Jeff Koyen

Jeff Koyen is an American journalist, editor and entrepreneur. According to The New York Times, "The face of web tech today could easily be a designer, like Brian Chesky at Airbnb, or a magazine editor, like Jeff Koyen at Assignmint."[1]

Koyen was born in 1969 and raised in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey and currently lives in Brooklyn. While living in Venice Beach, CA, he founded the software startup Assignmint. He is a graduate of Rutgers University.[2] He has worked as a freelance travel and culture writer, filing with Travel and Leisure, The New York Times, New York magazine, Radar, New York Post, New York Press, Penthouse, Wired.com, The Prague Pill, and others. He also founded the writing project 100 Words in 2001.

Biography

Koyen was the editor of the zine Crank, from 1994 to 2000.[3][4]

Starting in 1998, he was a contributing writer and production manager at New York Press until he moved to Prague in 2002, where he was hired as associate editor at the expatriate paper, The Prague Pill. In February 2003, he was hired as editor-in-chief of New York Press by new owners.[5] He quit after publishing a controversial article that criticized a then-dying Pope John Paul II.

Between 2007 and 2010, he worked as the deputy editor at both Forbes Traveler and Travel + Leisure, while also freelancing for the New York Times, New York magazine and other publications.

In April 2012, Koyen founded the software startup Assignmint.[6]

Controversy

In March 2005, while serving as the editor-in-chief of the New York Press, Koyen ran a cover story by Matt Taibbi entitled "52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope". The article was widely condemned by Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Matt Drudge, and Abe Foxman, among others, including now-disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner who suggested that New Yorkers take copies of that issue out of their news boxes and destroy them.[7]

The publisher responded to the attacks by demanding that Koyen publicly apologize for the article. Koyen instead chose to resign his position. He went on to defend the story, attacking owner David Unger and publisher Chris Rohland in the media,[8] saying "They couldn't handle the controversy... I didn't expect them to cave in and cower so easily. I'm really surprised they were so spineless."[9][10][11]

No apology was ever issued for Taibbi's article.

References

  1. ↑ Yiren Lu (March 12, 2014). "Silicon Valley's Youth Problem". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Green, Peter S. " A Prague Perspective for a New York Newsroom", The New York Times, February 26, 2003. Accessed December 24, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Crank Magazine". Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  4. ↑ Jeff Koyen, Crank, zinebook
  5. ↑ Peter S. Green (February 26, 2003). "A Prague Perspective for a New York Newsroom". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Nick Bilton (May 14, 2013). "Start-Up Hopes to Help Freelance Writers Get Paid". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ LAWRENCE VAN GELDER (March 8, 2005). "New York Press Editor Quits Over Article". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ The Fix (March 8, 2005). Salon.com. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
  9. ↑ Kurtz, Howard (March 9, 2005). Who's the Next Dan?. Washington Post. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
  10. ↑ Haber (Mar 7, 2005). "Jeff Koyen's Exit Interview". gawker. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Take This Job and Shove It!". Fast Company. March 8, 2005. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
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