Jeff Bercovici grabbed a spare moment of Bill Kristol's time today as he did the rounds for The IFC Media Project (he's a part of that? Well, that's not promising). Somehow the Portfolio blogger was able to smooth talk the conservative writer into discussing his contract with New York Times: a position, rumors say, that is up for grabs since he's gotten on one too many editors bad sides.

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Not only is Jeff Bercovici's original item about fabulist Malcolm Gladwell back online (the "item was temporarily removed to allow for additional reporting"), there's an update with defense from Gladwell and New Yorker editor David Remnick. So the official story goes: Gladwell didn't ignore a warning from fact checkers when writing about the book The Bell Curve; he just simply never ran it past them. So … Gladwell is still pretty much a fact checker's nightmare? Got it.

Here’s some hearsay: New York Daily News editor Martin Dunn wants to be Rupert Murdoch's bitch.

Here are some facts: Dunn still lives in England, he wrote a toady think piece on working for Murdoch for The Guardian and there’s an opening at Murdoch’s Times of London.

When asked about his ambitions to leave Mort Zuckerman for Rupert Murdoch, Dunn told Jeff Bercovici, "Quite frankly, Rupert ain't going to be my employer."

Okay, but if Dunn did want to leave, there would be no better way to impress him than with a grammatically incorrect but socially acceptable contraction.

It’s a tough climate for homophobic businesses everywhere: calling someone a fag could result in a law suit. So the New York Post’s strident anti-gay editorial stance is a real feat, especially in a city like New York.

But how does the Post do it? By not hiring anyone who would mind, Jeff Bercovici uncovers at Mixed Media.

The Post doesn’t have an anti-gay hiring policy per say, it’s more like gay journalists would rather dress up as a pirate than work with one. One former ex-editor tells Bercovici:

It's not a culturally welcoming environment … It's a locker-room environment—raucous, sexist, quite misogynist.

Turns out having a boss who pees during editorial meetings appeals to a small demographic—one that wouldn’t file a discrimination suit.

Before Jeff Bercovici's feud with Eric Altermann even had time to cool to room temperature, the new Portfolio blogger is launching a crusade against Richard Johnson.

Friday's Page Six carried an item about Heather Mills McCartney, in which the Dancing With the Stars castoff is written up for illegally parking in handicap zones, and: referred to as "peg-legged."

In his new role at Conde Nast, it seems, Bercovici is a champion of P.C.-ness and the rights of the disabled, calling out RJ & Co. for their off-colored comment about McCartney's missing limb.. Also: A chance to carry on an anti-"where Corynne Steindler works" crusade.

That, or perhaps Jeff B. couldn't care one way or the other, and instead latched on to any opportunity to drum up scandal to drag attention to his new blog. Just the type of attention a struggling Portfolio needs!

The Nation's Eric Alterman spends countless hours (and upwards of 550 words) refuting Portfolio blogger (and Radar alumnus) Jeff Bercovici's charge that he's "not stupid."

Yawn.

C'mon you guys, if we wanted to read boring self-important tripe disguised as a media column, we'd be looking at everything Jon Friedman's ever written.

New Portfolio blogger Jeff Bercovici asks the existential question of his new job:

Are all bloggers journalists? Of course not. Many of them are people who merely want to post pictures of their cats. (It's always cats, for some reason.)

He eventually concludes sometimes bloggers are journalists. But the real question, which Bercovici is too "journalist" to tackle, is why is it always cats?

Blogging is a lonely pursuit. We do our reporting online, talk to our coworkers over gchat and never need to wear anything other than sweatpants. There are few other professions that involve less socializing than blogging. The lifestyle of a cat owner is very similar. Dogs force their owners out of the house and help them make new friends. Having a cat can be done entirely from the comfort of one's home.

Antisocial people have cats and antisocial people write blogs. From there, hundreds of cat blogs were born.

