David Carr | The New York Observer

Times Media Desk May Be Headed for Small Screen

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:37:22 -0500

Our favorite humble hometown reporters might be on the verge of TV stardom!

A documentary filmmaker has hit the Times Tower with camera in tow and is planning to make a movie focused on the Times media desk.

“I think that these writers have something invested in their stories that is sort of unique compared to what it would have been like five years ago,” said Andrew Rossi, the filmmaker, who produced...

Carr Gives Way to a New Carpetblogger

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:58:30 -0400

There's a new Carpetbagger in town: as of this winter, New York Times media columnist David Carr will no longer be handling the Carpetbagger blog he created four years ago (and has led every movie-award season since).

Taking over will be Melena Ryzik, whose UrbanEye emails are the sparrow's song I awake to each morning. Ryzik also does cultural reporting and videos for the Times Web site.

This year's incarnation of the Carpetbagger will pick up...

Google Launches 'Web Elements' (And The Times Is All Over It)

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:04:32 -0400

Google is making it even easier for bloggers and Web writers to share online content on their sites—with a tip of the hat to original content providers, like The New York Times, too.

On May 27, the company launched their new Google Web Elements, which work a lot like widgets and allow users to embed the most popular Google products—Calendars, Maps, Google News, YouTube Video News, Presentations, Spreadsheets and Google Conversations—directly into their Web pages....

Weekend of a Thousand Stars

Mon, 11 May 2009 10:00:23 -0400

On the morning of Sunday, May 10, Pat Buchanan sauntered across K Street. The political pundit was wearing a blazer and a blood red tie. It was the day after the White House Correspondents Association dinner, and the weather in the nation's capital was beautiful, bright and breezy.

Mr. Buchanan was zeroing in on John McLaughlin's annual Sunday brunch. The place you traditionally go after the weekend of frenzied socializing to see and be...

Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and Jeff Bezos To Save Journalism With $489 Kindle DX

Wed, 06 May 2009 11:45:53 -0400

This morning in the 743-seat basement theater of the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, Jeff Bezos, president, chief executive and chairman of the board of Amazon, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times and chairman of the New York Times Company, unveiled a device they hope will save newspapers: The Kindle DX, which features a 9.7-inch screen designed for newspapers and textbooks. That's 2.5 times the size...

A Tale of Two Condés

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:10:08 -0500

"[W]hen the current [New Yorker] editor, David Remnick, ordered up a bunch of articles for the magazine’s formidable presidential inauguration issue, some of the reporters drove to Washington and stayed at friends’ houses. Mr. Remnick, who was among those who bunked with a friend in Washington, declined comment, beyond suggesting it was just common sense to preserve assets for other articles. 'Steve Coll can’t stay at a friend’s house in Afghanistan,' he said."— David...

The Carpetbagger v. Kid Dynamite

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:18:48 -0500

Sure, we've had some fun with David Carr's Daily Baggage videos on The New York Times Web site, but today he offers an extremely compelling dispatch in the form of a Sundance Film Festival interview with Mike Tyson and Tyson director James Toback. (Unfortunately, the video is not available for embedding—c'mon Times "renegade cybergeeks"!)

There are no dolls or Joker masks to hide behind: Just Mr. Carr face-to-face with the disgraced onetime World...

David Carr: 'I'm Totally Happy to Even Have a Job'

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:09:09 -0500

You might think it would be impossible for New York Times Carpetbagger David Carr to top his creepy Joker-inspired video dispatch from January 7th, but today, on The Daily Baggage, his Times-sponsored daily video show, he goes (pace Madness) one (more) step beyond.

Using dolls and some strategically deployed wardrobe items, Mr. Carr describes the challenges of packing for the Golden Globes, the Academy Award nomination announcements, and the Sundance Film Festival. One...

Times: New York Times Writers Very Notable in 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:17:42 -0500

The New York Times Book Review released its 100 Notable Books of 2008.

Notably, there are a lot of New York Times writers on the list, among them:

- The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power by Jonathan Mahler.

- Condoleezza Rice: An American Life by Elisabeth Bumiller.

