Friedman: Portfolio can do better

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman writes that the first issue of new business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio was a dud, but he believes it will get better.

Friedman wrote, “The debut reeks of excess and is guilty of The Three Deadly Sins of Publishing, namely giving the editors of a magazine — especially a spanking new one with a lot to prove — too much time, too much money and way too much hype.

“Above all, the stories aren’t as lively as I’d hoped. Portfolio promised to stand apart from the other business magazines and not resemble the old guard. But it flopped in that mission. Its pieces seem pretty much interchangeable with the rest of the pack, albeit with the polish of a Conde Nast product.

“Why should anyone care if Portfolio succeeds or fails, anyway? It’s simple: The stakes are high in the magazine-publishing biz.”

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