TRAVEL SAVVY: OK’s owner Richard Desmond has pledged up to $100 million to make the U.K.-based brand a success in the U.S., and has reportedly ponied up cash for access to celebrities on several occasions. But he’s not above saving a few bucks in other areas. While other celebrity weeklies (including People, Us Weekly and In Touch) officially bar their employees from going on all-expenses-paid junkets, OK encourages the practice. Editor in chief Sarah Ivens recently arranged to take a free beach vacation for two at the end of April, promising a two-page feature on the resort in return, according to a source familiar with her plans. Asked about the deal, Ivens confirmed it but said it was no power perk. “Probably about 20 members of the staff have been on free press trips,” she said. “I’m not actually embarrassed about that. Every editorial staffer is entitled to go on a press trip, and that includes senior editors, and it includes editorial assistants. It might not be the way things have traditionally been done at celebrity weeklies [in the U.S., but] in the U.K. we always take press trips.” Ivens added the junkets were always covered in the magazine’s weekly travel section. “That area of the magazine isn’t supposed to be hard-core news. It’s clearly marked as celebrity lifestyle.”
Journalism purists might not like it, but OK employees aren’t complaining. In the words of travel editor Jacqueline Neiss, “It’s a great benefit for our staff that we get to participate in it.”
— Jeff Bercovici
BAUER OUTAGE: An early-morning blackout caused temporary closure of Bauer Publishing’s Englewood Cliffs, N.J., offices Wednesday. Although power returned after a few hours, as of late afternoon calls to the company’s main number were greeted by a recorded message instructing employees to contact their supervisors and work from home.
But some people hadn’t planned on coming in, anyway. Two weeks after the departure of former Maxim editor in chief Keith Blanchard, Bauer let go of two editors he had hired to help create a new weekly magazine: Charles Coxe, formerly Maxim’s executive editor, and Gabrielle Simon, previously managing editor of Giant. (A freelance photo editor was also dismissed.) According to a source, Blanchard and his team were brought in to develop a concept dreamed up by Bauer president Hubert Boehle, a hybrid of several magazine genres. (The project was unrelated to Bullet, the men’s magazine project Blanchard worked up for Hearst last summer.) When they tried to take the title in a different direction than Boehle had originally conceived, he elected to replace them with an internal team headed by Life & Style editor in chief Sheryl Berk. A Bauer spokesman could not be reached for comment.
— J.B.