There's some movement on the local political beat!  read more »

The old adage that goes "never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel" could probably be updated to "never pick a fight with Rupert Murdoch." And Barack Obama might have violated that one.

On April 21, Obama held what was supposed to be a conversation about economic policy with concerned Pennsylvania voters, seated around him on benches under a low hanging tree blooming with yellow flowers.

The first question was off message. It was about media consolidation, by Murdoch and others. "What can be done to ensure that our press is really giving a free, all-point-of-view [perspective] to the population," asked the questioner.

Obama called it a good question and then, referring to the television cameras, national and local media reporters ringing his quaint afternoon conversation, said, "I think the press would argue that there are a multiplicity of voices out there, but you're absolutely right that there has been a lot of media consolidation and that's happened partly because it's so expensive to set up big TV networks."  read more »

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sam Zell's Newsday is close to being sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $580 million. The story is sourced to people familiar with the situation, and that both parties "have informally agreed on key aspects, including the price, structure and governance."  read more »

Frankie Edozien, The New York Post City Hall reporter who broke the story on the City Council's budget allowances to make-believe companies, is leaving the paper. Our own Azi Paybarah has the story, and a video interview to match! Frankie is going to Africa on a fellowship to do some reporting, and he'll join the NYU journalism school after that.

What tactics might new governor David Paterson take in dealing with the media when they ask questions about his personal life, I asked Ken Sunshine, the public relations man who is friendly with both Paterson and former governor Eliot Spitzer, late last week.

"I think he should tell the press to go fuck themselves when they ask things that are inappropriate," he said. "Of course, I don't think he should follow that advice. You should delve into the lives of politicians at the same level you delve into the lives of press people."

But already, resulting in what was either a full disclosure or a limited hangout or a modified limited hangout, Paterson and his wife were conducting interviews with Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News. Meeting since Saturday, the couple carefully disclosed news of years-old mutual extramarital affairs.  read more »

The veteran reporter that we talked to yesterday had more to say about the conditions in the Post newsroom than we could handle! Here's our source's entire description of life on the 10th  read more »

A year after he first started interviewing, Dan Colarusso has the job he probably wishes he had taken in the first place.

Portfolio announced today that Colarusso, the former city editor of The New York Post, has been hired to run its Web site. Running Portfolio.com was the job Mr. Colarusso was interviewing for before he got bumped up from the Post's business editor to its city editor in Jan. 2007, said a source at Portfolio.  read more »

The New York Daily News reclaimed the title of New York's most read tabloid this morning. The Audit Bureau of Circulations released a study of daily average circulation over a six month period, ending on September 30, that showed the News had over taken the New York Post.

The News had a daily circulation rate of 681,415 (down from 693,423 last year); The Post had 667,119 (down from 704,011 last year).

Last year, the Post bragged about beating the News, so expect some payback tomorrow.  read more »

No photograph ran with the online version of New York Post reporter Jeremy Olshan's story about the New York City Transit using barricades to block some ubway exits near Yankee Stadium.

The visuals are kind of essential to a) show how really bad an idea this is, and b) prove that it really happened.

So, here you go, courtesy of a well-informed reader.

The barricades, according to Olshan's story, have been removed. But still, how did they get there?

Hearings, anyone? 

Perhaps despairing of the continuing interest of the traditional media in his office's entanglements with Joe Bruno, Eliot Spitzer has opened up a new public relations front.

He recently posted on the Huffington Post and on Daily Kos, speaking, in theory, directly to one of the most motivated and active parts of the Democratic base (which notably hasn't rushed to Spitzer's defense over the trying past few weeks).

A spokesman for Huffington Post said that they reached out to Spitzer after hearing that he was giving a major speech, and confirmed that yesterday’s item was his first post there.