Dethroned "Queen Of Buzz" stages comeback

For two decades, she was the "It Girl" in publishing: the editor with a Midas touch. But in 2001, the woman who could not fail, did. And some wrote her off as "the dethroned queen of buzz."

Her start up magazine Talk folded seven years ago. And then her show on CNBC did too, and suddenly, some began to write Brown off.

"It's great when people trash you because it means that you're interesting and they want to write about you and they are still provoked by you," Brown told Moriarty.

She's counting on that, because Tina Brown is back in the editor's saddle. And this time, she's at the reins of The Daily Beast.

"This is such a new idea for me," Brown said. "If you'd said to me five years ago, I'd be doing this, I'd think you are out of your mind."

The name of Brown's newest venture is taken from a 1938 British novel, but it is anything but old school. The Daily Beast is a magazine entirely on the web, a digest that includes original columns.

"I've got so many writers that I know," Brown said. "So many people in television and movies, I now have this immense network in a sense."

In addition, Brown chooses what she deems the best articles and videos available on the web and posts them on The Daily Beast.

"The Beast is - is like a kind of a salon - of smart minds who are exchanging conversations and ideas. And mixing how they feel about the world, of what they've just read and seen and heard. It's almost like you get a seat at the table. Maybe that that's not your world. But what we allow people to do, in a sense, is to come on and be part of - the conversation. And to join in the smart table.

Brown has had a seat at "the smart table" her whole life. Her father, a British theatre producer and her mother, actor Laurence Olivier's assistant, raised her outside London surrounded by bold-face names.

"There were always movie people at home always," Brown says. "Sir Richard Attenborough, Laurence Olivier for one, Vivien Leigh, people of that nature."

The young woman thrived. At just 23, she had already written two plays and was working as a freelance journalist for the Times of London - Harold Evans was the editor.

"I've worked with many great writers and Tina has an uncanny capacity for two things," Evans says. "Mimicry. She's a very good mimic. And a terrific ear for dialogue, and I remember being struck. I thought she looked promising."

And within six months - their professional relationship turned romantic.

"I was 23," Brown says.

"And he was?" Moriarty asked.

"Twenty five years older," Brown says.

And it was tough. He was married at the time too.

"It was a very heartbreaking time," Brown says. "Because you know he was very loyal. But you know, we fell very much in love. And sometimes these things just overwhelm everything."

But not her career. Brown went on to become the editor of a languishing British magazine called Tatler.

"The thing about the Tatler was it was a tiny, little magazine," Brown said. "It was a staff of, like, seven, you know? It was really like - almost like a - like an internet site in a funny way. And I just hired all the kids I knew from college. And we had a great time. So as far as I was concerned, it was just a party, you know?"

Fascinated by glamour and celebrity - Brown recognized the appeal of another striking young, ambitious woman and used it to sell magazines.

"I always felt a great link to Princess Diana," Brown says. "Because she rose to fame at the same time that I was a 25-year-old editor of Tatler Magazine. And so in a way, Tatler's fortunes rose as Diana's fortunes rose.

Brown's fortunes were rising too. At age 30, she moved with Evans, now her husband - to the U.S. to become editor of Vanity Fair. Here, she made headlines with Hollywood royalty, and a splash of shock appeal.

"The Demi Moore cover is one of the great fabulous things we did in journalism," Brown said. "I mean I love that cover."

"At the time I was pregnant. So I was very much feeling that I wanted to showcase women who, proudly were pregnant. Demi took a deep breath and we did it."

Eight years later, Brown took her flair for the dramatic to the staid and scholarly The New Yorker, where she was not welcomed with open arms.

"Here is the literary crown jewels," Brown says. "You can understand why many of the writers were just aghast when they heard I was coming."

They were so aghast that many left, but Brown brought in a fresh crop of young writers.

"I think The New Yorker probably was the happiest time of my life," Brown says. "I left because I am someone who loves new challenges."

Her next challenge was TALK, glossy gossip magazine that Brown started from scratch with the financial backing of larger than life movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. TALK was silenced after just two years.

"I was very, very upset when TALK closed down," Brown says. "I felt betrayed by the situation involved. I felt people involved didn't understand how well we were about to break through. When something fails, you ask yourself why 'Why did I do this to myself? Why did I take this one? Why did I not get it right?'"

So Brown, seeking a safe place, found solace in writing and the subject that once brought her so much success. And last year her "The Diana Chronicles" became a bestseller.

And that gave her the confidence to try once more at doing what she loves best - running a magazine - her webzine, The Daily Beast, went online the first week of October.

"I feel great," Brown says. "I mean, the fact of the matter is I've been through a bad experience and it has strengthened me. And it means that, with this new website, I have not been nearly as anxious as I was when I went to do TALK. Because at that point, I hadn't had a failure. When you don't care as much, somehow it gives you a kind of inner strength."

Although she is British, Brown and her husband of 27 years, Sir Harold Evans, raised their son and daughter in New York. And next month, this recently sworn in American citizen will vote in a Presidential election for the very first time.

"When 9/11 happened and the twin towers came down, I suddenly realized I had such an emotional connection to America that I felt so passionately protective of New York and so deeply offended by the betrayal actually, I really felt I'd become an American," Brown said. "And I realized I didn't really have the same interests in the English system or what happened to it."

"And soon this newly-minted American will find out whether she can still create a buzz."

"Do you worry in some ways whether this succeeds or fails will be a little bit of a referendum on Tina Brown?" Moriarty asked.

"You know, I am really past caring about that," Brown says. "I have to say, you know, I did something that didn't work, a talk magazine, and what's to lose? I mean, at the end of the day, you're at the game table or you're not."