The Clintons And Page Six
Today's Observer takes an aggressive look at the relationship between the Clintons and the New York Post, specifically wondering whether items about Bill and Hil were changed or killed because of their relationship with Rupert Murdoch. Recall that the Post's treatment of the Clintons seemed to change rather suddenly around the summer of 2005; everyone assumed that Murdoch had suddenly seen the political utility of donating money to Hillary's campaign.
Which is where Page Six, and that affidavit that Jared Paul Stern's lawyer sent to the paper on May 11, come in:
Politicians such as Hillary Clinton and others in a position to grant Murdoch and News Corp. valuable concessions and favors were ... fellated in print," the affidavit reads in part. And, later: "Page Six was ordered to kill unflattering stories about Hillary and Bill Clinton on numerous occasions."
Examples, please!
In an interview with the Observer, Stern recalled that when Edward Klein's tell-all about Hillary was about to be published, the paper substantially changed an item about the book from one that relished in the salacious details (lesbian allegations, etc.) of the book to one that completely slammed it:
"So, basically, what we ended up doing is reconfiguring the story and working with Hillary Clinton's people on this, and the story we ended up printing was that Ed Klein had done a sloppy hatchet job," Mr. Stern said.
There's also the little matter of Bill Clinton's alleged philandering:
"[Bill] Clinton definitely was out and about, and it didn't get reported in Page Six," said former Page Six reporter Fernando Gil of the column's treatment of the Clintons in the years following Mrs. Clinton's successful Senate campaign. "You can probably draw your own conclusions."
Then again, both of these examples have already been noted elsewhere. So is there anything new to relate about the Clintons? And where is the elephant in the room, Ron Burkle, and his relationship with Bill Clinton? Specifically, wasn't he "out and about" with Bill? Questions! The Observer tried to get Ian Spiegelman to elaborate on his allegations about Page Six and the Clintons, but he said he couldn't recall. So really, Page Six's treatment of the Clintons isn't really any different from the rest of the Post's, and is simply part and parcel of the way Rupert Murdoch runs the Post, which is on favors and favoritism. No surprises there!
