Vanity Fair announced a bunch of new hires today.
Mostly it’s a lot of young women who will be working on social media.
They did snatch the editor in chief of Mediaite to cover Washington. Also, a big catch sounds like Lindsey Underwood, who escaped the The Washington Post Style Section.
But the main focus is on their new West Coast editor. As foretold by the magazine’s new editor, Olivia Nuzzi has joined Vanity Fair.
Nuzzi comes with her own scandal. At New York Magazine, last year, it was revealed she had some kind of affair with Robert Kennedy Jr., the absolute nut case now Health secretary to Trump.
Nuzzi wrote a big feature about Kennedy and fell for him or whatever, and they conducted some type of relationship that Kennedy described as digital or viral or online.
Whatever it was it broke up Nuzzi’s engagement to another journalist. It also violated just about every code of journalism that should exist. She didn’t tell New York magazine what was going on. When they found out, they fired her.
Vanity Fair global editorial director Mark Guiducci, 36, who got his job because he was a friend of Anna Wintour’s daughter, is working hard to establish himself. He’s doing a great job so far. Nuzzi, he says, will be editing stories across platforms and topic areas, with a focus on events, industries, and culture of the Pacific region, as well as writing for the magazine.
I do like her Anna Wintour-like sunglasses author’s photo. She’s workin’ it, that’s for sure.
Under Graydon Carter, we cared so much about Vanity Fair. That ship has sailed and been blown up by the Houthi’s. Guiducci doesn’t have much power– Wintour has to approve everything. His Oscar party will be held not in several massive tents on Santa Monica Blvd but in a powder room at the Four Seasons. His profiles and news will be safe Valentine’s. And Nuzzi’s role in all this will be heavily scrutinized by people much more curious than myself.
Meantime, semrush.com says VanityFair.com has dropped 14% in traffic. Newsstand sales? Forget it.
Guiducci is like Trump when he says everything wrong is due to Biden. Guiducci blames it all on past editors. He fired movie reviewer Richard Lawson, who joined The Hollywood Reporter. Also fired two more movie writers who are thriving outside of Conde Nast.
Let’s put our own sunglasses on and get back to work!

