First the TV show, now the mag: Rosie is retreating from pursuit of Queen of All media title:
- - Rosie O'Donnell said on Wednesday that she was severing all ties with the publisher of Rosie, the magazine that bears her name, saying the publication no longer represented her "vision and ideas."
"I'm sorry to have to tell my readers and my staff that my involvement in the magazine is ending, but my integrity and name are at stake and that price is too high," O'Donnell said at a news conference where she announced she was relinquishing her role as editor of the 18-month-old publication.
O'Donnell said that when Rosie was launched she was promised editorial freedom from publisher Gruner + Jahr USA to deliver a new kind of general interest magazine to women readers in the 30- to 45-year-old range that would address difficult, complicated issues, but be "funny, joyful and informative."
"During the past two months they have moved to take away the editorial control I had under our agreement," O'Donnell said.
"I cannot have my name on a magazine if I cannot be assured that it will represent my vision and my ideas," she added. "I said that in the beginning, and I said it again to G+J this (Wednesday) morning."
The circulation of Rosie magazine, which basically swallowed up the 125-year-old McCall's women's magazine when it was launched in 2001, was strong at about 3.8 million. Advertising dollars were up 79 percent in August and ad pages were up 67 percent from 2001, according to the Magazine Publishers of America....
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