S.I. Newhouse

Portfolio’s second issue hits newsstands on August 15, and there have now been two high-profile departures in the past four days alone.

Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer and investigative reporter, has resigned, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

For two decades, Mr. Eichenwald worked as an investigative reporter at the New York Times before joining the Conde Nast start-up in September 2006.

It was in Dec. 2005, while at The Times, that Mr. Eichenwald wrote an award-winning investigative piece on online child-pornography that continues to generate controversy. This past March, The Times revealed that Mr. Eichenwald paid $2,000 to the story’s subject Justin Berry—which although repaid, violated the paper’s ethics guidelines, according to executive editor Bill Keller. And two days ago, The Times reported that Mr. Eichenwald made additional payments totaling $1,100 to Mr. Berry via PayPal, under pseudonyms.

Back in February 2007, Mr. Eichenwald was very excited about his new position at Portfolio, telling The Observer that “very few startups have the kind of bankroll behind it that this one does."

Regarding the simultaneous print and online launch, he added: “Portfolio is a magazine being born in the 21st century. Any magazine coming out now cannot look at the Web as just something to put an article on; it has to be viewed as part of the whole.”

When contacted by The Observer today, Mr. Eichenwald declined to comment.

It’s been a tumultuous week over at 4 Times Square

On Tuesday, The Observer first reported on the firing of deputy editor Jim Impoco—regarded among staffers at the magazine’s number two, next to editor Joanne Lipman. The widely-admired Mr. Impoco brought in many of the magazine’s top staffers, and his firing occurred at a difficult moment, right as the magazine shifts to a monthly schedule.

Mr. Impoco was an advocate of an investigative piece on terrorism that Mr. Eichenwald wrote for the first issue, but which was held by Ms. Lipman.

Although Mr. Eichenwald wrote another piece for the forthcoming September issue, the terrorism story remains held. Several Portfolio staffers, who read the terrorism piece, praised it, and told The Observer that they did not know a specific reason why Ms. Lipman would not run it.

A Portfolio spokesperson had no comment.

UPDATE: Portfolio staffers now tell The Observer that was Mr. Eichenwald was on leave at the time of his resignation. A Portfolio spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters. 

NY architects, circa 1880 [Metrop.]

• How do you get Mayor Bloomberg, S.I. Newhouse, Arthur Sulzberger, and Ms. Oprah Winfrey in one room together? Cathy Black has the answer--tonight she's hosting the grand opening gala for the new Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower. These days, $500 million buys you a rainwater waterfall (there's also "The Wave"), and rainwater buys you a "green" certificate. (See below...) (NY Post)
• After his hippy Tribeca rock club closed down, Peter Shapiro formed a environmental consultancy firm named GreenOrder with his brother Andrew. It's been six small years, but their group has helped 7 World Trade Center become New York's first "gold" office building, and now the Shapiros are working with GE's $47.5 billion real estate holdings. Up next: A $2.6 billion environmentally friendly mall in upstate New York. Green greed is good! (NY Times)
• New York's Young Architects' Forum isn't so young anymore. The YAF club--for cool kids like Steven Holl, Neil Denari, and Billie Tsien--is turning 25. Hurrah! Yet this year the group's theme is "instability," which proves that Crash Anxiety has finally spilled over from the brokers and bankers to the architects. (Metropolis)
• The City Opera suffers the daily indignity of performing in the NY State Theater (merely a sound-enhanced ballet hall), though even cheaper is Toronto's new, unfancy "Ikea Opera House." Can imperfect buildings hurt the music? Yes! "Architecture is everything," sneers Anthony Tommasini. (NY Times)
- Max Abelson  read more »
• 0 comments