Rupert Murdoch is upset that his BSkyB has to compete in Britain with the BBC on bids for American programming, and wants the publicly funded channel to be banned from the practice. [Variety]
It must’ve been a bitter pill for Jack Shafer to swallow when his editor showed him the headline of his column published Friday: “Is the Journal Getting … Better?” To be sure, that’s exactly what Shafer is arguing, pulling a 180 after what seems like endless columns where he railed against Rupert Murdoch from the first whispers of his trying to buy the paper from the Bancroft family to his first days as its new owner. But might the biggest foe to balanced journalism actually have made the Wall Street Journal a better paper through his stewardship? CONTINUED »
With his $28,500 contribution, the maximum legal amount, to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the News Corp. chief once again sends onlookers into a tizzy trying to figure out his political leanings. His deputy, COO Peter Chernin, donated less than half that amount in November to to Democrats’ committee, which is charged with electing constituents to the Senate.
On last night’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann named Rupert Murdoch his “Worst Person in the World” for the inside baseball decision of firing HarperCollins chief Jane Friedman, supposedly because she quashed the O.J. Simpson book and fired Judith Regan, despite Murdoch wanting the book out.
But maybe Friedman’s fate was sealed much earlier? Like, three years ago? When her ally Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, left the company, and she had to begin reporting to COO Peter Chernin? And had to start meeting certain financial targets? Which would’ve meant layoffs? That Friedman would’ve had a problem with?
With this week’s ouster of HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, so too come the exciting details. Like how Rupert Murdoch took a meeting with Friedman’s deputy Brian Murray on Monday, and then met with Friedman on Wednesday, where she was told she’d be leaving the company, and then named Murray her successor.
But another bit of HarperCollins news makes headlines this week: That the publisher is suing former Star columnist and reality television star Victoria Gotti for the $70,000 advance they paid her in a 2005 two-book deal, one of which was to be a memoir, but never materialized. Her literary agent says no big whoop, and that she’ll return the advance. Oh, and maybe the reason she never turned in that memoir is because they fired her confidant Judith Regan and all her underlings, and she didn’t feel like commuting in from Long Island to make any new friends.
As News Corp.’s HarperCollins pushes out its chief Jane Friedman, Rupert Murdoch is smartly installing her deputy, Brian Murray, who, at 41, is 21 years her junior and is expected to usher is a new methodology. Or whatever. Basically, he’s expected to up profits.
No matter than Friedman has managed to double HarperCollins’ take during her 10 years there; in the fiscal year’s last nine months, her profits have slid $6 million, to $132 million, over last year. Which, theoretically, is not that big of a slide. But it’s part of the newest trend in book publishing: Out with the old, in with the new. Which isn’t exactly a new trend, but anyone will point to the ouster of Random House CEO Peter Olson last month, and his replacement of Markus Dohle, as evidence.
By all accounts, the move comes as a surprise, with top-level insiders at the publishing house not expecting her departure. So how to explain why Friedman, inarguably an industry talent, was given the heave ho?
Well, this Bill Moyers book deal might have something to do with it. Moyers, of course, was famously quoted in 2004 saying this, which couldn’t have sat well with Murdoch: CONTINUED »
“But the other thing is, I mean, one of the things is Sean Hannity, terrific personality, and I think a valued part of Fox News, Bill O’Reilly. But, you know, Fox News doesn’t have them anchor our evening news coverage. I mean, they know that they are people with sharp political opinions, and so they have people like Brit Hume and, I’m proud to say myself, doing the straight news coverage and then we go for commentary from people like Hannity and O’Reilly. But, yet, there’s, there’s Keith Olbermann, you know, one minute delivering a rant about “Shut the hell up, President Bush,” and then the next minute he’s the anchor of their news coverage or their election coverage.” [Newsbusters]
Besides accosting Rupert Murdoch at a News Corp. event and challenging him to conversation, the best quotes we get from the granddaddy of media domination are from his speaking at public events. Like at the Wall Street Journal’s All Digital Conference, which he now owns. Covering everything from “Barack Obama, Microsoft’s aborted bid for Yahoo, and even U.S. energy policy toward domestic oil drilling,” Murdoch even had time to discuss a one Keith Olbermann. CONTINUED »
“SURPRISE” HIRE Rupert Murdoch has named Robert Thomson as the Wall Street Journal’s new managing editor, replacing Marcus Brauchli, who departed last month, and confirming everyone’s suspicions that Murdoch has every intent of turning the paper into a right-y mouthpiece for his own agenda. In an interesting twist: The Journal breaks its own news story. [WSJ]
If the rumor floating around is true, if, indeed, 50 Cent is about to ink a $300 million, 360 deal with arch-conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s Myspace to rival Jay-Z’s measly-by-comparison $100 million deal with Live Nation, then this would be huge, ground-breaking, major front-page news.
There will be no New York Post-Newsday News Corp. tag team to take on the Times, with Rupert Murdoch having dropped out of the bidding for Tribune Co.’s Long Island paper. Instead, Cablevision will buy 97 percent, for $650 million, of the paper, adding the rag to its massive cable biz front on Long Island.
Along with Newsday, Cablevision also picks up “related assets,” including freebie paper am New York, a detail the Times surprisingly left out of its coverage. (The WSJ did not.)
So while the deal doesn’t actually include Newsday’s real estate, as original reports said, the two papers Cablevision picks up guarantees you’re about to be inundated with ticket sales ads for Madison Square Garden, which it conveniently also owns. As well as Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers..
