What the hell is going on at New York magazine ??

An inside look from a staffer in the union

My first paid writing job was for New York magazine, when I was at Barnard. I wrote recaps of the show Girls, which I turned in overnight. I received $200, maybe $250, per recap. (I was a scholarship student doing work study in the video library, and living off an internship grant Columbia gave me to work at n+1. In the summers, I was still working as a hotel maid back home for $7.80/hr, which made me want to kill myself. This was unequivocally a windfall, not to mention the most exciting thing to ever have happened to me: I suddenly had a “career.”) Gilbert Cruz, now the editor of the New York Times Book Review, was my editor. Sometimes I skipped class to edit a recap. I felt incredibly self-important, and my classmates, not to mention my writer boyfriend at Harvard, were jealous.

New York helped me establish my reputation as an (annoying) party reporter, which eventually led me to write party reports for Artforum, which at that time was considered, by me, the best place in the world to write party reports. (Again, I think, for $200.) New York even let me write my first, albeit last, celebrity profile (of Ottessa Moshfegh).

I still think it’s one of the best magazines, largely because of their ability to spot young talent, and give them wild opportunities. (Where else do newbie journalists get major opportunities to report heavy hitting print pieces these days? I’m serious when I say Olivia Nuzzi couldn’t have become a star anywhere else. But if that example is too exciting for you, focus on Ezra Marcus or our very own Emily Sundberg! Etc.) The mag also manages to spark hometown joy in a way that we’re not seeing much anymore. I don’t know anyone who would pick the Hollywood issue at any magazine over New York magazine’s I Love New York issue.

That being said, there’s been some disgruntlement in the ranks at New York for quite a while now (about the economics of working there in particular). I hear bits and pieces. There was a moment when the writers and editors at The Cut were reduced to a skeletal staff and seemed to be doing six jobs at once. I notice that more and more, when I need to mail a galley, staffers aren’t even in New York City. Grub Street’s team is so small, it’s crazy! The paltry wages are a known issue. How much budget went to idiots like Jonathan “Sad Scab” Chait, I’d love to know. Their union has been up against it for months. When I heard that they were threatening to go on strike, I thought it might be a good opportunity to remind everyone to honor this strike (if it goes into effect), and to hear from the staff themselves.

I don’t want Substack to replace legacy magazines, I want us to co-exist in a healthy, thriving media landscape. Let’s show our support!

I’ll write more crap on shopping tomorrow, I promise!

Here’s the great Madeline Leung Coleman with a message about the union efforts:

For the last 10 months, the New York Magazine Union has been trying to get our corporate overlords, Vox Media, to meet us on a new contract that doesn’t suck. Our demands are modest: We’d love to be paid enough. (A shocking number of New York employees can barely longer afford to live in New York. Some have actually left.) We don’t want to be let go and replaced with AI. (Vox Media refuses to say they won’t do this and the company signed a deal with OpenAI last year.) We would also really appreciate it if we had health insurance we could afford, instead of the nasty new options the company just dumped on us. (My premium fucking doubled.) I’m not on the union’s bargaining committee, but I’ve shown up to some sessions with other members, and the stories from my colleagues are crazy. There are so many New York employees working second jobs. Our social media team is stretched to hysteria. Some of my coworkers literally can’t afford to buy healthy food for both themselves and their children. We’re out here writing celebrity profiles and our colleagues are food insecure? That is not cute.

So, we’re getting ready to potentially walk out. 97% of our shop is prepared to engage in a work stoppage if we don’t get a fair deal. Right now I’m working on an editorial package with some other colleagues on a topic that is so infuriating and so bitchy and so wonderfully, perfectly New York, and you know what? We want to be paid better for our good work. If we do a work stoppage, here’s what we’re asking: If you’ve ever loved, hate-read, or shared a NY Mag story with the group chat, please sign our reader solidarity pledge saying that you will NOT cross the picket line during a walkout. That means no reading online, no pitching for your clients, no filing your freelance story — nothing. If you sign, you’ll be joining Julia Fox, Bowen Yang, Anna Delvey (!), Hari Nef, Cole Escola, and many other icons.

Some call us “the people’s magazine.” Some, “the last great magazine.” Sometimes I feel like we’re the last magazine, period.

Sign the pledge.