Indecision about what to put in Portfolio

Michael Calderone of The New York Observer writes Wednesday that the second issue of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio was marked by squabbling about what stories to include in the issue.

Some of that squabbling is apparently what caused editor Joanne Lipman to fire deputy editor Jim Impoco.

Calderone wrote, “To showcase Daniel Roth’s feature on the takeover of Chrysler, there’s a striking photograph of a car assembly line, complete with prodding robots the color of traffic cones. It’s a more ambitious aesthetic choice than a cover at say, Fortune, where Mr. Roth previously worked. And again, it’s that rare cover choice Portfolio exhibited with its first issue—it’s not a portrait of a person.

“But as with the first issue, the cover decision came fairly late in the production cycle. Three sources at the magazine told The Observer that Mr. Roth’s 5,800-word piece was not even slated to be in the September issue, and would not have been included if the lately departed Mr. Impoco hadn’t pushed for it.

“Also, the staffers said that Ms. Lipman had planned to hold the issue’s second-most prominently featured piece—the much-discussed article by Franz Lidz on George Steinbrenner’s declining health, which included rare access to the Yankees boss in Howard Hughes-like reclusion.

“Instead, staffers said, Ms. Lipman was pushing for a cover story about a new business venture launched by followers of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.”

Read more here.