Did we say supporter, er, we meant reporter: My favorite read of the day, the NYT corrections column, clarifies an earlier item that Barbara Walters was attending Martha Stewart’s trial and sitting behind her because they are friends. Despite their matching outfits and the fact Barbara was winking at jurors throughout the session, Baraba says she was there as a journalist. (Okay, I made up that part about winking and matching outfits.) Another great item is the one at the bottom which, to me, is similar to the item last week about the UK hiking magazine mea culpa for suggesting its readers take a flying leap.

Quote from the NYT correction:

An article and a listing in the Dining section on Wednesday about ways to reduce bacterial contamination in home kitchens referred incompletely to a method of disinfecting sponges and dishcloths by placing them in a microwave oven. They should be damp; if dry, they could catch fire.

(via romenesko)

Southern progress? The Birmingham News is reporting that Southern Progress, the Time Inc. publisher of Southern Living and lots more very profitable titles and products, is closing a fulfilment center in the B’ham suburb of Homewood (a township in which I resided for four fun-filled years), eliminating as many as 70 jobs. The company had handled fulfillment activities internally for 30 years, according to a company spokesman.

Re-merging: Jon Friedman of CBS MarketWatch says media company “takeover talk” is revived after three years of inactivity.

Contented: Still blogging via e-mail. There’s good coverage of a content conference being ‘guest blogged’ on PaidContent.org.

Blogging via cell phone is not ideal, and neither is sitting through eight hours straight of presentations on postal reform. But, I’m not complaining. (Or maybe I am.) I’ll catch up later this week.

Test 2: Now testing my posting via Treo abilities.

Test: Testing my e-mail blogging abilities.

Web-free zone? I am taking the occasion of a multi-day business trip to have my computer fixed (a broken latch that does not interfer with its operation, but is a steady nuisance when trying to sleep the computer). Therefore my Internet access is limited to a Treo 600 and any public-access computers along the way. I doubt I will be blogging much until Thursday, January 29, however if I figure out the way to send an e-mail post, I may do some brief posts. As my travels (truly 100% business) are taking me to a tropical climate, if I do blog, it may be from a hammock in more ways than one.

In the end: As first reported by Der Spiegel, first imported to the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal, and first blogged by the rexblog, Daniel Brewster was given “das boot” today. I am truly sorry for the people involved in the actions that led up to his dismissal, however, I think it was the only option available to the parent company. The intregrity of the entire magazine industry’s circulation verification infrastructure was put at jeapordy by the actions of Brewster or those reporting to him. Again, I am saddened by what this will mean to individuals involved.

At times like this, I’m reminded of the line from the TS Elliot poem, Little Gidding: “What we call the beginning is often the end/And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” I hope that Dan will view this a great place to start from. As for me and this weblog, this topic is now officially closed. You can track the gory follow-up details elsewhere.

First envy: Rafat Ali of PaidContent.org was nice enough to e-mail me news of a vaporzine he ran across and asks, “Why do magazines claim to be first”? (A reference to a previous post today.) Inspire Your World, according to the press release, will be the “first consumer magazine on volunteering and philanthropy.”

Before answering Rafat’s question, I have one to ask, myself: Can a magazine about “giving” ever be classified a “consumer” magazine? But I digress.

Now, back to the question, “Why do magazines claim to be first?” The reason is that people who start magazines believe that if they have not heard of something, then it must not have ever happened. So, if they come up with an idea for a music magazine for people over age 40 or a magazine about gadgets for young men and they go to the local newsstand and don’t see something like that, they naturally assume their’s will be the first.

Obviously, the publishers of “Inspire Your World” have never heard of Randall Jones, the erstwhile publisher of Worth Magazine. In March, 1997, he launched a magazine called The American Benefactor, a quarterly that was targeted toward philanthropists. Despite being launched by one of the most savvy magazine marketers, promoters and salesmen I have ever known, it failed to find an audience and “was folded into Worth” at the end of 1998, according to Folio: Magazine.

Into mid-air: Thanks to several people who have e-mailed me the story about the UK magazine, Trail, that came close to seeing its readership fall off a cliff.

Quote (from the Reuters “oddly enough” story):

A hiking magazine apologized on Thursday after it published a route plan that would have sent walkers striding into thin air off the north face of Britain’s largest mountain, Ben Nevis.

The magazine, Trail, missed out a vital bearing needed to guide climbers off the summit of the Scottish mountain in bad weather.

Anyone who had followed the magazine’s directions would have plunged down a sheer cliff into nearby Gardyloo Gully.

Editor Guy Procter, himself a keen hillwalker, said that Trail published 200 routes every year and had never made a similar mistake before.

Maybe not, but now they have an excuse for any “drop-off” in renewals.

Nabbed: Adam Winer, 26, who is accused of cheating victims out of over $26,000 by pretending to be another Adam Winer at the men’s magazine, FHM, has been tracked down and arrested. He says he didn’t do it. If I were his lawyer, I would argue there is nothing unusual about people claiming to be editors who aren’t…even many who get paid to be. (Please, no e-mail. I’m not referring to anyone who reads this weblog.)

Affiliate marketing a magazine: Montgomery Research, Inc. (their URL www.mriresearch.com seems incompatible with my version of Safari) has launched the magazine Revenue, which the company is calling, “the first magazine dedicated to affiliate marketing.” I can’t imagine them not being correct in this claim. Fittingly, the company allows affiliate marketers to sell subscriptions on their websites. While we have been known to do some affiliate marketing ourselves,, the rexblog will not take them up on that offer.