- The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.

- Hot, Flat, and Crowded...

Will Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon Find Favor With the Academy? 'He's Not a Dick,' Says NYT's David Carr

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:47:02 -0500

Toward the end of the film Frost/Nixon, based on the Peter Morgan play of the same name, Frank Langella's Richard Nixon wonders whether his legacy will prevent young people from aspiring to a life in politics. "They'll think it's all just corrupt," he laments.

"I always felt that line was powerful," director Ron Howard told the Daily Transom at the Four Seasons Monday evening, after the film's premiere at the Ziegfeld. "And tonight,...

Toby Young Can't Resist One More Prank at Soho House

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:55:33 -0400

Wednesday evening, Gawker Media hosted a party at Soho House in honor of the soon-to-be-released film version of How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, Toby Young’s memoir of his misadventures as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair in the late '90s. Half of the crowd kept referring to the celebration as a book party, despite the fact that the book in question had been released over six years ago. Indeed, the film did...

Lineup for September 10, 2008

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:42:28 -0400

What happened to NBC, wonders Felix Gillette. "In recent days, MSNBC’s president, Mr. Griffin, has told a number of reporters that the change was not made as a result of outside pressure. Still, some TV insiders continue to play the MSNBC parlor game, speculating about how and why the McCain camp appeared to have succeeded in budging MSNBC where Hillary and her democratic supporters had failed."

Cheers! John Koblin reports that The New...

David Carr's Nostalgic Brushes With Minnesota Nice

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:52:59 -0400

Just ran into local hero David Carr on his way to the New York Times’ filing center. He said he has spent his day so far not in the Xcel Center but outdoors, reporting on the protests. The big question there, he said, was whether the local anarchists who organized the march were going to overcome their natural inclination towards mild-mannered politesse, a.k.a Minnesota Nice.

“I got pulled over this morning for...

David Carr, Lynn Sweet in Line for Invesco Field

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:34:06 -0400

The bus line that is shipping reporters from the media tents outside the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field is getting awfully long, but it's moving fast. David Carr, who was right behind Lynn Sweet, and directly ahead of Newsweek's Andrew Romano, was on line for only about five minutes before he got onto the bus. Mr. Carr was smoking a Camel and thrilled that his new book, The Night of the Gun, would land...

Claim: Times' Carr Received 1,200 E-mails After Memoir Excerpt

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:24:36 -0400

David Carr must be one busy man this month. In an interview with Salon's Andrew O'Herir, Mr. Carr, The New York Times media columnist and author of the recently released book, The Night of Gun, says that he "got 1,200 e-mails when an excerpt of the book ran in The New York Times Magazine, and a lot of them were from people seeking recovery."

We know from Jennifer Senior's profile of Mr. Carr...

David Carr, Abusive Loverman and 'Truth Junkie'

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:34:10 -0400

Jennifer Senior profiles her former colleague David Carr in this week's New York. In a welcome curveball, she focuses not on his recovery from drug addiction but on his transformation from misogynistic creep to loving husband and father, which she argues was "the real redemptive story in David's life, even if it's a less dramatic one than kicking a coke habit."

The main revelation in the piece is that for all his honesty,...

Lineup for July 30, 2008

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:42:01 -0400

Leon Neyfakh reads David Carr's The Night of the Gun and concludes that the book "turns the traditional memoir on its head, assuming as it does that its author knows nothing about his own life and must research it as though it were someone else’s. The book practically interrogates itself, questioning its own right to exist even as Mr. Carr vigilantly gathers string on the dark and druggy life he led into his 30s."

...

David Carr's Crash: Drug Rehab Memoir Remakes the Genre

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:52:29 -0400

It’s not immediately clear when you get to the end of NYT columnist David Carr’s new book, The Night of the Gun, whether you’ve just seen the memoir redeemed or irrevocably dismantled. A work of traditional reportage motivated by the fashionable and unnerving notion that it’s impossible to really know anything for sure, Mr. Carr’s book—which arrives in bookstores next week—turns the traditional memoir on its head, assuming as it does that its author...

