Portfolio is approaching a point of no return

Portfolio is approaching a point of no return
Commentary: Its staff conjures up scenes from 'Mutiny on the Bounty'
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/conde-nasts-portfolio-reaching-point/story.aspx?guid=%7B1F3EE0B3%2D079E%2D475E%2D8F60%2D7420CE72B531%7D

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine is getting a bad rap and a bad rep.

I'm not referring to its overhyped launch, the debatable quality of the articles, a decline in ad pages from the first issue or even its unambitious Web product. The No. 1 question dogging Portfolio is whether it can repair its image as an out-of-control mess.
According to media reports, the staff of this monthly boasts all of the camaraderie of the crew in "Mutiny on the Bounty."
By now, it's almost tangential whether you think Portfolio is publishing a high-quality magazine. (Isn't that what it's supposed to do anyway?) The bad vibes surrounding the magazine are starting to snowball.

The magazine born in a publicity blitz is discovering that there is a down side to hype.
Portfolio's camp has a different, more reassuring, take. Its editors suspect that a handful of unhappy staffers are complaining to media writers, who are only too happy to fan the flames against a magazine that an industry has grown to envy and hate.
"There is not a 'crisis' at all," said Perri Dorset, Portfolio's spokeswoman. "Everyone here is working hard. Outside the media bubble, people are talking about the stories in the magazine."
Dorset pointed out that many of the articles in the second issue got a favorable reception, citing Daniel Roth's "Chrysler's Extreme Makeover," Franz Lidz's "Crisis at Yankee Inc." (which I read as an ambush of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner) and Matthew Cooper's look at Mitt Romney. See earlier column.

Portfolio Publisher David Carey chimed in via e-mail: "On the 11th floor of Conde Nast, there is not an ounce of concern; everyone is very pleased with the September issue and October's too. I could not in fact imagine that our ad pages could possibly be stronger for a new product -- we are setting a pace the company has never seen before.

"All the hubbub is totally inside the media beltway in New York," he wrote. "If there is a theme for your piece -- which I'm not sure I understand why you're [doing it] -- [it] is how all this coverage is a textbook tempest in a teapot."

Living up to the hype
The magazine born in a publicity blitz is discovering that there is a down side to hype. A year ago when it was staffing up, the title crowed every time it managed to woo a well-known business journalist from a competitor. To the chagrin of rivals, Portfolio not only poached people, but exploited these situations to make some noise.

But all of that would be chalked up to street smarts if Portfolio's first issue had been spectacular and lived up to its billing. The debut was castigated by critics for being the "un-" magazine -- unfocused, unwieldy and uninspiring.
The second issue was a better read, indicating that Portfolio will likely improve in the months ahead. Portfolio assembled a group of respected professionals, and they should begin to develop some momentum.

It's still hard to believe that a monthly, which has published a total of two issues, can seem so important. Yet Portfolio has taken on the aura of a big-budget Hollywood production, where pandemonium appears to be everywhere. Unfortunately, the magazine raises comparisons with "Heaven's Gate" and "Gigli." (Do you even remember the latter's plot line?)

There were constant whispers that the staff was rife was dissension. Portfolio folks preferred to pooh-pooh such talk by pointing out that this is what happens when you collect so many talented and strong-willed editors and writers.

But the bloggers' unconfirmed reports of internecine warfare seemed legitimate when Editor Joanne Lipman forced out her top deputy, Jim Impoco. Adding to a sensibility straight out of "Dallas" or "Dynasty," Impoco exited in dramatic fashion just days before Portfolio was poised to roll out its second issue.

This was clearly a time when Portfolio's brain trust should've been focused on trumpeting stories, not rationalizing the sudden departure of its second-most important news executive. If Portfolio had covered itself, you can bet that one of its writers would have filed a 5,000-word article along the lines of "Portfolio Hoisted on its Own Petard."
The rest of the media can save Portfolio the trouble of publishing a gloom-and-doom story. We've seen our share lately: The New York Observer's Michael Calderone, who has been pushing out stories with an end-of-days tone, wrote that the perception was that "chaos is reigning" at the magazine. PR Week's Aarti Shah said Portfolio is struggling with an "identity crisis." The New York Post's Keith J. Kelly said that the second issue "misses" again.

Portfolio Publisher David Carey and public-relations chief Perri Dorset, who used to work at the New Yorker (also a unit of Conde Nast) are two of the best people in New York at their respective publishing jobs. Lipman earned a stellar reputation as a creative journalist, if not a micromanager, during her days at The Wall Street Journal (which, like MarketWatch, the publisher of this column, is owned by Dow Jones & Co.