Jon Friedman, it turns out, is a bit of a Hollywood fan. You can tell by his column this morning that he pays attention. Today he's landed on the topic of Rick Tetzeli, the 44-year-old editor of
Entertainment Weekly magazine. Friedman calls him the "luckiest man in media." The job comes with a fat paycheck, lots of perks -- who in showbiz wouldn't take Tetzeli's call, eh? -- and a certain
degree of safety: If you mess up a story, it's unlikely any angry Third World country will arise to protest. Friedman, in the course of his research into Tetzeli, visited EW's offices and sat in on a
story meeting. Clearly, he was fascinated. Still, he has some misgivings about the magazine: "Tetzeli ... has to deal with the many media critics who have sprouted up in recent years. For my two
cents, I told him I regretted that the magazine abandoned its back page format of celebrating anniversaries of pop culture milestones in favor of publishing musings by author Stephen King or "STUPID
QUESTIONS" of celebrities. For instance, in the April 7 issue, the magazine asked TV and movie star Ray Romano, 'Did Jamie Foxx accurately capture you in Ray?'" Ehhhhh." Tetzeli's book has had some
ad-page and newsstand disappointments in recent months, but, overall, it's doing nicely within the Time Inc. magazine mix, and its editor is well aware of his privileged perch.
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