Michael Wolff: Media Person of the Year

"Today's vast world of media is shaped by many bold and audacious personalities," says I Want Media. "But which individual most deserves to be recognized for his or her impact on the media in 2003? "

The Corsair thinks Michael Wolff was clearly the media person of the year. Audacious? Wolff! Wolff won the National Magazine Award in 2002 for columns and commentary. Then, this year Wolff stunned the world's media by making controversial statements about CENTCOM during the Second Gulf War, asking General Vincent Brooks, "I mean no disrespect, but what is the value proposition of these briefings. Why are we here? Why should we stay? What's the value of what we're learning at this million dollar press centre?"

Audacious!

Wolff also stunned the snarky and highly envious New York Media clique when it was revealed that he makes more than $450,000 a year from his gig at New York Magazine. And, to add salt to our wounded pride, he is currently in the thick of a bid to buy the aforementioned New York, thus transforming us all from fancy free scribblers to Masters of Our Own Fate.


Autumn of the Moguls, his paean to media moguls, was published in November 2003 to generally good reviews. In fact, Wolff declared the New York Times Book Review dead, and, later they gave Autumn of the Moguls a positive review. And even though he called Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein a "thug," that gangster of New York still attended Michael's book party at -- where else -- Michael's. That's "juice."

He buried the hatchet with Barry Diller and he analyzed Tina Brown's rough year, but in the end Michael Wolff looked down from all of this media hooplah from his Table No. 5 looking pretty solid. In fact, very solid.

Maybe we should all be wanna-be mogul's? Send your nominees to:

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