Results tagged “rupertmurdoch”

Perhaps realizing that blaming NY State's woes on Governor Paterson's blindness wasn't a great idea, media mogul Rupert Murdoch apologized to Paterson. The Daily Politics reports, "Apparently, Paterson was willing to chalk Murdoch's bizarre comments up to a 'random misstatement,' according to this source, and did not try to negotiate more favorable coverage from the tab while he had the news mogul on the line. (Remember: This is the same newspaper that portrayed Paterson as Pinocchio in the wake of the Caroline Kennedy debacle)." Gawker is hopeful: "We look forward to more random misstatements in the near future."

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch blamed some of New York's troubles on Gov. David Paterson's blindness, which the Australian billionaire claims makes it hard for Paterson to "really know what's going on."

The Observer reports that local independent Brooklyn newspaper The Brooklyn Paper has been purchased by News Corporation. The paper's editor Gersh Kuntzman said he hadn't met or spoken with News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch yet, but assured the Observer, "They don’t want the product to change. And they love the product. And the product is fantastic." Kuntzman, a former NY Post writer, had dismissed concerns that the Brooklyn Paper was in financial trouble last year, "Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales," a statement that he now amends to, "Brooklyn still needs The Brooklyn Paper, which is why one of the only people in the world who still believes in newspapers — Rupert Murdoch — is putting his money and genius behind us." Recently, a NY Times article looked at how Murdoch's fondness for printing was hurting News Corp.'s bottom line.

Media baron Rupert Murdoch apologized for last week's controversial NY Post cartoon— which shows a fatally shot chimp and one cop saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill"— with an statement printed in the NY Post.

As the Chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.

Continue reading "Rupert Murdoch Apologizes For NY Post Editorial Cartoon"

Mayor Bloomberg can count himself amongst the top echelons of the extremely, extremely rich, as Forbes's list of the 400 Richest Americans places him in the #8 position. The magazine cites his purchase of a 20% stake in his company, Bloomberg LP, as how they value his net worth to be $20 billion. The next richest New Yorker is David Koch, at #9 with $19 billion. Some others: Rupert Murdoch is #47 ($6.8 billion), Ralph Lauren is #76 ($4.7 billion), and Donald Trump is #134 with a net worth of $3 billion. John Catsimatidis, net worth $2.1 billion, is one of the self-made billionaires interviewed; he answers the question "What is the best bar on the planet?" with "Any bar in New York."

The Post is doubling its weekday price to 50 cents. Why? It's the "result of increased production and transportation costs."

Earlier this week, it seemed all but certain that the Tribune Company would sell Long Island newspaper Newsday to the News Corporation. But given News Corp.'s ownership of the Post and Wall Street Journal, not to mention two NYC area TV stations (WNYW and WWOR), criticism of the potential deal has given Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman an argument why he's better suited to buy the paper.

Newsweek has a feature on Rupert Murdoch and his desire to take on the NY Times with his new purchase, the Wall Street Journal. But more interesting for media watchers might be the end of the fourth paragraph, where Newsweek reports:

"The fight could escalate in unknown ways if billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ends up acquiring the Times. As NEWSWEEK has learned, top associates of the onetime information executive are encouraging him to do just that."

Yesterday Forbes magazine, in their annual ranking of the rich, declared New York City is no longer the billionaire capital of the world. Where have all the dollar signs gone? To Moscow, of course, who beat us out by 3 billionaires (they have 74 to our 71).

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an officer shot on Vandalia Ave & Ardlsey Loop in Brooklyn, a gas leak at Dongan Pl. off Broadway in Manhattan, and an aircraft emergency at JFK in Queens.
• The City's investigating whether its artificial turf fields are poisonous.
• The Brooklyn Paper finds Obama did get votes in many Brooklyn districts (here's the congressional district breakdown for all of NYC).
• Blogging by athletes at the summer Olympics in China will be allowed. Blogging about the summer Olympics by athletes will be highly restricted.
• The father of the three children murdered by their mother is suing Nassau County for $60 million.
• Rupert Murdoch's ownership of Dow Jones is practically unnoticeable, unless one is longtime Wall Street Journal First Amendement lawyer Stuart Karle. He's fired.
• St. Saviour's demolition was halted by the Department of Environmental Protection.
• This time arguing over a grade worked: The City will revise public school report cards issued last year, after feedback from pretty much everyone.

