THE PANIC BOOM
"Yes, we know. Prophets and paranoids have been predicting the end of the world since the start of time. But now they may really be on to something.”
SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!
"2007 started with a flurry of promises. But then the bubble burst.”
THE TALENTED MR. ROMNEY
"Handsome. Poised. Freakishly presidential. Mitt Romney is the ultimate robo-candidate. So what’s his prime directive?”
SULTAN OF SLEAZE
"In less than two years, Harvey Levin has built TMZ into an online powerhouse. Hollywood gossip will never be the same.”
SECRETS + LIES
"For 13 years, an obscure web site has been infuriating governments worldwide by publishing classified intelligence and exposing covert agents. When Radar set out to profile the man who runs it, we walked right into his trap.”
SHOOTING STARS
"Gangster paps. Celebrity fake-outs. Secret payoffs. Violent skirmishes. Hollywood’s paparazzi wars are turning ugly. Radar reports from the front.”
PRISONERS OF YOUTUBE
"Meet the most hilarious people ever to lose their jobs, friends, livelihoods, and their dignity—all for your personal amusement.”
THE QUIET BILLIONAIRE
"After an idyllic Midwestern upbringing, Joe Mansueto founded an enormously successful financial information company on the simple premise that people might like an easy-to-use guide to mutual funds. Now, the Morningstar CEO is turning his skills to the risky world of magazine publishing. Can he succeed again?"
ZUCKER PUNCHED
"The fast rise and sudden decline of Jeff Zucker, the network smart-ass who went from wunderkind to whipping boy in the billion-dollar blink of an eye."
HIDING BETWEEN THE LINES
"Over two decades, J.J. Jameson became a fixture on Chicago's spoken-word scene. Congenial, loyal, and talented, he revealed intimate details of his life through his work--which is why friends were so shocked when Massachusetts police officers came and hauled him back east so he could finish serving his prison sentence. For murder." (4.5 M)
MY BIG DUMB TV ANCHOR
"There's a story that makes the rounds at CNN: Back in the early 1980's, when Ted Turner's network was still an underproduced skin-and-bones affair and the talent wore cheap suits, a couple of mid-day newsreaders named Rick Brown and Jim Wilkerson were co-anchoring a broadcast. Somehow their teleprompter scripts got mixed up, and Wilkerson signed off the newscast like so: 'Those are the headlines. I'm Rick Brown.' A moment passed. 'No, I'm not.'" (544 K)
THE REMAINS OF KNIFE 33
"Craig Schiele and Thomas Heideman were declared dead in 1970 after their helicopter crashed in the jungle of Southeast Asia. At the time, they were on a clandestine mission during the CIA's secret war in Laos, and the account of their deaths offers up equal parts horror and heroism. In 1995, a search team found the crash scene. Last June, the Air Force staged a funeral for the men. But that solemn event could not console the still-grieving families--or begin to answer what really happened 30 years ago." (3.8 M)
THIS IS CNN, BABY
"Having shown how to create a brand (and appeal to advertisers) at Fox and the WB, Jamie Kellner has been tapped to overhaul AOL Time Warner's networks, including CNN. His hiring of Time's Walter Isaacson calmed some journalistic jitters, but how will Kellner's Hollywood sizzle play on the dowdy all-news network? Stay tuned for more shake-ups." (3.2 M)
CNN'S FREE FALL
"With ratings slipping and morale sinking after hundreds of layoffs, CNN, the pioneer in all-news TV, is facing its biggest challenge ever. Brill's Content interviewed more than 40 former and current CNN reporters, correspondents, anchors, producers, executives, and talk-show hosts, who ask, among other questions: Where is the leadership?" (2 M)
A BLUEPRINT FOR CONFLICT
"The New York Times is building splashy new digs. So did Herbert Muschamp, the paper's influential architecture critic, approve of the design? Of course: He helped pick it." (1.7 M)
S.F. CONFIDENTIAL
"How did a small-time publisher gain control of the San Francisco Examiner, the most storied paper in the West? A roiling, high-stakes tale featuring an ambitious immigrant family, backroom deals, dramatic courtroom revelations--and one of the strangest tales in newspaper history." (3.3 M)
CHILLING EFFECT
"Just in time for winter, if it ever comes--a new wind chill index." (336 K)
SYMBOL MAKING
"Charles Baldwin, a retired environmental-health engineer, explains his role in developing the biohazard symbol, which is now showing up everywhere." (332 K)
THE OBSERVATION MAN
"After writing 'The Organization Man,' his groundbreaking study of corporate culture, William H. Whyte applied his analytical skills to the urban center." (338 K)
THE NEW GIVERS
"Bill Gates' $1 billion donation is a hint--a big hint--of how new money is remaking philanthropy." (388 K)
UNREAL ESTATE
"Internet stocks may no longer be soaring, but the market for Web addresses is getting tighter all the time." (700 K)
MONEY FOR NOTHING
"A new breed of Internet profiteers is spinning virtual gold into hard currency." (392 K)