New York Post | The New York Observer

Ex-Editor Sues the Post

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:38:40 -0500

Former New York Post editor Sandra Guzman has sued both the paper and News Corp, alleging that she "was terminated on September 29 in retaliation for complaints about allegedly pervasive racism and sexism at the newspaper," according to Reuters.

The 38-page complaint, available at The Huffington Post, catalogues a vast array of racist, sexist, and generally bad behavior by Post staff--far beyond the cartoon originally connected with Guzman's dismissal.

For example:

"On one occasion when Ms. Guzman...

Post Blogs Brooklyn

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:27:57 -0500

The Post continues its Brooklyn adventures. Last month it started throwing in The Brooklyn Paper for the borough's subscribers; now, its website offers a new Brooklyn bonus--The Brooklyn Blog, written by Post reporter Rich Calder

According to his bio, Calder lives in Carroll Gardens and has covered Brooklyn-related topics such as "the city's Coney Island redevelopment plan, the New Jersey Nets anticipated move to Brooklyn, and the long-stalled Brooklyn Bridge Park development." The Blog has...

Times Neglects Times-Related Explanation for Play's Failure

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:36:04 -0500

Times reporter Patrick Healy has really been writing the hell out of that "Brighton Memoirs closes" story--he's the "Brighton Beach Memoirs bureau chief," says the Post's Michael Riedel.

But Riedel proposes an explanation for the play's failure that Healy has thus far neglected: a bad advertising deal with The Times itself. Riedel reports:

The Times offered the producers of Brighton Beach several weeks worth of splashy ads in the paper and on its Web site at...

Post Throws In Brooklyn Paper for Brooklyn Subscribers

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:56:08 -0400

Rupert Murdoch bought The Brooklyn Paper in March, and its stories appear on the Post web site. But, as of this Friday, the two papers' print editions will also be a package deal: Post subscribers in "selected areas of Brooklyn" will receive The Paper as well.

From the announcement that appeared in The Brooklyn Paper today:

"This is what we call a classic win-win," said Celia Weintrob, publisher of The Brooklyn Paper. "Post readers already enjoy...

Crime Waves: Polanski, Monserrate

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:44:07 -0400

Roman Polanski was arrested this weekend in Switzerland on 1977 charges that he had sex with a 13-yeal-old girl; "why he would suddenly be arrested after flying in and out of Zurich without trouble for years flummoxed his Hollywood friends," says the Times. The Post says that Swiss authorities acted on a provisional arrest warrant from the Los Angeles District Attorney, and says that the French were not merely flummoxed but shocked:

"I think this...

Corynne Steindler Leaves Page Six for Bonnie Fuller's Site, HollywoodLife.com

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:39:56 -0400

The Observer has learned that Page Six reporter Corynne Steindler is leaving the Post for a senior reporting position at Bonnie Fuller’s web site, HollywoodLife.com.

The move makes Ms. Steindler the third reporter in just over two months to leave Page Six. Paula Froelich left in July shortly after her book was published; Bill Hoffman was let go in August. Neel Shah, who has been at Page Six for 10 months, is now the most veteran member...

Only for My Yorkies, Kids: Adams Plans Show for ASPCA

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:18:27 -0400

This fall, New York Post celebrity gossip chronicler Cindy Adams will debut a one-woman show, Only in New York, in her palatial Park Avenue penthouse, formerly the home of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. All proceeds from the $250 tickets will go to the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). “That’s where my heart is,” Ms. Adams explained to the Transom. “My Yorkies sort of run my life. If they could...

WOOD WAR: 05.26.09

Tue, 26 May 2009 09:41:00 -0400

The New York Post: Welcome back, holidaymakers! While we've been away the tabloids have been hard at it: there's been more swine flu and even a giant tiny scary terrorist plot! We will just have to see if we have the opportunity to talk about those Woods in the coming days. Looking at this morning's editions, though, I was reminded of something a big editor at one of the tabloids said to me a...

