Twitchy sociopath James Murdoch may be on thin ice at News Corp., Reuters' Peter Lauria reports. Despite a public vote of confidence from his father during last week's earnings call—"I have full confidence in James"—some News Corp. executives are preparing for a post-James world, on account of how he lied to Parliament.
In your shattered Thursday media column: The Guardian's circulation drops, the New York Press is dead(ish), media reporter job moves continue, and meta-aggregation is about as great as you'd think.
Not only did Ashton Kutcher pose for the cover of Details' September issue, he also edited a special "online only" version, out today. Turns out Hollywood's prettiest boytoy is one compromised whore of a magazine editor, directing most of his recommendations and profiles to tech companies he's invested in, with nary a word of disclosure. It's shameless even by Condé Nast standards.
In your hopeful Wednesday media column: someone gives Capital New York some dough, Chris Rovzar leaves New York, Elisabeth Murdoch has tons of News Corp shareholder cash, Village Voice sex lawsuit dismissed, and the world's highest paid authors.
In your spotless Tuesday media column: more stories of magazine poop, business journalists web-surf predictably, a Florida politico type applauds the layoff of newspaper "pieces of shit," AMI's not for sale any more, and alt-weeklies bombarded with cash.
News Corp has allowed that the ongoing UK and US investigations into the News Of The World phone hacking scandal might just hurt its reputation and business interests.
In your maudlin Monday media column: CNN has more 9/11 documentaries than you can shake a stick at, Patch is incredibly expensive, 23 more newspapers get paywalls, the Richmond newspaper shrugs off an ad-stravaganza, and a French newspaper caper.
You know it's mid-August when a man walking past Ann Curry's empty Upper West Side townhouse is newsworthy. That, or we're talking about the New York Post. On Saturday, the Post reported that a "hobo" had been squatting in Curry's abandoned $2.9 million townhouse for about a year until police removed him from the building. As the "bum" explained to the paper, "I'm not a drug addict; I just don't have a place to sleep." Police took the man to a homeless shelter without incident.
We've had our fair share of crazy magazine covers lately. This week, it was Michele Bachmann's crazy eyes on the cover of Newsweek. A few weeks ago, it was the re-imagined and photoshopped life of Princess Diana (coincidentally, also on the cover of Newsweek).
Violence Alert! CNN's Don Lemon says he tried to ask GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann some questions after she speechified to the corn dog-munching masses at the Iowa State Fair, but was shoved by Marcus Bachmann and two campaign aides.
In your wistful Friday media column: the NYT's caller ID change is very important, Jared Paul Stern has a book to tell you about, Chris Hayes' bizarre MSNBC show concept, the NYT paywall approved of, and Borders' death screws magazines.
Lucky editor and accused Twitter parody mastermind John Jannuzzi has issued an official statement on the matter of an anonymous Twitter account dedicated to eavesdropping on people at Condé Nast: "I am not @CondeElevator." Then why did you accompany your statement with a picture of Richard Nixon, a known liar who once had a fake Twitter called @MarkFeltIsAShitNozzle, hmmm? [Lucky, Images via @JohnJannuzzi and Lucky]
Lucky editor and popular Tumblr-er John Jannuzzi is having a bad day. In the last 24 hours, The Daily Beast and SheFinds.com separately reported that he is the mystery eavesdropper behind @CondeElevator. Jannuzzi declined to comment on the record when we asked him about the rumors yesterday and today, but 30 minutes ago he said this on Twitter: "This is fucking ridiculous." [TDB, SF, image via @JohnJannuzzi]
In your sunny Thursday media column: News Corp stock bounces back, buyouts at the Baltimore Sun, the WaPo forswears a paywall, CNN wants to hire internet tipsters, and Jake Tapper has advice.
