Paul Goldberger

Paul Goldberger, who left the New York Times to become New Yorker architecture critic in 1997, is now joining Vanity Fair. “This is an appointment that thrills me profoundly,” VF editor Graydon Carter says in a release. “Paul is about as gifted a commentator on architecture, urban planning, and design as anyone you’re going to find these days—in other words, he’s just a brilliant writer.” || New York Observer: The end of architecture criticism at The New Yorker? || The press release is after the jump.

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Ivar’s unveiling futuristic custom chowder kiosks bit.ly/HrK2DJ

— PSBJ News (@PSBJ) March 30, 2012

A Romenesko reader who asks to remain anonymous writes:

The Puget Sound Business Journal got caught with a slightly early April Fool’s joke when it churned out this bit of credulous press-release republishing about a local seafood chain, Ivar’s, debuting custom clam-chowder kiosks. (Attached PDF [text posted below], the pulled the link after Twitter followers called it out). Seems slightly ridiculous on its face, and then you get to the part about them being made by “Piscine Technology Enterprises,” a goofy name that doesn’t pop up on Google. So apparently, they didn’t even check that.

HOWEVER: This is even more egregious than normal because the founder of this restaurant, the late Ivar Haglund, was famous for pulling pranks as media stunts, often successfully. The company continues to do this all the time. The Seattle Times got duped into it a couple of years ago, writing about a system of “underwater billboards” with only the faintest hint of skepticism.

—————

Here’s the column that the Puget Sound Business Journal pulled after being told it was a hoax. (I’ve asked the paper to comment.)

Ivar’s unveiling futuristic custom chowder kiosks

Date: Friday, March 30, 2012, 4:36pm PDT
Glenn Drosendahl/Contributing Writer – Puget Sound Business Journal

Ivar’s Seafood Restaurants are about to go where not even their visionary namesake founder might have imagined. The Seattle-based group soon will be rolling out custom chowder-making kiosks.

The kiosks resemble hot beverage vending machines, but serve only chowder.

The potential varieties, however, are almost endless.

The machines offer white, red or Cajun-style brown roux bases as a starting point. Then come possible add-ins — at least 20 kinds of smoked or non-smoked seafood, more than 100 “flavor accents,” and optional boosts of clam nectar, Omega-3 or even an espresso shot.

Flavorings mentioned in a press release include coconut, capers, bacon, blue cheese, wasabi and habanero essence.

Once the customer is done making choices – including serving sizes from 8 to 48 ounces — the mixing and dispensing is expected to take less than 20 seconds, with the final concoction pouring into a biodegradable cup or a bread bowl.

“This is dispensing technology unprecedented in the market for hot chowders,” Ivar’s Director of Marketing Kirsten Wlashchin in a statement.

But wait, there’s more. During that 20-second wait for the chowder, a voice will relay nutritional values. And the kiosks will allow users to upload their chowder selections directly from the touch screen to social media websites.

The kiosks were developed by Piscine Technology Enterprises. They will debut in April inside several Puget Sound area Ivar’s locations, and are likely to pop up later at event venues, stadiums and office buildings.

Somewhere the late Ivar Haglund, who founded the group in 1938, is smiling and no doubt advising people to “keep clam.”

GLENN DROSENDAHL blogs about restaurants, chefs and food for the Puget Sound Business Journal. Email: glenndrosendahl@comcast.net | Twitter: GDrose

A group of Philadelphia investors led by businessman Lewis Katz and insurance executive/Democratic leader George E. Norcross III agreed on Monday to buy the parent company of the Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com, for $55 million with an additional $10 million in working capital for operations. It’s the fourth ownership change for the Philadelphia papers in less than six years.

The price now being paid represents a discount to the $100 million [that current owners] Alden Global and Angelo Gordon were reportedly seeking for the properties when word of the possible sale came to light in late January.

* Group agrees to buy Philadelphia Media Network for $55 million

After Rick Santorum went after the New York Times’s Jeff Zeleny and then said on Fox News that “you’re not really a real Republican” unless you’ve cursed out a reporter, the Chicago Tribune’s Rex Huppke told readers that “I’m offering myself up as the lone media representative to abuse.” He wrote:

I will be more than happy to hear from anyone who feels they need to swear at a member of the news media. Furthermore, I will provide anyone who cusses me out with an e-mailed Confirmation of Media Profanitication, guaranteed to prove to friends and family alike that you are a really real Republican or Democrat.

So what kind of reaction did he get?

Huppke tells Romenesko readers:

I’ve only gotten three voicemails – all containing some good-natured profanity. But there has been a slew of e-mail – 40 or so – giving me the business, though again it was in a “we get the joke” fashion. Nothing outright mean.

I’ve sent everyone some version of the following response:

GENUINE CONFIRMATION OF PROFANITICATION

By the power vested in me as member of the loathsome press, let it be known that the bearer of this extremely official document has successfully hurled a profanity at a member of the news media and is hereby and forevermore declared a really real (Democrat/Republican/Independent/Other).

Signed with extreme bias,

- Rex W. Huppke, Chicago Tribune‬

* Santorum says “real Republicans” cuss out reporters, so bring it on

Longtime Philadelphia magazine owner Herb Lipson says former Gov. Ed Rendell and his associates don’t understand that media owners have to stay out of editorial decisions. “If I controlled what ran in my magazine, it would very soon lose all credibility,” he writes, and goes on to say:

I happen to believe Ed Rendell really does want to save the Inquirer, and that he believes local ownership is the way to go about reinvigorating the paper. Perhaps now — after strong criticism — he’s beginning to take a lesser role. But it’s still looking like his group will buy the newspaper, and if that happens, Philadelphia will roll right along as a troubled city run by a select few. With one difference: They’ll now be bringing us the news.

* Off the Cuff

Josh Tyrangiel

Josh Tyrangiel, who left Time a few years ago to become Bloomberg Businessweek editor-in-chief, recently told Columbia journalism students:

One of my frustrations at Time was that I don’t think we were very disciplined. One week it’s ‘crisis in Israel!’ And the next week it’s ‘back pain!’ If you’re a reader, how do you know what you’re gonna get?

One of the things I rebelled against when I was spending 10 years at Time was that the magazine was so heavily templated. You read the magazine and it could be — and I actually did the last resdesign of the magazine so I’m partly to blame. But the magazine is so templated that it could be any year.

You need templates, but break it. Show people that each page is an opportunity to say something and to catch their attention.

* Josh Tyrangiel: The Bloomberg Businessweek target audience is me

* Olbermann’s email trail traces angry break-up with Current TV. (Daily Beast)
* Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters “truly rare things” in that they’re healthy and on a hiring spree. (Adweek.com)
* Eager buyers rush to snap up last printed sets of Encyclopaedia Britannica, only 1,000 left to be sold. (New York Times)
* Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) announce contest winners. (IRE.org)
* Ailes helps conservative author fast-track book about Fox News. (New York Daily News)
* Scott Dikkers returns as The Onion’s editor-in-chief. “He invented The Onion’s sense of humor,” says CEO. (Chicago Tribune)
* Judge in Oregon defamation case says he never intended to suggest that bloggers can’t be journalists. (New York Times)
* “Today” show “legend” who returned today is Meredith Vieira. (Brian Stelter)
* HBO teases Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom” with a new trailer. (HitFix.com)