WOOD WAR: 05.18.2009

Mon, 18 May 2009 09:22:00 -0400

The city both explicitly linked Wiener's death to underlying conditions and did a bit of quick policy work, issuing a warning to anyone exposed to the virus who has an underlying condition to be tested even if they have no...

Parker Says He Supports Smith's Action Against Him

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:03:00 -0400

ALBANY—State Senator Kevin Parker was milling in a hallway just now, having finished giving an interview to a television station, when he was approached by a reporter and photographer for the New York Post. It was, of course, a Post photographer that was involved in the incident that led to Parker's arrest last Friday. But today Parker smiled, and then calmly spent the next five minutes posing for pictures on the Great Western Staircase. Afterward, I...

WOOD WAR: 04.24.09

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:54:00 -0400

The Arabian Oryx is "the perfect mammal for these terrorist times because it speaks" both Arabic and Hebrew. Chuckle? No, us...

Paula Froelich's Mercurial World: 'Society Is Pretty Much Dead,' Says Sassy Page Six Vet

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:00:00 -0400

Gossip writer Paula Froelich opened the front door to her one-bedroom Soho apartment on a recent evening, wearing a flattering emerald dress with puffy sleeves and woolly, moccasin-style slippers.

She had one hour, she warned, before she had to run out and meet Daily Candy founder Dany Levy and socialite Gigi Howard for an 8 p.m. dinner at Minetta Tavern. But she wanted to make sure the Daily...

WOOD WAR: 04.17.09

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

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Wood War! Who Wins Today's Grabby Tabloid Battle For Your Eyeballs?

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:23:07 -0400

The New York Post: According to the Post, "Arthur Kelly, 45, said his wife, Ann -- a flame-haired registered nurse -- was carrying on an affair with 'one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, New Jersey, and Colts Neck, New Jersey, at various times and places too numerous to mention.'" The quote is from papers filed by Mr. Kelly, a mortgage broker from Asbury Park, in Superior Court in Monmouth County on March 27. Inside...

Wood War: 04.09.09

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:36:00 -0400

If you can read this story and get any information out of it, you are probably drinking the same rum as the 20 reporters who are...

Wood War: 04.06.09

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:03:00 -0400

Gloria Vanderbilt is 85 years old, and she has written an erotic novel that is giving Post columnist Andrea Peyser the...

WOOD WAR: 04.03.09

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:11:00 -0400

Did you know that Barack Obama, when he goes to Europe, is "The Fonz"? That thumbs-up pose he's doing on the cover of the Daily News, and the faces of Silvio Berlusconi and Dmitry Medvedev smiling (with a little nudge from the display copy, the smiles certainly could look sycophantic, Ralph and Pottsie style) seems to be what suggested the headline "HAPPY DAYS" to the...

WOOD WAR: 04.02.09

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:59:00 -0400

What about OFF THE RAILS? Or an imperative: FIX IT, NOW! We suppose METROTARDS is offensive. It still would have been...

Wood War: 03.31.09

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:02:00 -0400

Every day, The New York Post and the Daily News battle for readers with Big Front Pages. Who wins...

Newly Rehabilitated O'Byrne Tells Paterson to Clean House

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:25:00 -0500

Charles O'Byrne had some pointed advice for his former boss David Paterson during their Feb. 21 meeting. Off with their heads. According to a well-placed source, Mr. O'Byrne, the former chief of staff and powerful consigliere who left the governor's office under the cloud of a tax scandal, told Mr. Paterson to act quickly and decisively after the disastrous Senate selection process, get rid of some advisers and institute a wholesale change in staff. ...

A Tale of Two Condés

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:10:08 -0500

"[W]hen the current [New Yorker] editor, David Remnick, ordered up a bunch of articles for the magazine’s formidable presidential inauguration issue, some of the reporters drove to Washington and stayed at friends’ houses. Mr. Remnick, who was among those who bunked with a friend in Washington, declined comment, beyond suggesting it was just common sense to preserve assets for other articles. 'Steve Coll can’t stay at a friend’s house in Afghanistan,' he said."— David...

