Much ado has been made of Talk magazine’s shuttering last week. The magazine that was always talked about more than it was read went out — as it had launched — in a flame of chatter. Following a 5 p.m. announcement Friday, January 18, of the sudden muzzling of the mag, the New York Times ran two cover stories on Talk’s demise. Meanwhile, the New York Observer, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal jumped into the ring with juicy tidbits and overheard, in-house disses.

A little less energetically — though amidst no less speculation — the Sun was rising. The soon-to-launch skeletal daily newspaper couldn’t be more perfectly scripted to take the helm of the New York media world, where counting pennies is the ’02 equivalent of the ’90s notion of blowing wads.

Since it’s so unfair to compare a daily with a monthly, a broadsheet with a glossy ... here goes: editors Seth Lipsky of the Sun and Tina Brown of Talk, face off.

Lipsky Brown

Raised: Great Barrington Raised: Great Britain

So very: 1940s So very: 1990s

Motto: "We need scoops." Motto: "We need buzz."

Known for wearing: fedoras Known for wearing: furs

Operation: bare-bones Operation: bare-shoulders

Moneybags: Conrad Black Moneybags: Cathy Black

Circulation: 6000 Circulation: 600,000

Loves: Michael Ledeen Loves: Madonna

Publication position: right-leaning Publication position: horizontal