The Wisconsin, Washington and Hawaii primaries have been going on today, and while John McCain is expected to further solidify his presumptive nomination, the Democratic race is tight as ever, with a Gallup pole now showing Clinton closing the gap on Obama after his string of eight straight victories.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a train fatality at Lafayette and Classon Aves. in Brooklyn, another person under a train at 53rd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and yet another person under a train at Lincoln Ave. and N. Railroad on Staten Island.
  
• The giant apple will be popping up every time a Mets player hits a home run at the new Citi Field ballpark.
  
• If you work at one the top law firms in the country, surrounded by female colleagues who have graduated from the same prestigious law schools you have, it's probably a terrible idea to run a web site where others can rank them by their "hotness."
  
• StreetsBlog has an interesting claymation short demonstrating the concept of raised crosswalks acting as a sort of speed bump. Drivers may not care about running down pedestrians, but no one wants to bottom out his or her car, so at least they'll slow down.
  
• NY State is opening a probe to determine whether the costs of last year's massive steam pipe explosion will be passed on to Con Ed customers. We're 99% certain of the answer already, but won't spoil the surprise.
  
• A former aide to Gov. Pataki agreed to pay a fine of $15,000 for attempting to get the state to appropriate funds to a go-nowhere plan for a women's museum in lower Manhattan.
  
• It's still mid-winter, but it's never too early to start contemplating the fate of the Red Hook ball field vendors.
  
• Shrugging off offers from Microsoft to buy the company, Yahoo! management is now entertaining a possible deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which already has a Internet foothold with its ownership of MySpace.
  

On Friday, Gawker speculated that The Brooklyn Paper was in trouble after a tipster told them freelancers haven't been paid since last summer (a late freelancing check...unprecedented!) and perhaps more relevant, if true, that editor Gersh Kuntzman told staffers the "independent, family owned, locally-run" since 1978 paper is "undergoing some turmoil." We asked Kuntzman about the rumor, and here's what he had to say:

"The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just won 'Newspaper of the Year' from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business. Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."

Now that Rupert Murdoch owns The Wall Street Journal, he wants all his toys in one toychest properties in one building, namely News Corporation's Sixth Avenue building. The Wall Street Journal newsroom has always been downtown and is currently located at the World Financial Center.

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on...

Fox News Porn Robert Greenwald, the man behind the 2004 documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism which concluded that Fox News Channel is biased to the right based on memos and footage from the network, is at it again. This time around he is using clips from the channel culled from six months of broadcasts featuring women in bikinis and pixilated nudity in a YouTube video and website that mimics a porn site called...

Controversial publisher Judith Regan dropped a 70-page lawsuit on her old bosses at Harper Collins and News Corp yesterday. The $100 million defamation suit claims she was the victim of a smear campaign in order to protect Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid (read: Rupert Murdoch's political agenda). She states they asked her to lie to federal investigators about her one-time lover and former police commish, Bernard Kerik (who at the time was working with Regan on...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off the beach at 105th St. and Shore Front Parkway in Queens, a person struck by a train at 77th St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting at Martin Luther King Pl. and Tompkins Ave. in Brooklyn.
• A middle-aged man was arrested Sunday evening after attempting to rob a McDonald's on Staten Island, but settling for ripping the clear acrylic box of donations for charity from the counter and making off with it.
• Cemusa, the Spanish company that brought us the city's new bus stop shelters, will be installing a new Grimshaw Architects-designed uniform replacement for New York's eclectic newsstand designs.
• The city will begin notifying pedicab applicants by mail today who has been granted, via a lottery where existing pedicab owners received preference, a license to operate their vehicles. Nonetheless, there will be a number of existing pedicab drivers who will be prohibited from continuing working as pedal-powered transit.
• There is currently no credible threat against Jewish targets, but as Rosh Hashanah begins tonight and marks the start of the Jewish high holy days, the NYPD will be stepping up security around possible targets of terrorism.
• Former NY Jet Curtis Martin may be the purchaser of Brooklyn's priciest condo: the $7.25 million penthouse triplex on Brooklyn Bridge State Park with 360 degree views of the city.
• The Travel section of the Times acknowledges that cool Brooklyn does not end at Bedford Ave., and ventures as far as Havermeyer and Berry St. along Grand St. Get there before it's totally played out.
• The ink is still drying on Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones, but New York Post editor and alleged strip club afficionado Col Allan dropped by the offices of The Wall Street Journal, probably trying to pacify the upset reporters who are already seeing their pay cut through decreased health insurance contributions.