Kennedy Navigates New York Politics-Media Complex

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:38:19 -0500

“Caroline Still Has a Shot, Sez Dave.”

So read the headline on Page 7 of the New York Daily News the day that Senator Hillary Clinton was being questioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about why she’d make a good secretary of state.

Caroline Kennedy, apparently, might yet take her place! In the article, Governor David Paterson said he was “impressed” with Ms....

Report: Chicken Pox Parties Continue 45-Year Rampage

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:13:37 -0500

Move over Rainbow Parties! According to this week's Page Six Magazine, there's a "new" moral panic for parents to worry about: Chicken Pox Parties!

In a feature by Kate Torgovnick headlined "Inside New York Chicken Pox Parties," we learn that, according to the article's subhead, "A growing number of New York parents are scheduling chicken pox playdates where kids share lollipops and trade germy pajamas to spread the disease and avoid vaccinations. But...

Michael Wolff v. Col Allan

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:42:52 -0500

We've heard quite a bit about Michael Wolff's feuds this week—including one with Conrad Black too!—but in case you haven't had enough, here's one more:

In today's edition of The Observer, we mention an anecdote we reported first last week: Michael Wolff invited 50 people from News Corporation to the party for his biography of Rupert Murdoch, and he said that none of them responded to the invite except for Col Allan. Mr. Wolff told...

What's Behind Post Cozying Up to Caroline?

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:59:07 -0500

The New York Post’s endorsement of Caroline Kennedy yesterday is another brilliant example of the political mind of Rupert Murdoch.

For starters, it’s good to have a relationship. That’s a Rupert operating policy.

“I think Rupert has a special relationship with Caroline Kennedy and that has happened through [News Corp. spokesman] Gary Ginsberg, who was John Kennedy Jr.’s factotum,” said Michael Wolff, the writer who...

Mayor Bloomberg Knows You're Smoking Late at Night

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:53:25 -0500

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you've ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn't exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out—with 1,800 or so words devoted to the topic—as it is in this week's Page Six Magazine.

A spokesperson for the Rose Bar told the magazine, "The Rose Bar is...

Happy Tina Fey Day!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:29:49 -0500

What else do you call a day when the comedic actress and writer is seemingly everywhere all at once?

First up, Vanity Fair, which enlisted The Times' Maureen Dowd to profile Ms. Fey, whom the magazine's cover trumpets as "A New American Sweetheart!" (Punctuation theirs.) The magazine's Web site also features one of those behind-the-scenes videos of Ms. Fey's photo shoot that all magazines' Web Editors are convinced Internet users love. (In an...

Breaking: Some Parents Want Kids To Learn Mandarin

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:32:34 -0500

Stop us if you've heard this one before... According to Page Six The Magazine, some Manhattan parents are so desperate to give their children a leg-up on their peers, they're sending them to Mandarin classes! (And Hindi! And French! And German!)

Page Six's Jennifer Rose quotes a parent named Brett Hauser, who pays $395 for his 6-month-old son to take 10 sessions at The Language Workshop for Children saying, "Mandarin is...

Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About the G.O.P.?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:56:54 -0500

Martin Eisenstadt, principal of the Eisenstadt Group and Senior Fellow at The Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy is on a the mind of a lot of bloggers and cable news talent bookers lately. Apparently Mr. Eisenstadt, as an adviser to Senator John McCain, leaked the story that former G.O.P. Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa is a continent and not a single country. That bit of news was picked up...

Reporters Bumped From 'O Force One'?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:00:44 -0400

This morning, Matt Drudge reported that Barack Obama's campaign had barred critical reporters from the senator's plane. According to Mr. Drudge, reporters from the New York Post, The Washington Times, and The Dallas Morning News (all papers whose editorial pages endorsed Senator Obama's rivals, John McCain and Sarah Palin) were told that:

Despite pleas from top editors of the three newspapers that have covered the campaign for months at extraordinary cost, the Obama campaign says...

Page Six Calls Lydia Hearst a Liar

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:13:56 -0400

Yesterday, Lydia Hearst resigned from Page Six Magazine due to what she claimed was a fabrication that appeared in her column, The Hearst Chronicles, on Sunday.

