It almost feels like a sign of an apocalypse here in New York, or a definitive sign of the death throes of so-called Old Media, or ... something. In what can at least definitively be said is a sign of changing times, the legendary Liz Smith—the queen of Page Six and arguably New York gossip in general—is leaving The New York Post.
Worse still, the 86-year-old isn't leaving of her own accord. According to The New York Times' City Room blog, Ms. Smith's contract was not renewed by her publisher, leaving her without "a home in a New York City tabloid for the first time in 33 years." It seems the venerable columnist had even argued with said publisher, Col Allan, but finally even had a meeting with Rupert Murdoch to plead her case. As Smith told The Times: "'He said he wouldn’t interfere with Col Allan. Well, isn’t he right? Shouldn’t publishers believe in their editors?'" Spoken like a true veteran of publishing.
Of course, like any true upstart writer (even a pushing-90 upstart), Smith still has some tricks up her sleeve. And, like any of the good writers these days (ahem, ahem!), Liz is taking her rolodex and moving on up ... and online! In the last year, Smith helped found a site called WowOwow, an online community blog-meets-online 'zine written and owned by women, that also happens to be one of the 25 most valuable blogs. Some of those women are certainly worth mentioning—Leslie Stahl, for example—and as of this afternoon, there was already a post about how Liz Smith was leaving The Post for WwOwow. And if that's how fast the gossip starts hitting that site, we'll definitely start bookmarking it from here on out.