Now that Rupert Murdoch is on his way to owning the Wall Street Journal, not only does he get to enjoy owning the successful and admired newspapers, he gets to feel the brunt of its personnel headaches too! The NY Times reports that signs from contract-less employees, including the phrase "Show Me The Money," have been plastered on WSJ office walls, only for someone to tear them down...and for someone else to put them back up and on and on again.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has secured the votes necessary to purchase Dow Jones & Co., Inc. which includes The Wall Street Journal itself. The win comes after a lengthy proxy battle in which the Bancrofts––the family that has acted as stewards of the company from afar for more than a century––resisted a very generous overture from Murdoch.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on East 79th St. in Manhattan, another bank robbery on East 89th St. in Manhattan, and a police scooter accident at Adams and Tillary Sts. in Brooklyn.
• A parking ticket fixer was sentenced to three-to-six years in jail for arranging false-documented excuses to get people out of parking tickets.
• Robert Deniro and Al Pacino are teaming up as detectives tracking a serial killer in a new film. 50 Cent will join them as a helpful drug dealer informant character.
• Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp. isn't about to cooperate with The New York Times or its China-based correspondent.
• No NYC tryouts for the latest incarnation of American Idol.
• Curbed notes an Upper West Side townhouse that can be yours for just a K-note under a half billion dollars, courtesy of a typo.
• An SUV struck two pedestrians in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, before crashing into a storefront. The female pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.
• The "limited time only" lobster roll at Cosi gets a Midtown Lunch review: "There’s no way it’s healthy, and if you are not a fan of mayo you will probably hate this sandwich."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An escaped prisoner from Elmhurst Hospital, an unusual crime on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan, and a water rescue at Coney Island
• Is John Liu a born-again preservationist?
• Tiffany & Company and company opened its first store on Lower Broadway in 1837 before moving uptown to its present location. 170 years later, the company is reversing direction and will open a Tiffany & Co. store near the New York Stock Exchange.
• A UK Holiday Rental site is offering a Brooklyn apartment as a summer getaway for vacationing Brits. The description shows that some Brits will be prepared for a true NYC experience: "Summary of the apartment, 1 bedroom, sleeps 10".
• The burglar who broke into Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham's home and stole her jewelry before being easily apprehended because left his resumé behind, penned an apology note to his victim and begged for mercy, saying that he'd returned everything he'd stolen. Cops taking his confession weren't so sure, as he was wearing a pair of her earrings while writing his note.
• The NY Times is working on a big investigative piece about Rupert Murdoch and his businesses - we hope they figure out why "So You Think You Can Dance?" is on the air.
• Peter Braunstein is worried he'll be a target in prison, but would rather his attackers just kill him, instead of fighting or mutilating him.
• A property owner tried to bribe a Department of Buildings inspector to turn a blind eye on unsafe work

The owners of a controlling interest in Dow Jones & Company, Inc. may be considering a move to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. When the news that Rupert Murdoch was interested in acquiring The Wall Street Journal and adding all of Dow Jones to his News Corp. media empire, we wrote about the potential reluctance of the majority owners of the acquisition––the Bancroft family––and their longheld view that family ownership of a newspaper insulated it from profit-related concerns and guaranteed editorial independence. We also noted that $5 billion is a lot of money and the New York Times columnist David Carr predicted that Rupert Murdoch's past successes in wooing reluctant sellers, coupled with the disparate and disinterested ownership, would result in Murdoch's eventual triumph.

