Looks like the Los Angeles Times got hosed when Pulitzer winner (though not-always-trusted journalist) Chuck Philips accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of knowing about a 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur before it happened. Diddy, of course, denied the charge. As did the family of Chris Wallace/Notorious B.I.G. when Philips earlier accused the rapper of putting the hit on Tupac in ‘96.
And they had good reason: It’s likely none of it was true. The Times got its info from FBI documents that are now being labeled as fakes, concocted by jailed con man James Sabatino, who tried to fictitiously insert himself in the lives of hip-hop heads.
Diligent reporting from The Smoking Gun reveals the docs aren’t in any FBI database and that Sabtatino – “an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries, conducted business with Combs, Shakur, Busta Rhymes, and The Notorious B.I.G., and even served as Combs’s trusted emissary to Death Row Records boss Marion ‘Suge’ Knight” – was able to distribute them himself by conveniently redacting the names of the federal agents working on the case. Too bad there are other ways to search for the files in the FBI’s records and, low and behold, they don’t turn up.
And also, just like the documents involved in the fall of Dan Rather, their physical elements are a giveaway. Cue an internal investigation at the LAT! And, maybe, a major libel suit from Diddy! CONTINUED »
The Los Angeles Times hits today with a huge story accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of knowing the assault on Tupac Shakur, at his Quad City studio in New York, was coming weeks before it went down that in November ‘94, escalating the bi-coastal hip-hop war. (Tupac was fatally shot in 1996.)
Writing the article is none other than Chuck Philips, who previously alleged Chris Wallace/Notorious B.I.G. was the one who put the fatal hit out on Tupac. Wallace’s family vehemently denied those claims.
Philips maintains the New York-based rappers, who were supposed to be rivals themselves, knew there was going to be violence, but no shooting; only when Tupac pulled a gun did the plan go awry. And who was behind the shooting? Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond, says Philips; Henchman now manages the career of The Game, among others.
Naturally, Diddy is already on the defensive. After refusing to comment for the LAT article, his label Bad Boy just issued us this statement: “This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”
A whole slew of folks are accepting buyout offers to leave the Los Angeles Times as part of yet another round of Sam Zell-issued job cuts. The person we’re saddest to see go? Darrell Kunitomi, tour guide. [LAO]
Congratulations, Los Angeles Times! You beat your goal of racking up 87 million pageviews on LATimes.com with a huge 94 million. Thanks, in part, to your most-read story: “Spears hospitalized for mental health.” [LAO]
A DIFFERENCE OF VISION “Think of it as the changes made at the start of a new presidential term,” says LAT publisher David Hiller about the ousting of the paper’s editor, Jim O’Shea. “In the context of these changes, Jim and I decided we no longer saw things the same way about how to take the company forward.” Guess which of the two men saw “bottom line” in the company’s future?
If you need a reason to never give Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Dwyre a modicum of credibility ever again, just read today’s column.
In a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day column – special, if only because it touches upon race in media – Dwyre argues that our industry’s terrible and mostly ineffectual approach to discussing society’s ultimate taboo is because “we blog before we report, when it should be the other way around. We write more about ourselves than we do about our subjects.”
Okay, that second sentence is true, which is likely why Dwyre got this argument so wrong. CONTINUED »
O’SHEA CAN YOU SEE For the fourth time in three years, Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles Times ousts a chief. Gone is editor James O’Shea, removed by publisher David Hiller for refusing to cut jobs in the newsroom, which happened to publisher Jeffrey Johnson last year. And just when we almost started believing the gospel that suggested we start believing the tarot card reading that hinted new owner Sam Zell might take pity of his work force. [NYT]
Forget about the networks, who are forced to rebroadcast late night programming and the writers, who are currently out of work. No, they’re not the real victims of the writers strike. Nor are the American people, who very soon will have to resort to reruns for entertainment, or the show runners who are caught in between the writers and the producers.
No, the real victims of the writers strike are the L.A. coffee shops whose clientèle have left them for the picket line.
CONTINUED »
For a writers strike, there’s certainly a lot to read. While people caught in the middle of this might be busying themselves with Guitar Hero, most people just want to know when The Office will come back on. And updates on the donut status on the picket line is a poor excuse for actual entertainment. Our breakdown on the strike must-reads after the jump.
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At least at the Los Angeles Times, where issuing a statement about not commenting on a story is considered declining to comment. (Wait, isn’t that how it should be?) [DHD]
Furthering a story we took five minutes to work on last week, the Los Angeles Times opines about Google News’ new comments feature, where “authenticated” people mentioned in news articles get a chance to publicly respond. Argue the editors: “The feature implies that the stories aggregated by Google News are incomplete — possibly because of limited space, but also possibly because of bias, neglect or ignorance. News organizations have their flaws, and the added comments on Google may demonstrate that. [...] Google, however, won’t help readers separate the factual wheat from the public-relations chaff — a reminder that Google may strive to be the world’s index, but it’s not journalism.”
So publicists have started embedding themselves into Google News’ supposedly unbiased coverage. What’s next, publicists cheating their clients’ way to the top of search engine results? Oh, wait.
If Nikki Finke doesn’t rub it all over their face, how else are they gonna learn? [DHD]
“In the 15 years I have been writing for The Times, I have covered wildfires, riots, gang murders and plenty of other mayhem,” blogs LAT reporter Geoff Boucher. “I never got hurt. This weekend I covered a comic book convention in San Diego and I’m going home with staples in my head.”
Who knew a trip to Comic-Con meant oogling Hayden Panettiere and getting your ass kicked? CONTINUED »
The Chandlers are selling! The Chandlers are selling! Actually, the Chandlers suffer from premature gratification: They’ve gone and sold their Tribune Co. shares below market value, and even sold them all off immediately instead of waiting until till November, when their terms under Sam Zell’s buyout arrangement would’ve allowed them to earn $3 more per share.
Add to that the Chandlers’ resigning their three board of directors seats, and you’ve got a scenario of completely severed ties between the Chandler family and newsprint after a 120 year love affair. Oh, and did we mention the $1.6 billion that’s now in their pockets?
Let’s hope some things will stay the same. Like Bill O’Reilly’s endless feuding with the paper, for example.
Editorial Director
