Rachel Sklar | The New York Observer

We Look Forward to Speaking With Mr. Abrams at His Earliest Convenience

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:19:29 -0500

On Monday evening, former MSNBC general manager and current NBC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams was talking about his new gig.

Less than a week after he announced he was launching a “global strategy firm” that would assemble a network of thousands of working journalists, bloggers, authors and ex-journalists, he was drowning in applications.

He’d made it easy, of course. The same day...

Rachel Sklar Leaves the Huffington Post

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:03:02 -0400

"After two in a half years as a valued member of the Huffington Post team, Rachel Sklar has decided to leave Huffpost after the election in order, as she puts it, "to finally finish that goddamn book!'" wrote Arianna Huffington in a memo announcing Rachel Sklar's departure.

Gawker has the...

Sklar Comes Alive!

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:17:04 -0400

Is the Huffington Post's media and special projects editor Rachel Sklar giving up media criticism for a career as a coffeehouse chanteuse? Heck, if Portfolio's Matt Cooper could be named Washington's Funniest Celebrity (a decade ago, back when there was something to laugh about in that town), anything's possible.

In a video Ms. Sklar posted on YouTube, the Eat the Press editor performs a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie" with Lisa...

New York Times Magazine Blog Article Tears Media Blogosphere Asunder

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:04:24 -0400

Emily Gould's New York Times Magazine cover story hasn't even landed with a thud on front porches and newsstands yet, but it's already garnering a ton of criticism online.

Some of the critical outlets weren't surprising.

Like Gawker, for example, since Ms. Gould's article is in many ways a rebuke of the site.

Gawker's first post officially linked to Ms. Gould's Times Magazine story received 9,133 views and 170 comments.

A follow-up...

Ancient Order of Magazine People in Not-So-Secret Celebration

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:40:16 -0400

A little after 6 p.m. at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, Condé Nast president Richard Beckman was sharing a drink—vodka, olives—with Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend. The two were discussing the same thing everyone in the lobby of Jazz at Lincoln Center at the Time Warner Center was talking about: What the National Magazine Awards can do, or not do, for a magazine.

"I can't honestly say there is a direct link with being nominated...

Rating Rather's Case

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:35:59 -0500

The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar -- who's actually, you know, a lawyer -- has taken a close look at Dan Rather's lawsuit and CBS's motion to dismiss it, and concluded that it has merit enough not to get thrown out before discovery. She writes:

The lawsuit isn't without merit and CBS knows that, and Rather does, too, even if his expectations about the kind of damages he's entitled to or his perception of his...

My Book Deal Ruined My Life

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:40:54 -0400

For those who think they have a book inside them just waiting to be written—and, really, isn’t that pretty much everyone?—landing a book contract would be like winning the lottery. Dreams would come true; doors would open. Anything could happen.

“You hear about these big contracts coming in, and it whets your appetite,” said Leah McLaren, a columnist for Canada’s Globe and Mail, who landed a book contract with HarperCollins Canada in...

Gender? I Don't Even Know Her! Sklar Charges Sexism, Carter Bristles

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:27:41 -0500

At today's luncheon for the American Society of Magazine Editors, on the second floor of The Princeton Club and starring the former editors of Spy magazine, a Q&A session got complicated. Susan Morrison--a former Spy editor, and so friendly with former co-worker Graydon Carter, and now an editor at the New Yorker--made a wee gibe about a new piece by Christopher Hitchens, which was just published in Mr. Carter's magazine, Vanity Fair. That piece explains...

'Huffington Post' Reels in Ex-Fishbowler Sklar

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:44:16 -0500

Former FishbowlNY editor and Tomato aficionado Rachel Sklar has accepted a position in The Huffington Post's New York office. Working from the company's base in Silicon Alley 2.0 (aka, Soho), she'll be lending a hand as an editor and developing several projects for the site. Fans of Sklar's unique writing style (featuring show tunes and coinages like "blog synchronicity") have nothing to fear: besides editing, she'll also be joining Larry David, Rep. John Murtha, Katrina...

Sklar Jumps From Fishbowl

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:46:00 -0500

Everything does move faster in blogland: Last Wednesday, Fishbowl NY editor Rachel Sklar posted an item marking the media blog's one-year anniversary. "[I]it's been a very good year," she wrote. "Thanks to all of you and here's to many more!" That night, Sklar gave notice she would be leaving Jan. 31 to pursue a freelance career. "I'll be returning to the wild and wonderful world of freelancing and seeing daylight," Sklar wrote via e-mail. "Can't...