One hundred ninety-eight hours of President Richard Nixon's recordings were released by the Nixon Library yesterday, as well as 90,000 pages of documents. The recordings are all from November and December 1972, after his re-election. And, as MSNBC's First Read puts it, Nixon is as "ruthless, cynical" and "profane" as ever!-- On April 4, 1972, Nixon discusses the press with Haldeman: NIXON: “Return the calls to those poor dumb bastards ... who I know......

The NY Times may have seen huge demand for its post-Election 2008 edition and it might be a worthy target to spoof, but there's a dark side to all of this: Its stock is at a 52-week-low. The Observer notes that it hit "another 52-week low today, falling to $7.70 today" (another because yesterday was its 52-week-low) which "puts the Company's market cap at $1.1 billion. By comparison, last year at this time the Company's......

Update III: Here's a second video of the Fake NY Times (aka "New York Times Special Edition") being handed out: Earlier coverage and updates below: This morning, New Yorkers are being offered free copies of the New York Times--which happen to be fake. One reader tells us, "After taking it I realized that the date was 7/4/09, and the headline read 'Iraq War Over'. It's full of fake articles, fake ads (even a Dr Zizmor......

There was a celebration at Tavern on the Green yesterday to celebrate the beginning of WABC-TV's Eyewitness News format. The NY Times described how Al Primo, the man (and news director) behind Eyewitness News, changed local newscasts forever in 1968: "He put reporters on the air, including women and members of minorities. He gave them beats, had them chat with one another in what became known as 'happy talk.' Each broadcast began with reporters......

This is the cover of a later editon of Daily News' "Election Extra" with Barack and Michelle Obama. The paper printed an additional 100,000 copies! However, it's unclear if that will feed the fever for post-election newspapers.......

In a moment, yesterday's lines and waits to vote are a mere memory as people struggle to get copies of today's post-election newspapers as keepsakes. We're hearing that many newsstands are sold out! NYC the Blog's Paolo Mastrangelo tells us:The news stand on the corner of 145th and St. Nicholas, which consists of a gentleman who sets up two tables every morning to sell the newspapers, has been sold out since 5:45 am. He sets......

The NY Times reports that the Star-Ledger, NJ's largest paper (15th largest in the country, with a daily circulation of 345,000), "will cut its newsroom staff about 40 percent by year’s end, one of the largest reductions in a single move by a major American paper." This comes after grim talk from its publisher, Advance Publications, saying that the newspaper would fold if there were not a number of concessions made from staff and unions.......

There have been worries that NJ's biggest paper, the Star-Ledger, will close, as it has been losing $30-40 million a year. The publisher outlined that it could stay opened if 200 buyouts are accepted by staff and union concession are met. Last week, its mailers union agreed to a new deal and yesterday the deliverers union reached a deal with Advance. Now all that's left is finding 200 employees willing to take buyouts, but Advance......

The AP notes how CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric has been hitting a new high note in her career with her series of interviews with vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and is finally getting respect. (It's better than rumors that she's moving on). Couric, though, says, “I’ve never really lost confidence in my abilities, which I guess is pretty miraculous. I didn’t really have a lot of platforms to do what I excel at, which......

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin had a busy day yesterday. While the McCain-Palin spokespeople were disinviting then re-inviting the press, she met with Afghan President Hamid Karzhai, Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The press got under 90 seconds—for all three meetings—of access. Even the Fox News producers, on their blog, wrote, "the Palin camp went to new lengths to control the media, which is covering the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee":It......

Yesterday, Presidential candidate John McCain's campaign angrily lashed out at the NY Times, calling the Old Gray Lady a "pro-Obama organization." The Times had published an article about how McCain campaign manager Rick Davis "was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations." Yesterday, campaign adviser Steve Schmidt said, "Whatever the......

It's almost the end of September and the NY Sun's future is still questionable. The NY Times looks at the fate of the broadsheet and speaks with its editor Seth Lipsky, who says, "I haven’t raised all that I need, but I’ve raised a lot," but admitted the paper is in a "tight spot." Still some wonder if the paper can ever be profitable; currently, its paid circulation is 14,000 and "it gives away about......

The NY Sun, which announced its future was uncertain last week, has been racking up support from prominent people. Not only do Mario Cuomo and George Pataki sing the Sun's praises (Pataki says it's "the best paper in New York" while Cuomo said, "I like understanding from the op-eds and editorials the conservative view of things"), Eliot Spitzer gives his first public comments since his scandal: "The Sun has been a spectacular addition to the......

Last year, the NY Times, NY Post, NY Daily News and Newsday all featured 9/11 stories prominently on their first pages. This year, the Times doesn't have any, the NY Post focuses in on Election year makeup and the Daily News splits the cover (as it did last year) between 9/11 and Election year coverage. Only Newsday devotes the whole cover to the day. Is this a sign of moving on? At any rate,......

The Observer's Azi Paybarah took this great photograph of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with today's instant classic "Count Shelly Dracula" NY Post cover. Apparently a Post photographer held up the paper as Silver responded to a question about "tabloid coverage," saying, "Well, I’ll tell you the truth. Media is having trouble in this town and I hope I help them sell a few newspapers today." Then a few questions later, he realized the newspaper was......