In the column, "Blood Dispute," it seemed as though Ms. Hearst was turning on her family's empire:

Hearst Corporation, which my family owns, continues to host parties even as it folds magazines like CosmoGirl. From an objective point of view, it seems excessive. The crash in the '80s...

Copy Editor to Post: Fix Hed [Update: Our Mistake]

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:03:46 -0400

Sure, it's not as loaded a mistake as Page Six claiming that Michelle Obama allegedly ordered lobsters and Iranian caviar at the Waldorf-Astoria even though she wasn't technically a guest at the hotel or in New York City at the time, but today's New York Post has the sort of gaffe that drives high school composition teachers and Lynne Truss-reading fans of the English language crazy.

As you can see from today's...

Lydia Hearst Ditches Her Column at Page Six Magazine

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:37:53 -0400

In her column in Page Six Magazine this week, socialite Lydia Hearst declares a 'shame on you' on her fellow socialites for continuing to party and worry about their wardrobes despite the current state of the economy. And while on the subject, Ms. Hearst even turns on her own family's empire:

Hearst Corporation, which my family owns, continues to host parties even as it folds magazines like CosmoGirl. From an objective point of view,...

Post Wants You To Know Heather Mills Has One Leg

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:38:31 -0400

The New York Post's Page Six features an item about being treated to lunch by Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Beatle Paul McCartney.The headline of the piece was HEATHER: A LEG UP ON LUNCH, which apparently is a reference to the fact that Ms. Mills is missing a leg.

Pretty funny stuff. But not as funny as the last time Page Six made the joke: HEATHER LOSES HER P.R. LEG, TOO, July 26,...

Kelly: Moore Staying at Time; Layoffs Imminent

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:46:34 -0400

Time, Inc. C.E.O. Ann Moore has said that her three year contract, which is now halfway done, would be her last.

But in today's New York Post, Keith Kelly writes that he's hearing she's going to stay even longer. And she has a found a way to put herself in the good graces of Time Warner chief Jeffrey Bewkes:

Bewkes also has to be pleased that Time Inc., which had about $5.5 billion in...

Consider The Post's Lobster

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:30:36 -0400

Correction of the day award goes to The New York Post's Page Six, which ran this item today:

The source who told us last week about Michelle Obama getting lobster and caviar delivered to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria must have been under the influence of a mind-altering drug. She was not even staying at the Waldorf. We regret the mistake, and our former source is going to regret it, too. Bread and water would...

New York Post Biz Reporter Zachery Kouwe Joins the Times

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:15:06 -0400

Zachery Kouwe, the New York Post's mergers and acquisitions reporter, is heading to The New York Times. We hear he'll be writing for the paper and the web site and working on the DealBook blog, with Andrew Ross Sorkin....

Post Video: Dunleavy in Excelsis

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:16:08 -0400

Yesterday, the Daily Transom's John Carney offered readers an inside look at theNew York Post's farewell party for Steve Dunleavy at Bourbon Street. Today, the Post has its own take on the event in an article by Clemente Lisi and a sweet tribute video set to some soothing rights-free jazz and light rock.

Look for the cameos by Geraldo Rivera, Maury Povich, Connie Chung, Rupert Murdoch and...

Rupert Murdoch on Steve Dunleavy: His "Whole Career Defies Description"

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:33:49 -0400

It rained hard on Wednesday. By the time guests started to arrive at Bourbon Street—the New Orleans-themed saloon in the Theater District—the rain had tapered off but the streets had that shiny, film noir, old New York look. You could almost imagine Travis Bickle cruising by in an old yellow taxi talking about how a real rain would some day come to clean up our dirty streets.

It was, in...

Alas, Poor Buckman

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:24:23 -0400

We don't have much to add to this excellent item from Portfolio's Mixed Media blogger Jeff Bercovici, except to say that if knowing Shakespeare quotes on sight is the new standard by which media writers are measured, we've got some some cramming to do.

