The Big-8 Media Gossips Exposed!
(Psst, Keith: You're about to get fired . . . Just kidding!)

Us Daily, 02/12/03

Us Daily, the special publication of Us Weekly magazine for New York's Fashion Week, has allowed I Want Media to republish its inside scoop on New York's most notorious media reporters. You know their work . . . But how well do you know them?

Jacob Bernstein  -  WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY
Age: 24. Nickname: "Teen Wolf." Biggest scoop: Kate Betts to consult for Time, Inc. shelter mag! Family pedigree: Son of movie scripter Nora Ephron and Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein. Insiders say: Excitable, but "nonetheless tenacious." Was so beloved by Patrick McCarthy that he was given front-row status his very first Fashion Week.

Matthew Rose  -  THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Age: 30. Nickname: This married Englishman is called "Nancy Boy" (Brit slang for "girly man"). Biggest scoop: Conde Nast shutters Mademoiselle in October 2001! Insiders say: "He's the hottie of the bunch!" Too committed to crunching numbers instead of dishing, but did a "bang-up job" covering the Rosie O'Donnell and Gruner + Jahr clash.

Jon Fine  -  ADVERTISING AGE
Age: 34. Nickname: "The Doctor." Biggest scoop: The Industry Standard crashes! Insiders say: Though his column is low-profile (due to Ad Age's modest readership) he snags attention with big news breaks, often from the industry's business side. "His coverage is less personality driven," says one source, "but he gets better access."

David Carr  -  THE NEW YORK TIMES
Age: 46. Nickname: Anything except "Dave." Youthful swagger: Once promised his wife he'd be a major media figure within five years — then went ahead and did it. Insiders say: He's got the weight of the Times behind him. A merry prankster, according to former Inside.com staffers who say Carr set off a siren whenever someone scooped big-time.

Keith Kelly  -  NEW YORK POST
Age: 48. Nickname: "Machine Gun Kelly." Biggest scoop: Martha Nelson in at People! Jim Seymore out at Entertainment Weekly! Insiders say: Media moguls gripe about his brutal fact-mangling but fear this "old-school, scrappy" journo. One says: "He's sufficiently bitchy and dishy. And people are content with the 70 percent he gets right."

Paul Colford  -  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Age: 49. Obsession: Getting circulation and ad page numbers before ABC and PIB reports come out. Newsroom rep: Known as a "sharp dresser," says a source at the Daily News. "He doesn't really talk to people." Insiders say: A gentler, kinder media reporter. "People come to him before their story falls into enemy hands," says one source.

Lisa Granatstein  -  MEDIAWEEK
Age: 36. Nickname: "The Queen Bee," coined by those who say the magazine revolves around her beat. Biggest scoop: Certain Rosie staffers receive a $10,000 check with an explanation from O'Donnell about why she exited! Insiders say: "She gets it right," says one. She's a fixture at media parties, "but she hates everything," wags one tongue.

Sridhar Pappu  -  THE NEW YORK OBSERVER
Age: 27. Nickname: "Binky" Biggest scoop: Graydon Carter offers Tina Brown a column in Vanity Fair! Insiders say: Though witty, his column is too New York Times–centric. "It's practically a Conde Nast–free zone!" laments one. His "Pappu-litzer" awards skewered GQ editor Art Cooper for rambling on about his weight loss and got kudos for cleverness.



From Us Daily Vol. 2, #2 dated February 12, 2003 © Us Weekly LLC 2003
All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission.



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