No stranger to over publicized launches and disappointing closings, Jeff Bercovici of Radar fame started his Mixed Media blog for Portfolio.com yesterday. Bercovici reports that Details is doing all right, so good in fact to run an extra holiday issue from spillover ads.

Bercovici also reveals that Conde Nast’s profitability rule of thumb is 1000 ad pages per year, which means Portfolio only has 693 more pages to go.

PRWeek had a quick chat with outgoing Radar staffer and incoming Portfolio blogger Jeff Bercovici, who some might know this website has a history with.

PRWeek: Do you have any tips for PR people, or things that annoy you?

Bercovici: [...] And the other thing I would say is, inevitably with the kind of coverage that we do, people are going to get pissed at us. I accept that, but I also pride myself on being able to maintain good relationships with people, even when I might have an adversarial exchange with them. And I would just say if you're pissed, or if your client's pissed, let me know. Because I will go back and forth with you all day. I will talk it out and try to come to a resolution and an understanding for next time. But I can't do it if you don't let me know you're pissed. That's when relationships go bad, when someone just stops talking.

OMG, it's like the Berc is speaking right to us.

Not only did MSNBC anchor Alison Stewart lose her own show The Most, but now she's causing problems for network superstar Keith Olbermann.

Filling in for The O Man last week, she hosted a segment about Wendy Vitter – wife to disgraced Sen. David Vitter, who admitted his name was on D.C. Madame Deborah Jeane Palfrey's client list – and the dress she wore to the press conference where the senator made the announcement. Let's just say, the dress was leopard print, and raised eyebrows.

Including Alison's. And, wouldn't you know it, Radar's Jeff Bercovici was there to take part in what some are calling a "low point in Countdown history" as they mocked her for looking all prostitute-y at a presser about prostitute-y things.

Last night, Keith apologized for it (see above video). Fox News might have Julia Allison, but now MSNBC has Bercovici.

Just hours after Life ended as we know it comes breaking word that Radar's ship has finally come in. A forwarded email communique reveals that the on-again, off-again mag has rewarded its hard-working staffers with a new (midtown!) clubhouse where they can hang their hats.

And on-the-ball senior editor, Jeff Bercovici, sure doesn't waste any time updating his contacts. We received this email missive written by Jeff, possibly typed on his new computer, possibly sent from his brand-new office!

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Exclusive:

In our previous coverage of professional busybody Jeff Bercovici, we discovered that he's both humble and surprised by his adoring public, multitude of stalkers and confirmed status as cult figure.

Now, however, Bercovici appears to have embraced his popularity, popping up in the current issue of Glamour, to confess his deepest, darkest longings in "The Secret Things Men Do When Women Aren't Around."

And just what exactly is Bercovici up to when his wife isn't looking? We'll give you a hint, it's either:

(a): Catching Hepatitis A from Wolfgang Puck
(b): Wondering whether or not he is, in fact, the father of baby Dannielynn
(c): Having his credit card rejected at the supermarket checkout line.

Answer after the jump!

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When Jeff Bercovici sat down for lunch with Jon Friedman on Monday, he inevitably knew his name would end up right here. And when Jon Friedman sat down for lunch with Jeff Bercovici on Monday, he, also, knew his name would end up right here. So now that we've got our meta fetishes out of the way, let's have a go at what Jon Friedman does best: fawn over his media subjects. In this case, it's Bercovici, the "scoopmeister." (Words like that can tell you where this is going.)

It's not that we can't keep a straight face while skimming the bit about Jeff's "devotion to reporting news" rather than "not merely recycling the latest bit of celebrity gossip" – because in this instance, Jeff's "celebrities" are media figures, and that doesn't make it news … if it did, we'd be Brian Fucking Williams – it's this line:

Media blogs have written about Bercovici, which can feel like a dubious distinction at times. "I am constantly astounded that the bloggers think I'm someone their readers want to see in print," he told me.

Astounded? Like the way Nick Denton and Rupert Murdoch and Dave Zinczenko pretend to be?