A Fox News production assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was axed when, on the red carpet, she blurted out to John McCain, “I voted for you in the primary, you’re going to win.” Replied the Republican candidate: “You’re not supposed to reveal that.” The entire incident was recorded on video. [TVN] Meanwhile, media baron Rupert Murdoch was seated two seats away from McCain, with just Time managing editor Rick Stengel between them. While McCain was named to the Time 100 list along with Hillary and Barack, how come he was the only one to show? Because he wanted to “bend” Murdoch’s powerful ear, natch. [NYO] Such power bestowed a gentleman who, in fact, has never even been invited to the White House. [Gawker] [Photo: Time]
PRICE HIKE Rupert Murdoch yesterday told shareholders he was raising the price of the New York Post from 25 to 50 cents. It’s a move to stem the paper’s annual $50m losses. Though it’s the same stunt he pulled last year — which lasted exactly 10 days before reversing course. [Portfolio]
JOSSIP REPORTS As Rupert Murdoch’s NDS-EchoStar pay-TV hacking lawsuit continues this morning, an inside source tells Jossip that NDS chief Abe Peled will appear in the courtroom, in person, to testify.
On April 30 he submitted a video deposition to the California court, but suddenly disappeared to London without testifying in person, though he was scheduled to appear as a witness for his company, which makes DirecTV’s customer access cards.
Peled’s NDS, a News Corp. subsidiary, stands accused of hacking EchoStar’s access cards and posting the information on the web for pirates to use to gain free access to NDS competitor NagraStar (which EchoStar provides service to).
In an interesting twist, Peled escaped testimony because NDS listed him as a witness, which meant plaintiff EchoStar felt it didn’t need to subpoena him to testify. Oops.
But today, we’re told, they’ll get to question him. Murdoch, meanwhile, is not expected for the 8:30am local call time.
Guess what keeps getting more glamorous? The espionage trial between EchoStar/DISH Network and News Corp.’s NDS unit, a five-year old case launched with EchoStar accusing NDS of hacking, in the 1990s, its security code and posting it on the web, allowing anybody to create falsified security cards and scam themselves some free DISH Network satellite TV, all because Murdoch refused to merge their pay-TV companies.
The Rupert is now refusing to testify in the civil trial, even though he’d basically just have to nod or shake his head to acknowledge whether or not he knew about the alleged hackings. If he did know, argued the judge overseeing the trial, the jury might be inclined to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive damages. (EchoStar’s chief Charles Ergan already took the stand.)
But Murdoch doesn’t want to take the stand. Any really, why should he? Doesn’t a rebuttal to a news outlet count as valid testimony? Murdoch told ABC News “that he ‘absolutely’ denied NDS was involved in any hacking,” though we’re unclear whether is “absolutely denying” the same thing as “absolutely not doing.”
SNOOZEDAY Rupert Murdoch does not plan to up his $580 million offer for Tribune Co.’s Newsday, even though Cablevision bested his pitch with a $650 million bid. This is either Murdoch’s way of exiting the bidding, or his way of saying he’s still a better owner even if he’s not willing to cough up $70 million more. Oh, but also: Cablevision’s offer includes the paper’s real estate, so the offers are pretty much even.
Good for Robert Thomson, the Wall Street Journal publisher-slash-”head of content” that got Tim Arango’s treatment in today’s Times Biz section. He’s managed to secure a softer image than a typical Rupert Murdoch operative, eschewing any notion he’s going to unleash a pair of Dobermans on his cadets. CONTINUED »
WHO’S BALLS ARE BIGGER? Mort Zuckerman has matched Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million bid for Newsday. [Reuters]
“The dirty little secret about Rupert Murdoch’s play to buy another New York media property in addition to the ones he already owns is that there’s little anybody can do to stop him,” argues the Hollywood Reporter’s Brooks Boliek.
Sad, but true. Just as Donald Trump’s Trump Soho swatted away critics by beginning physical construction on his downtown condo-hotel, making the project inevitable, Murdoch has shaped the debate about his purchase of Newsday as a “when” debate, not an “if.”
And even as Murdoch faces off against New York foe Mort Zuckerman for control of Newsday, there’s actually little the Federal Communications Commission could actually do to stop Murdoch from snapping up the paper if Tribune gives the OK.
How come? CONTINUED »
We’ve been the victim of more than one hacking attempt, so we know what it’s like to have your website taken offline against your will. So does CNN. Facing uproar over anchor Jack Cafferty’s “goons” and “thugs” comments about China, various groups, including one aptly named HackCNN, have made it their priority to take the cable net’s homepage offline. (They also managed to deface The Sports Network’s site, swapping out sports scores for lines like, “Tibet was, is, and always will be a part of China!.”) It’s called a “denial of service” attack, where hackers dispatch botnets, or networks of thousands and thousands of computer they illicitly control, to flood a specific site with erroneous traffic, causing it to sputter out and become unreachable by normal visitors.
But the Time Warner outfit isn’t the only big media company involved in scheme involving rogue technology. Five years later into a civil lawsuit, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is standing in front of a jury on accusations that it was the bully, hiring hackers to fend off rivals in the pay-TV market. “The charges stem from 1997 when NDS is accused of cracking the encryption of rival NagraStar, which makes access cards and systems for EchoStar’s Dish Network and other pay-TV services. Further, it’s alleged NDS then hired hackers to manufacture and distribute counterfeit NagraStar cards to pirates to steal Dish Network’s programming for free.”
Editorial Director
