Rodale will launch Organic Style
Rodale Inc. will launch a new magazine this fall, conceived by the company’s vice chairwoman Maria Rodale and titled Organic Style. The magazine, which will launch with a 400,000 rate base for its premiere September-October issue, will be headed by Carol Brietzke Brooks. Brooks most recently served as deputy editor at Glamour and previously worked at Cosmopolitan. In a statement, Rodale said the new title will combine beauty, fashion, cuisine, home and gardening to capture "the art of living in balance." Organic Gardening, the company's 59-year-old flagship publication, will likely be bulldozed to make way for the launch, with the circulation being folded into Organic Style, according to a report in the New York Post. Three weeks ago, another Rodale magazine, Fitness Swimmer, was closed.

Disney moves Bornstein back to TV side
Steve Bornstein, the head of Walt Disney’s internet operations, will return to his former post running most of Disney's ABC television and radio operations. In his new job, Bornstein will oversee operations including the ABC broadcast network, the company's TV production unit, its group of owned TV and radio stations and television syndication operations, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Bornstein will not oversee Disney's cable properties, as he did the last time he held the post. Bornstein built up the company's ESPN cable networks before becoming president of Disney's ABC Inc. unit early in 1999. Later that year, Bornstein took over the company’s web operations. His appointment to the new position is expected to be announced as early as today.

FCC: Enough of this #%^& language on TV
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published indecency guidelines for broadcasters on Friday, following up on a six-year-old  court directive to define what is patently offensive. Democratic FCC commissioner Susan Ness said the agency decided to finally set the guidelines after receiving loads of complaints about radio and TV content recently. According to the new guidelines, when processing indecency complaints, the FCC will consider factors including the explicitness and graphic nature of the broadcast, the extent to which sexual innuendo is repeated, and the extent to which a broadcast panders, titillates or possesses intentional shock value. The report also stresses that the context in which comments are made and whether they are premeditated will play a major role in whether they are considered indecent or not. If a broadcaster is cited for airing indecent content, the FCC can punish the station by revoking its license, imposing a fine or issuing a warning. 

'Survivor's' Jenna sells her expertise online
Castaway Jenna Lewis, from the first season of CBS’s hit reality series "Survivor," has gone online to dish out advice to wannabe "Survivor" contestants. For a fee, Lewis is providing users of keen.com with pointers on how to up their chances of being selected for the next season of the show, according to MSNBC.com. Her advice? On your audition tape, Lewis says to be yourself, have an open personality and get ready to fight. The "Survivor" veteran says the producers of the show want people who are willing to be confrontational with each other. Within the next few weeks before the finale of "Survivor 2," Lewis also will be doing a live chat on keen.com about her take on the second season.

Viacom's Sumner's got a new young squeeze
Proving yet again that advanced age need not be an obstacle to sexual misadventure, Viacom honcho Sumner Redstone has once again traded up mistresses. The 77-year-old media titan has been cheating on girlfriend Manuela Herzer, according to a report in the New York Post. This as Redstone remains mired in divorce proceedings with his wife of 53 years, Phyllis. Mrs. Redstone sued for divorce two years ago after learning, with the help of a private investigator, that her husband was carrying on an affair with one of his underlings, Christine Peters. Redstone has reportedly been doing all he can to delay the divorce, afraid that it will cost him a large chunk of his personal fortune and possibly even his control of Viacom, the parent of CBS, MTV, Infinity Broadcasting, Paramount Studios and numerous other media outlets. The identity of his new paramour is not yet known, but it’s a good bet she is a lot younger than he.

Hollywood writers resume contract talks
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have announced that they will return to the negotiating table on April 17, at the WGA West headquarters. The negotiations have been on hold since the end of February, when after six weeks the first round of talks broke off with no agreement. The WGA and the AMPTP will be trying to settle on a contract for the writers in advance of May 1, when the writers’ current contract expires. Rumors have been circulating that the WGA could extend its current contract as negotiations continue, possibly until June 30, when the Screen Actors Guild’s contract comes due. The impending round of negotiations likely represents Hollywood’s last hope to avoid a potential strike.

April 10, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

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