This, from a guy who made his name at Women's Wear Daily Memo Pad column, writing about prominent media figures, then jumps to media punching bag of a magazine Radar, where his job includes roasting Graydon Carter and, in a faux-clusive, exposing Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz's real estate broker as an ex-porn star. (And wait, what was that about not trafficking in celebrity gossip?)

Yes, it just boggles the mind why media blogs would be interested in documenting the rise and fall of Bercovici. Beside, it's not like Maer Roshan was caught powdering himself in the bathroom this week … we need something to go on.

• Diane Sawyer is sticking around at Good Morning America. At least until the weather gets nicer.

• Radar's Jeff Bercovici goes after someone new, Paul Schur, who, like most of Radar's targets, probably would've made a better source than target. Or perhaps we're just saying that because we're madly in love with Daryn Kagan.

• Jon Friedman continues punching Katie Couric in the side of the head.

• The "Media Corridor" between 6th and 8th offers some of the best dining options on the island.

• New, smaller WSJ voted "eh" by media wonks.

• If news anchors had just shut up a bit more, coverage of Gerald Ford's funeral would've been awesome.

• Meanwhile, newspaper employees call the Journal's dick small.

• To promote the new FX tabloid drama Dirt, the network bought ad space in Page Six. And an item.

Many (okay, seven) were quick to bring to our attention yet another faux-clusive from Radar's Jeff Bercovici, whose growing laundry list of erroneous reports already includes ripping off Keith Kelly and hypocritcally demanding to be asked to comment on stories about him when he doesn't extend the same courtesy. Today comes word that last week's exclusive news – that Apple had dumped "Mac guy" pitchman Justin Long – is entirely false. In fact, it's the exact opposite of being correct: Not only did Apple not drop Accepted star Long as the face of Mac in the "PC vs. Mac" campaign, but there's a new round of spots on the horizon that he's featured in. They were shot this week, with more planned for next. All of which makes the anticipation grow stronger for Radar's print version, where corrections won't be so easily appended.

This month's Coaster Correspondence in Vanity Fair was among the best we've seen so far: Ed Coaster having a stroke and Men's Health editor Dave Zinczenko helping him heal with an ab crunch routine. Brilliant stuff, and even Radar's Jeff Bercovici managed to pick up on the humor, penning an item of his own on Monday detailing the "oh-so-inside dig at Zinczenko's history with deceased GQ editor Art Cooper." (As you'll remember, it was Zinczenko who was lunching with Cooper when he died.) Bercovici opined that the VF spoof was Graydon's attempt to see Zinczenko "brought low" after the MH editor, in an editor's letter, blamed Cooper's trainer for his death.

But when Eat The Press checked in with Bercovici to see if he even talked to Graydon about the item – which, to be sure, alleged a full-on feud between Camp Carter and Zinczenko – he comes up short. Nope, Jeff didn't make a phone call to run his information past the VF editor. Which, normally, we'd be quite all right with — us being lazy bloggers and all. Except it wasn't so long ago that Jeff placed a hateful call to Jossip regarding a supposed "exclusive" of Jeff's that Keith Kelly had written about six months earlier. Bercovici's biggest whine? That Jossip never called him to ask for comment.

Ah hah! So that's why we've heard more than one media insider call the former WWD scribe "Jeff Berco-sleazy."

• NYT fashion scribe Cathy Horyn gets her criticism handed to her in a lace-trim, leather-accented charmeuse hand basket. [WWD]

• Radar's Jeff Bercovici continues his time honored tradition of stealing the scoops of others. [Gawker]

• If a $10,000 matchmaking professional succumbs to using Match.com to find her own dates, does a bear still shit in the woods? [NY Mag]

• Politicos use MySpace for more than finding underage youth to have sex with. [WSJ]

• Chinatown is pissed about Hollywood taking over its streets to film movie after movie. How are they supposed to traffic in counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags with the increased police presence? [amNY]

• All it took to get the New York Times stock price to spike a bit? Rumors of a takeover bid. [Variety]

• Which is more meta: Jack Shafer on Kurt Anderson, or Kurt Anderson on the New York Times? [Slate, NY]

As most of you know, we are total fans of Jeff Bercovici. Great guy. Super cool. But, we have to play fair. And something about his story today (the one about David Pecker losing his private plane privileges) sounded oddly familiar. And by "oddly familiar" we mean "we were tipped off that it had been written before."

