NY Observer > Rupert Murdoch

Black and White, Red All Over: Is 2008 the Worst Year in Modern Newspaper History?

John Koblin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:08:19 -0400

On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., Arthur Sulzberger and Janet Robinson will be managing a conference call that, from the looks of it, won't be much fun. They'll be reporting The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings. Last time they did one of quarterly earnings calls, The Times reported big losses; there was a plan to cut 100 newsroom jobs, some through straight-up layoffs rather than superannuation and retirement deals. And in the past few weeks, it's only gotten worse: the company's stock has fallen to a decade low, and tumbled more than 15 percent in just this month. read more »

Wood War Is Over (If You Want It)

John Koblin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:21:33 -0400

Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria ... and this! Tim Arango at The Times is reporting something that was probably once unfathomable but utterly plausible in today's bleak, sad newspaper climate: Rupert Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman are negotiating a plan to combine some back offices to ease operating costs for The New York Post and the Daily News.

He reports:

Lawyers for both newspapers are trying to find a structure for an agreement that would not require signing a Joint Operating Agreement — a mechanism other papers have used that would require creating a separate entity with a separate board and essentially mean merging all business functions while maintaining separate newsrooms. read more »

Please Help Rupert Murdoch Find His Wedding Ring

Irina Aleksander — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:53:54 -0400

Rupert Murdoch lost his wedding ring!

How? Well, he was under the influence, naturally.

According to Reuters report the media mogul was getting "sloshed" with other media and tech moguls at the Sun Valley Lodge. But! As everyone was exiting, Mr. Murdoch stayed behind in the lobby and told reporters that he was hunting for his wedding ring.

Best part of the tale: concerned reporters joined Mr. Murdoch in search of the lost ring--What will Wendi do to him?--in hopes of scoring an interview. Alas, the ring remains to be found.

[Via Huffington Post]

13 Months After Murdoch: The Journal Diaspora

John Koblin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:06:45 -0400

Last week, The Wall Street Journal’s managing editor, Robert Thomson, announced sweeping masthead changes—new people have been added, some familiar names dumped.

Laurie Hays, former deputy managing editor, is off to Bloomberg; Bill Grueskin, another deputy managing editor, is packing away for Morningside Heights and semi-retirement at the journalism school at Columbia University.

Other people left, too. Earlier this month, The Journal’s formidable Federal Reserve reporter, Gregory Ip, said that he was leaving for The Economist; a special writer from the San Francisco bureau, Rebecca Beckman, said she was leaving for Forbes. read more »

Times Book Review Editor Reviews Wall Street Journal Business Plan

Matt Haber — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:17:17 -0400

On Paper Cuts, The New York Times' book blog, Barry Gewen writes about Mark Bowden's recent Atlantic article about Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Wall Street Journal and his desire to kneecap the paper of record.

Mr. Gewen, you may recall, revealed the inner-workings of The Times Book Review at Harvard last year. Among his revelations: the names and roles of several NYTBR editors, how they choose what books to review, and some intramural gripes like "the magazine pays the salaries of all the rest of us. It makes money hand over fist. And you can see it in the physical plan. read more »

Why Jane Jumped: Forensics on the End Of Friedman at HC

Leon Neyfakh — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:32:44 -0400

At 11 a.m. last Wednesday morning, Jane Friedman presided over a meeting with her publishers and some marketing people on the 15th floor of the HarperCollins building in midtown. The meeting was about digital outreach, and offered an occasion to discuss ideas for how the News Corp.-owned publishing house could use computers to sell more books. This meeting, a regular thing, was held once every two or three weeks as part of an initiative called Publishing+ that Ms. Friedman started a few years ago. Last Wednesday’s meeting was devoted to discussing a podcast for BlogTalkRadio.com, as well as an original video that the publicity department had managed to place on a bunch of blogs to promote a recently published memoir about life in a polygamist cult. read more »

Thomson as New Journal Editor: 'I Feel Privileged'

John Koblin — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:53:59 -0400

We just caught up with Robert Thomson, who, it was just announced, will be the newspaper's next managing editor, on the phone. "I feel privileged," he said. "I'm looking forward with much excitement to making the Journal, and its news wires, which is the greatest news organization in the world, even greater."

He will move down to the newsroom's ninth floor tomorrow, and will take over chief editing duties over the paper immediately. read more »

Robert Thomson Named Editor of The Wall Street Journal

Observer Staff — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:39:28 -0400

Here's the News Corp. press release. More coming shortly.

Robert Thomson has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, effective immediately, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of Dow Jones & company, announced.

The Dow Jones Special Committee today unanimously endorsed Mr. Thomson's appointment following his nomination by the Company last week.
read more »

Take That, Rupert! Related Air Brushes News Corp. From Rail Yards Renderings

Tom Acitelli and Eliot Brown — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:54:12 -0400

Check out the above rendering. We got it on Monday afternoon at a press conference to tout the deal struck this weekend between the Related Companies and the M.T.A. over the development rights of the West Side rail yards.

Look closely. An old rendering, from Related's original rail yards bid in November, featured a sign above the concert stage that read "myspace.com". It was, of course, a reference to then-anchor tenant News Corp., owner of MySpace. read more »

At Arianna's Big Book Bash, Moguls Mingle But Mum's the Word on Murdoch and Newsday

Leon Neyfakh — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:04:18 -0400

Arianna Huffington made The New York Times on Friday morning for a blog post she wrote on her Web site about John McCain. In that post Ms. Huffington wrote that a few years back McCain told her at a dinner party that he did not vote for George W. Bush in 2000. This made McCain look like a hypocrite, and his campaign responded by calling Ms. Huffington “a flake and a poser and an attention-seeking diva.” read more »