Mr. Bercovici quotes The New York Post's Adam Buckman's review of Heroes in which he cites this line of cribbed Shakespeare—"There's a divinity that shapes our ends - rough...

Amid 2008 Campaign Cacophony on the Web, Print Reverts to Hobbesian State

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:58:17 -0400

Does print journalism matter in this election?

“It’s obvious, and no crime against humanity, that the world has many, many places to turn for information, misinformation, analysis, rants, etc,” wrote Bill Keller, the executive editor of The New York Times, in an e-mail. “We—The Times, The Washington Post, Politico, the news outlets that aim to be aggressive, serious and impartial—don’t dominate the conversation the way we once did, and...

This Is The First Day of The Rest of Your Financial Life

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:36:16 -0400

Good morning!

Officials Try to Stem Crisis; Fed to Meet, The New York Times

Bank Turmoil Slams Asian Indexes, The Wall Street Journal

Here's what you need to know about the financial crisis, The New York Daily News

NY WILL TAKE $1B HIT: GOV, The New York Post

Wall Street Woes Endanger Funding for the Arts, The New York Sun

Stocks Plunge as Crisis Intensifies, The Washington Post

...

Reading Page Six: The Magazine For Free

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:01:56 -0400

Did you spend a dollar on The New York Post this Sunday so you could read the new issue of Page Six: The Magazine?

You could've saved that dollar for laundry by reading most of the magazine's features in other publications. Here's a guide to how the Serpentor of weekend supplements was made:

Cover Story: Kerry Washington, by Suzanna Zuckerman.

Read instead: Party Girl in T: The New York Times Style...

Area Papers Honor 9/11 Anniversary

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:54:32 -0400

"The tears will flow....

Who's Sitting Where in Invesco Field Press Box?

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:49:21 -0400

Even this populist Democratic National Convention has a seating chart, and therefore a social hierarchy.

According to the DNC's rubric, The Washington Post is deserving of the better seat than The Times, and Jezebel and Glamour deserve a closer seat than The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones and Portfolio.

First, a little background. There's really no bad seat in the Denver Broncos press box in Invesco Field, but there certainly are better ones. There are...

In Which Michael Wolff Rides in a Golf Cart With Rupert Murdoch's Mother: A Q&A

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:41:33 -0400

The New York Post's Keith Kelly reported yesterday that Michael Wolff’s book on Rupert Murdoch and the Dow Jones takeover is coming out in December, instead of February as initially intended. This spurred Media Mob to get in touch with Mr. Wolff and find out why. We did, pretty much right away, and the answer was just “Christmas,” so we stayed on the line for another few minutes and asked Mr. Wolff some...

Life Imitates Art at DNC

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:09:19 -0400

Speaking of The New York Post's fair-and-balanced DNC '08 Convention Special, the above left Getty Images photo of a Hillary Clinton supporter in Denver (here's another version from The New York Times this afternoon) bears an uncanny resemblance to this morning's cartoon by Post controversialist Sean Delonas.

Thankfully, Mr. Delonas didn't see fit to include his signature sheep in the original drawing....

Toothless Jab in Mindless Paper

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:49:36 -0400

Never accuse The New York Post of not maximizing its chances to make partisan digs.

On the cover of today's edition—which features a bold Ted Kennedy beside the headline "Old Lion Roars: Ailing Teddy Moves Fellow Dems to Tears"—there's a "DNC '08 Convention Special" custom logo featuring a droopy eyed, buck-toothed cartoon donkey that looks, well, sort of brain damaged.

See a larger version at the Newseum's Web site....

Spitzer's Knew-Nothing Troopergate Testimony

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:30:20 -0400

Say one thing for Eliot Spitzer, in light of newly released testimony from the Troopergate affair: He knows how to stick to a story.

The former governor was spared, from a legal standpoint, because, according to the State Commission on Public Integrity: "[t]he failure to supervise subordinates, without more, does not violate the Public Officers Law." (The commission made public some 277 pages of sworn testimony it took from Mr. Spitzer on May...

Wood War Is Over (If You Want It)

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...