ABC News has seemingly won the Sarah Palin interview sweepstakes, with the Republican vice presidential candidate agreeing to an interview with Charlie Gibson (timing TBD). The McCain-Palin campaign has denied that it is shielding the Alaska governor from the press, instead claiming that the media has been sexist and unkind in its scrutiny of Palin and saying she would be interviewed when "news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and......

The Observer reports that the NY Times will announce later today "that it plans to cut the number of sections it has in the paper during some days of the week and it will fold in the Metro Section and Sports section into other sections of the newspaper." Sources tell the Observer, "the Metro Section is moving into the A-section and the Sports section will move into the Business section for some portion of the......

Today, Barack Obama has been campaigning in York, Pennsylvania. When asked whether, as Republicans charge, the Democrats or media has been sexist with its treatment of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Obama said (video below):Listen, if they want to work the refs, they are free to do so. I think the public can make their judgments about this. The notion that any questions about her work in Alaska is somehow not relevant to her......

In today's NY Sun, there's a letter from editor Seth Lipsky warning that the paper may fold at the end of the month if they don't "find additional financial backing" (he calls current investors keeping the paper afloat "heroic"). Lipsky acknowledges their goal "of providing an alternative to the New York Times in coverage of New York City, politics, foreign policy, and culture" "was an optimistic project," but is proud of its "journalistic credibility and......

The NY Times Styles section looks at how the The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived, both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions extended credentials to bloggers. However, not all bloggers are created equal: At the DNC, there's the national credential ",which offers the same access granted to members of traditional news media organizations," while the "coveted" state blogger credential "allows one blogger per state to cover the convention alongside its state delegation, with......

After teaming up with Hello! magazine to shell out $14 million for photographs of Knox Leon and Vivenne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt, aka Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's twins, People showed off the cover of their special double issue with the new additions to the Jolie-Pitt family tonight on their website. The issue will go on stands tomorrow (interesting, since People's latest issue was just went on sale Friday), and here's an excerpt from People:"It is chaos,......

Photoshop skills are necessary in the bitter cable news wars. TV Newser noticed how Fox & Friends responded to a Saturday NY Times article about the Fox News Channel's ratings--specifically how CNN and MSNBC have been able to make gains on Fox's leadership position. Pointing out that Times editor Steve Reddicliffe might be bitter about not getting paid $750,000 to edit News Corp.-owned TV Guide anymore, Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy said, "[Steinberg] is essentially......

The local papers have weighed in and made the Mets' firing of manager Willie Randolph their number 1, 2 and 3 topics. Angry over how Randolph was fired (flying him all the way out to Los Angeles?!? And Omar Minaya claiming that the media speculation pushed him to fire Randolph?), yes, but the tabloids were probably angry over something else: The fact that the firing took place around midnight PST/3 a.m. ESt, which meant it was too late to get into yesterday papers! So today, it's all about the Mets....

Last night at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a group of journalists and entertainers were honored for their work in 2007 at the ceremony for the 67th Annual Peabody Awards. This year's awards, administered by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and selected by a board, are considered one of the most prestigious awards in electronic media (films intended for wide theatrical release are not allowed), were given to 35 different recipients--many......

Yesterday, Republican presidential contender John McCain made a number of appearances in Manhattan to boost his campaign and rake in some donations. The tickets to the fund-raisers costs $28,500 a pop, so he made at least $2 million. During the day, Cindy McCain visited a Harlem charter school and told NY1, "I do not ever envision myself as being involved in the 'McCain administration,' as it's been put, at all. But my husband and I......

The Post and Daily News gleefully put the old Gray Lady on their covers with the same headline--"The New York Climbs"--in the Times' headline font. The NY Times tucks mention of the pair of unrelated climbers, Alain Robert and Ray Clark, who scaled its building to the bottom of the front page. A year ago, the Post and Daily News didn't use the same headlines, but they did use the same cover and back......

The Post is doubling its weekday price to 50 cents. Why? It's the "result of increased production and transportation costs." The Post's owner, News Corp./Rupert Murdoch, first offered the tabloid for 25 cents in 2000. When the Post managed to surpass its archrival, the NY Daily News, in circulation in 2007, the Post went back on sale at 50 cents, but for only 10 days, leading Daily News editor Martin Dunn to say, "We did......

Newsday's Verne Gay reports WNBC 4 "released another statement" today that apologizes for Sue Simmons' unexpected f-bomb during a Monday night promo. Gay believes the statement is "designed to dash media speculation that Simmons' 28-year tenure was imperiled by the outburst." Here's the statement:"Sue Simmons is a highly valued 30-year veteran of WNBC. Sue, along with WNBC, remains deeply sorry for her offensive remark on Monday night for which she quickly apologized. It was......

Big changes are ahead for WNBC, Channel 4. The NY Times reports NBC wants to transform the local station into a "content center" and "will start a 24-hour local news channel along the lines of cable’s New York One." Overall, NBC will "de-emphasize" WNBC--the WNBC website will be NBC New York. No layoffs are planned, but a huge culture shift is: Employees will be retrained and have "expanded duties," such as producers who usually produce......

Photograph by WCBS 880's Evan Bindelglass On some news stands now: Less of the Post's angry demands (like today's)! WCBS 880 took this photograph of a smaller NY Post, noting it's miniature size, 11" wide by 12" tall, versus its standard size of 11.25" wide by 13.75" tall. The smaller size appears to be a result of Post owner News Corp. investigating ways to achieve greater operational efficiencies--the Wall Street Journal is 11" wide.......