Remembrance of Things Snorted, Shot

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:42:42 -0400

The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of his Life—His Own
By David Carr
Simon and Schuster, 400 pages, $26

For most of us, David Carr is the goofy-looking Midwesterner most often seen unrolling a red carpet with his foot on NYTimes.com during Oscar season. He calls himself the Carpet Bagger. He has a blog and a column, too. In his gravelly twang he explains the ins and outs of...

A Reporter's Reporter

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:44:46 -0400

New York Times columnist David Carr’s forthcoming addiction memoir The Night of the Gun, the carefully reported—that is, not vaguely remembered and pieced together—tour de force that was excerpted on the cover of The New York Times Magazine this past weekend, features lots and lots of minor characters. Dealers, cops, girlfriends, pals, fellow junkies—they all pass in and out, some staying in Mr. Carr’s bumpy orbit for years and others sticking around only as...

Times Magazine Excerpts Media Writer's Addiction Memoir

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:00:38 -0400

The New York Times website has just posted a preview of this week's Times Magazine featuring an excerpt from media columnist David Carr's forthcoming book, The Night of the Gun.

The story, like the book, tells of Mr. Carr's years of drug and alcohol abuse and his various scrapes with the law as he somehow managed to rise in journalism and raise his twin daughters. There's also a video in which Mr. Carr...

Soft Media at Work for the Obamas

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:23:04 -0400

In his media column today, David Carr revisits the hubbub surrounding Barack Obama's decision to allow Access Hollywood to interview his daughters. Obama eventually told Matt Lauer that the family "won't be doing it again," but Carr suggests that the whole incident ultimately worked to the Obama campaign's advantage.

To be sure, the Obamas haven't shied away from softer media outlets, and at least one expert thinks that is a good thing for them....

Philly Bully Messes With Wrong "Nerds"

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:43:17 -0400

There was almost a full-on press melee in Philadelphia this weekend at the Alternative Newsweeklies Convention. According to Gustavo Arellano, The OC Weekly's "Ask a Mexican" columnist, he and Village Voice editor-in-chief Tony Ortega, New York Times culture editor Sam Sifton and Times media critic David Carr were called "nerds" by a "big mook" on their walk back to the Downtown Marriot after an evening of boozing at a local press hangout.

...

The Lineup: April 16, 2008

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:47:42 -0400

Felix Gillette braves the crowds outside NBC's Today Show to find Katie Couric's most loyal fans. "'Katie’s hot,' said Craig Bellew, who was visiting from Clarkesville, Ga. 'She should come right back here. I grew up watching her on Today. And it’s easier to say her name then—what’s the other girl’s name? Anyway. She’s hot.'

Speaking of Ms. Couric, John Koblin looks at how a whiff of a story (Katie Out at...

Vanity Fair's Burrough: 'Everyone in Hollywood Got an Advance Copy of That Article'

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:55:43 -0400

In his Media Equation column this week, The New York Times' David Carr looks at a strange footnote in the ongoing Anthony Pellicano wiretap trial in Los Angeles: The overlapping employment of Wayne Reynolds, who worked for both Pellicano and Condé Nast Publications.

As Carr writes, "Mr. Reynolds was first questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the Los Angeles offices of Condé Nast early in 2003. Mr. Pellicano, who is...

Hillary's New Conservative Friends

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:45:59 -0400

On a hot August night in the Astrodome 16 years ago, Pat Buchanan stood before the Republican National Convention and declared that America was in the throes of a religious and cultural war, with the opposition party pushing an “amoral” agenda of unregulated abortion, rampant homosexuality and unrestricted pornography.

In particular, he singled out the “lawyer-spouse” of the Democratic presidential nominee, gravely warning that Hillary Clinton “believes that 12-year-olds should have the right to sue...

In the Times, Journal Editor Declares Murdochian War

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:23:12 -0500

David Carr tackles the changing Wall Street Journal this morning and writes about the paper's sudden infactuation with politics. Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli concedes to Mr. Carr that there have been more political stories this year, but that's because it's such an extraordinary year (simple enough). But Mr. Brauchli also offered this interesting quote:

“Mr. Murdoch has said publicly that we will compete against The New York Times, The Financial Times and other...