One can practically hear the giggling between the lines as The New York Times covers the New York Post's gossip page scandal that had the Post airing its own dirty laundry. Last year the Post fired Jared Paul Stern, a Page Six freelancer, after a billionaire accused him of trying to shake him down with promises to not write embarrassing things about him in exchange for cash. Stern is now suing the Post for his termination, in addition to a lot of other people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. As part of his suit, Stern enlisted the aid of a friend named Ian Spiegelman, who the Post had fired a few years ago after he sent an extremely obnoxious email that was widely circulated. Spiegelman more recently wrote a litany of embarrasing things about the New York Post and its employees and gave it to Stern, but it became public on Page Six, where the Post characterized its former employees as liars.

Rupert Murdoch did not become a media tycoon by turning tail at the first sign of resistance in his business dealings. New York Times media columnist David Carr examines Rupert Murdoch's past successes in wooing reluctant sellers into folding their companies into the News Corp. family with promises of benign oversight and marginal interference at best, only to run roughshod over the company and imprint it with Murdoch's style before the ink is dry on the corporate bill of sale.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: unstable scaffolding at Manhattan's 265 West 37th St., a police car multi-vehicle accident at Thomas S. Boyland St. and Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, and a suspicious package at East 161st St. and Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
• How could the McGreevey saga get any more strange? Maybe if Jim McGreevey decided to join the priesthood. He told WNBC that he is entering a seminary to become an Episcopal priest.
• Politics makes strange bedfellows: the lobbyist most responsible for killing Bloomberg's beloved West Side Stadium project is now a major backer of his beloved Congestion Tax proposal.
• The sister of the Brooklyn woman accused of killing her newborn child by dumping it with the trash on her family's back porch is claiming she didn't know there was a still-alive infant in the pile of bloody towels her sister gave her to throw away.
• The New York Times features a slideshow of the United Palace theater, the 1930s baroque movie palace turned evangelical church hall turned current music venue.
• The Bancroft family rebuffs Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the Wall Street Journal and other properties, and Dow Jones employees all exhale in a giant sigh of relief.
• The Dolan family is taking Cablevision private in a move certain to attract even more of the blame if the Knicks' woes continue next season.
• Meet New York City's new generation of preservationists.

The Bancroft family, who owns a controlling interest in publicly traded Dow Jones & Co., Inc., is considering an unsolicited bid from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to purchase The Wall Street Journal. Trading in Dow Jones shares was halted temporarily after their price jumped 57%, or nearly $21 during the day. Murdoch is reportedly offering $60 a share for the company, which would make the total offer worth approximately $5 billion. The New York Times reported last week that he loses approximately $70 million annually running the NY Post, which seems to confirm our suspicion he secretly swims Scrooge McDuck-style in a huge vault of cash.

Two weeks ago, Post announced that it was raising its price from 25 cents to 50 cents, with the change going into effect this week. Gawker noticed that a camera crew was filming the new price change for the paper, but NY1 found that the Daily News lowered its price to 25 cents for the week! So sneaky - we almost expect Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corp owns the Post) to visit Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman with a sock full of quarters!

Gothamist had the chance to sit down with veteran news anchor Rosanna Scotto of Fox 5. Scotto, a Brooklyn native, began her television career with WTBS in Atlanta in 1980 and returned home to work for WABC-TV in 1982. She moved to channel 5 in 1986 as a reporter and weekend anchor, moving up to the weekday anchor chair in 1994. We felt that since the Ten O’clock News on channel 5 will be celebrating its 40th anniversary on Tuesday, that it would be good to speak with someone there who has been there for a little over half that time.