In the name of totally un-fact-checked, unsubstantiated, barely interesting, but all we needed to complete our day gossip, we bring you the latest on the crappy journalism job over at the News.
Inside tip….red faces as the Daily News today over their page one picture. The Snooze was so short of material yesterday they had to ‘beg and borrow’ the picture from Long Island’s Newsday. Now questions are being asked at the highest level about how ‘the hometown picture paper’ came to reproduce Newsday staff photographer David L. Pokress’s image with no credit on the top half of page one.
The Snooze had been caught napping on their fleet week coverage the day before on a different fly past and could not tell the editor they had missed another one we hear.
Newsday ran the picture, a lot sharper and with better color, on page 6.
Did we find the front page photo on Newsday's site? Nope.
Did we call the Daily News? Nope. And why didn't we call the News? Because we know that that the their fact checking policy is to leave voicemails the Friday before a holiday and then run the story regardless of if they receive a response or not. And we know if we did call, we'd get live person on the phone, because Ben Smith is still sending us links to his column.
Oh, apparently there are also staffers at the News who don't know what Google is. And that random bit concludes our media gossip quota for the day. Enjoy your traffic filled ride to the rainy beach.
Poor Newsday staffers. First, their VP of circulation, Robert Brennan, pleads guilty to charges that the he spearheaded the paper's circulation scandal, and now, their beat reporters are getting thrown in with all the regular reporters.
"The reporters have essentially rebelled," said a staffer. "They feel they are being treated shabbily."
Over the past weeks, Mancini, Assistant Managing Editor Sandy Keenan and Long Island Editor Cliff Schectman began telling staffers that they were being reassigned. Many beat reporters, for example, were being dumped into a general assignment pool.
The general assignment pool? That's the crew full of recent graduates and struggling new reporters … not for the likes of Long Island Railroad reporters. Can you imagine asking Alex Kuczynski to go from fashion and style goddess to "reporter" or Bonnie Fuller, editorial director and VP of AMI to be just an "editor?"
The Long Island Railroad beat is no joking matter, people. Show some freakin' respect.
DREAD AT SCREWSDAY [Keith J. Kelly, New York Post]
FORMER 'NEWSDAY' EXEC PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUD [Nat Ives, Ad Age]
• Losing $30 million is OK at OK! The American version of the British important is expected to lose that much in its first year of operations, and that's just sunshine and pansies for owner Richard Desmond. [NYP]
• Conde Nast rising star Joanne Lipman is raiding her old haunt, the New York Times, for talent at the magazine publisher's new business division. Swept away is Sunday business editor Jim Impocco, which comes on the heels of long-time D.C. correspondent Todd Purdum heading to Vanity Fair for a national editor title. Also, Wired's Blaise Zerega moves laterally to a managing ed position a the new biz title, creating an incestuous bubble within an incestuous bubble. [NYP]
• One year ago today, Brian Williams sat his fanny down in the anchor chair, snagging Tom Brokaw's fans and ratings. Whew, now that we've celebrated the anniversary, we can get back to talking about Katie Couric's possibilities at CBS News' leading lady. [Reuters]
• On its 10th anniversary, Salon is suddenly the comeback kid that everyone's fawning over. It'll be around for another 20 years according to some predictions. And so too will rumors of its impending demise. [SF Chronicle]
• After pleading not guilty to charges that he gleaned $84 million from newspaper giant Hollinger International, Conrad Black is out on $20 million bond, secured by his Palm Beach manse and the $8.5 million nabbed with the sale of his Manhattan co-op. At least the government saved him the trouble of finding a broker. [E&P]
• Newsday is once again slashing its ranks, announcing another 72 jobs have been cut. Lucky for readers, these positions aren't "news gathering personnel," so there will still be the same number of staffers on hand to cover the New Year's ball drop. [Newsday]
• Bent on improving its ratings, Channel 5 has been considering changing segment formats to include more "entertainment-like elements." Instead of that, they've decided to work more closely with Fox News and the New York Post. This effort is being described as an improvement. [NYDN]
Born to be fat? Shh, don't tell anyone at Cookie.
Early eye on obesity [Newsday]
Related: Disney's Wondertime: Definitely not a fat-free Cookie
Boy, oh, boy do we need new headline writers. Perhaps they should consider one of those frontpage exchanges a la NYT and WaPo.
• Reader's Digest's publishing arm might have a Rosie O'Donnell of its own on their hands, with foodie Rachel Ray manhandling all aspects of her upcoming bimonthly Every Day With Rachael Ray. Already its editor and design director have come and gone, but Ray isn't taking the hint — and plans on being the mag's monthly cover model.
• In the latest NYP v. NYDN, Page Six calls out yesterday's Daily News front page for its Hurricane Katrina hope-or-hopeless mixed message. But will it make Tabloid Wars?
• Still pulling itself up from its circulation scandal, Newsday is killing staffer morale yet again with layoffs on the horizon. The Kew Gardens office will likely be shuttered with Manhattan's news cubes drastically emptied as well.
• As expected, Hurricane Katrina is boosting ratings on the cable nets. Reeling in the numbers windfall is CNN, which landed in second after (no surprise here) Fox News.
• Britain's Guardian newspaper relaunches this month with a new, smaller (Berliner) format, ditching its tabloid format in dimensions only.
We just. can't. stand. it! How many more scandals can Newsday involve itself it? When we write about the New York Times, it's just because we like to poke fun at the same journalistic tendencies we've adopted ourselves. But when it comes to Tribune-owned Newsday, we're always talking about some back room scheme .. and usually read about it on Newsday's own website.
At least this time it's a little sexier (okay, bad choice of words) than circulation inflation. Now it's child porn!
Former Newsday publisher Robert Johnson, who served from 1986 to 1994, was indicted yesterday on charges of downloading two kiddie porn videos and then trying to delete them when a federal investigation was launched into the matter.
Johnson allegedly used the computers of Bowne & Co., a financial printing firm he served as CEO of, to purchase website subscriptions to child porn sites and download videos titled "real child rape" and "luciamin" before using the software Evidence Eliminator to erase his tracks.
But silly Robert, don't you know it's Shift + Delete that skips the Recycle Bin? Such a computer whiz that he used two aliases when (allegedly!) downloading kid flics and he can't even cover his tracks.
Newsday will charge just 25 cents in circulation scandal recovery attempt
Pricetag remains 50 cents in Queens, where Newsday faces less competition, and Sunday edition sticks at $1.
Editorial Director
