and make one B-list couple."

Finally, a tipster notes that Platon Atoniou's shot of Allison for Wired's cover (assuming he shot it — he is credited with the inside shots) borrows heavily from his earlier shot of Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci (on the left):

Is there a suggestion here that Julia Allison is anything less than a total original?? Heaven forbid.

[Wired]

But Who Will Finance The Next Love Guru? [The Cinema]

"A $450 million film-financing deal between Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and Deutsche Bank AG has fallen through, the latest sign that the credit crisis on Wall Street has roiled Hollywood... The studio had been working for months... to fund as many as 30 films." [WSJ]

Jolie's Baby Born In May, Says Unretracted Story [Celebrity-industrial Complex]

Fox News Flacks: O Hai, Sorry 'Bout Da Smears! [Megalomaniacs]

How does Fox News' vicious PR department respond to charges it smeared a Times reporter as a drug addict, blamed a pregnant Wall Street Journal reporter's hormones for unfavorable coverage, and that chief Irena Briganti blackballed, bullied and threatened virtually all the reporters she came into contact with? By distributing to TV critics a button with pictures of kittens and hearts, reading "Hugs & Kittens from Fox News Media Relations." Ha ha, get it? It's funny because reporters who can't take Fox's hardball PR tactics are babies who expect to be coddled. Instead, they will be devoured by Fox News chief Roger Ailes, with kittens and human hearts as the appetizer. [TVNewser] (Image via TVNewser)

AP To Karl Rove: "Keep Up The Fight" [Conflicts Of Interest]

The Associated Press' Washington bueau chief, Ron Fournier, has been pissing various people off with his "accountability journalism" since he was installed in May. His bitter former boss at AP trashed his credentials to Politico, and influential website Talking Points Memo wondered if he wasn't responsible for the AP's "atrocious campaign coverage this year." Fournier has said his new approach, which involves taking more pointed stands within news articles, is driven by an in-depth examination of the facts, while critics say it is simply biased, advocacy journalism dressed up in new clothes. Fournier has had the backing of top AP brass in New York, but that may soon change, given the following recap of a 2004 email from Fournier to then-White House senior advisor Karl Rove, published this evening on TPM:

Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

Fournier isn't trying to explain how telling the White House's main political adviser to "keep up the fight" keeps his journalism unbiased. Instead he said he's kind of sorry, even though he obviously isn't, at all:

"I was an AP political reporter at the time of the 2004 e-mail exchange, and was interacting with a source, a top aide to the president, in the course of following an important and compelling story. I regret the breezy nature of the correspondence."

Right, breezy. I always use phrases like "The Lord" and "great and free countries" in my breezy emails. In text messages, even.

[TPM Muckraker, House Oversight Committee's Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch report (see p. 21)]

(Photo via GMU)

Story On Perils Of Rumors Filled With Rumors [Journalismism]

How many named sources do you think the Wall Street Journal used in its story on the SEC's crackdown on stock market rumormongering? One: the SEC. And how many anonymous sources? Twelve or more, it looks like, including "a senior official" at the SEC, "people close to the firm" Lehman Brothers, a "person familiar with the matter" and several sets of "people familiar with the matter." Of course, it's impossible to know how many of these citations are the same person appearing multiple times, so the actual number of anonymous sources could be lower. And, to be sure (*cough*), the SEC is ostensibly cracking down only on people who knowingly spreading false rumors for financial gain, which the Journal isn't doing. Further, most reporters consider their anonymously-sourced journalism a step or two above rumors. But if the SEC is going to investigate how some companies profit from derogatory rumors, shouldn't it also look into profit from positive gossip? Stuff like this, from the Journal:

Lehman is examining a handful of options, including a strategic alliance with a partner that it hopes will help restore investor confidence, an asset sale or possibly some sort of stock buyback, according to people familiar with the matter.

...Lehman has continued talks with the Korean financial institutions to which it reached out months ago before its $2.8 billion loss that resulted in a $6 billion capital raising, according to people familiar with the matter. It isn't known if it has held talks with other possible partners. Its initial discussions with the Korean entities didn't culminate in a deal.

Another possibility for Lehman includes the sale of some its more troubled assets, similar to what Citigroup Inc. did in April, when it sold almost $12 billion in leveraged loans to a group of private-equity firms. Lehman officials didn't return calls for comment Sunday.

Gosh, who could be spreading all this inside information about Lehman Brothers' plans? Surely not executives who would personally profit from a rise in company shares, for example those compensated with shares or options. And, if so, surely they are far more sure about their many speculative assertions than the meanies who speculate in the bad, negative way about Lehman Brothers.

Besides, the financial services chiefs demanding this crackdown never intended it to apply to them — it's for hedge funders and maybe journalists and so forth. Go after those guys and the free market will, once again, work properly. (Honest, it really will, this time.)

[WSJ, Previously]

Chris Matthews Confused By New Yorker [Lolbama]

Wasting Daddy's Money [Listicle]

British Tetra Pak (an "aseptic solutions" company) heir Hans Kristian Rausing was just charged, along with his wife Eva, of possessing crack cocaine. What a shame! Rausing's father is worth billions. Other wastrel heirs?

Ads For Ad Show Swallow Commuters [Mad Men]

The New York subway system is taking full advantage of its plan to sell all flat surfaces for advertising, including the outside of trains. The latest and most appropriate sponsor of the metal cattle car that you squeeze yourself into every depressing morning: Mad Men, the acclaimed show about advertising! Even if you barely miss your train as it pulls away, leaving you frustrated and abandoned, you'll still be educated about the existence of Mad Men. Sweet. More pics of the hellaciously busy interior of these message-wielding cars, after the jump.

[Flickr via Thighs Wide Shut]

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