In the New York Post. In Keith Kelly's column. Ouch.

Pecker has reportedly even shaved off the trademark mustache he sported throughout his publishing career. He has also been spotted flying first-class commercial instead of charter, as he shuttles between AMI's Boca Raton headquarters and its New York City offices.

Granted, Bercovici's story went into depth on a few other side topics, and the jet thing wasn't the main point of Kelly's item, but still — that story was from March. And while we're sure Kelly's stolen some of Berc's items in the past (hell, he's stolen ours) it doesn't make the fact that this is six-month-old news. Plus, if Radar was going to nab items, you'd think they'd at least take from Fishbowl or something. Anything but Media Ink.

Update: Jeff responds by saying/screaming that Keith Kelly's item on this whole David Pecker fiasco was not available via Lexis Nexis, therefore, he did not see it. (We Googled and found it in two minutes, but, whatever.) Hence, Jeff claims he didn't "nab" the story, since it "wasn't out there" to be stolen. That's all. We have to go attend to our bleeding ears now.

PECKING ORDER [Keith Kelly, New York Post]
Earlier: Are David Pecker's Private Jet Days Through?

We didn't pay too much attention to Radar's Anderson Cooper coverage this morning, mostly because we had always figured Coopster for a stealthy bad ass, and the news that he once worked for the CIA? Not that surprising. But what we didn't realize is that Radar may be putting Anderson's life in danger.

The Coops responds on his own 360 Blog, explaining his short-lived summer jobs working at the CIA headquarters in Langley, VA.

I know the CIA may sound more exotic and mysterious, but it was actually pretty bureaucratic and mundane, at least the little bit that I saw of it. By the end of the second summer, I realized it was not a place I wanted to work after college.

I've told all my employers about it over the years, but have chosen not to talk about it publicly. When I began to travel overseas to war zones as a reporter, I realized that some Jihadist might not understand that what people do for summer jobs in college doesn't mean they make a career out of it.

Did you hear that Jeff Bercovici? If Anderson Cooper gets captured by a Jihadist Jill Carroll style, everyone will be lookin' at you.

My summer job … nearly 20 years ago [Anderson Cooper 360, CNN]
Anderson Cooper's CIA Secret [Jeff Bercovici, Radar]

Well, we've been awake for an entire two hours now, and there is no sign of an interview with Jared Kushner anywhere! It's really disgraceful. So, we've decided to settle with the Min article chatting up new Radar Publisher Katherine Rizzuto.

Rizzuto points out that many of the former Radar editors (a chunk of which have been unemployed since Radar's second collapse) are returning. And media stars like Jeff Bercovici and Anne Perton are leaving great jobs to take a chance with Maer Roshan.

"…We would not have ta­ken these jobs if we did not believe in Radar's potential." Radar shutdown #1 (2004) came from lack of financing. Shutdown #2 (December 2005) came from chief financier Mort Zuckerman ( U.S. News & World Report/New York Daily News chairman) pulling out. This time, says Katherine Rizzuto, "there's more love and nurturing. We have very modest goals that will keep us in business for a long time."

We said it before and we'll say it again. Roshan must make these folks do some kind of Iranian pinkie swear where they promise to devote their entire beings to him in exchange for unparalleled media elitism and guaranteed gossip.

RIZZUTO JOINS THE RE-RE-RESUSCITATED "RADAR"… [Min Online]