Tapper On Top! He Dated 'That Woman,' Became TV's Most Prolific Talking Head

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:36:43 -0500

On Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses, ABC political reporter Jake Tapper appeared on “Nightline” from Des Moines, where he reported live on Mike Huckabee’s surprise victory.

Afterward, he caught an overnight flight on the Hucka-plane to New Hampshire, where, around dawn, he filed a story for “Good Morning America.”

That evening, he was back in front of the cameras yet again, this time from Henniker, N.H., reporting on Mr. Huckabee for “ABC World...

Rupert Murdoch: Savior of Journalism?

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:23:43 -0500

"There is a chance that historians will examine this period in American history and wonder if journalism left the field."

That's David Carr in today's New York Times, who considers the future of investigative reporting in the wake of last week's layoffs at the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper.

But, in looking for a silver lining, Mr. Carr offers this sort-of-unconvincing argument: "[K]eep in mind that later this week, Rupert Murdoch, the...

Al Gore, Oscar and 2008

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 05:15:00 -0500

Al Gore's Oscar ceremony star-turn has prompted a fresh round of speculation about whether he'll get into the 2008 presidential race. Here's what Gore told reporters yesterday after winning, according to David Carr:

"I do no have a plan to become a candidate for office again," he said in response to a question. "I am involved in a campaign of another kind." Another questioner suggested that the former wonk had crossed over. "William Hung was a rock...

One Book at a Time

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Two years ago, somewhat suddenly, Tom Sykes was not drunk and was very much out of work. The former nightlife reporter for the New York Post, younger brother to the gals-about-town named Plum and Alice and Lucy, approached an editor at Men’s Health and offered to write about anything other than getting sober. Men’s Health asked for 10 story ideas; Mr. Sykes submitted them. His editor, Leigh Haber, said she’d rather have him write...

The New York Times Presents: The Warriors

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:18:36 -0400

Can you dig it? Deadly Intent: Ann Coulter, Word Warrior, by David Carr, June 12, 2006. Eve Ensler, the Original 'Vagina Warrior,' Organizes Arts Festival, by Felicia R. Lee, June 12,...

Buckle Your Belts, It’s Going to Be Glossy Page Six

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Just asking: What new entry in the crowded and antagonistic celebrity-glossy field is making rivals polite and circumspect? “We wish them the best of luck,” said American Media editorial director Bonnie Fuller and her boss, David Pecker, through a spokesperson on Feb. 7. Ms. Fuller and Mr. Pecker were responding—or not responding—to the planned Feb. 9 debut of Page Six, the magazine. Having long since severed its bonds to the actual sixth page of...

Blogentrification Continues Apace

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 04:00:00 -0400

It starts with the ragtag pioneers, moving in with their funky friends and their bohemian pursuits, seeking life on the cheap in some desolate space. Then comes the progression: artists give way to creative professionals, lofts give way to loft-style co-ops, expensive cheese stores give way to more expensive cheese stores. The neighborhood has arrived; there it goes. So it was when the armchair pundits, teenage diarists, freelance writers, and other non-professionalized writers found a...

The Transom: Terrified, Mousy, & Generally Shabby

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 20:30:00 -0400

Recently, The Transom received this letter from a young fashion reporter who is frequently, as they say, "on the scene": ...[N]ot sure how to convey this to your staff, but every time I'm at a party with an Observer reporter, I KNOW they're an Observer reporter. Your staff is brilliant, but SO nerdy, and they dress/ act like it! They walk around with glasses and little notepads. Nobody is going to open...

All Attention on New Times Power Center: The 10:30 a.m. Meeting

Sun, 06 Jan 2002 19:00:00 -0500

Since Sept. 11, one of the biggest changes at The New York Times has been the increased role that the paper's top-level editors have played in the daily editing. While this development was motivated by local and world events, there's a concern–or at least a curiosity–among certain Times staffers that the paper's top editors will remain regularly involved once terrorism and war move off the front page.

Those with the most interest in this question...