We really thought the debate over bias in reporting couldn't get anymore heated, but this morning brings a feverish new issue: can and should reporters express personal opinions in their private lives? In light of a leaked email sent from Wall Street Journal reporter Farnaz Fassihi to her family regarding conditions in Iraq, some people wondering if it's appropriate for a journalist to express a private view, like, ever?
· Number two newspaper publisher Knight-Ridder reports an 11% earning increase in the third quarter. Oooh, people are reading again! [AP ]
· Free daily Metro has snatched Daily News senior editor Brian Moss and appointed him as their Editor-in-Chief of Metro U.S., thus giving him responsibility over Metro's NYC, Boston, and Philly markets. [Metro]
· A grand jury issues subpoenas for testimony regarding the inflated circulation numbers for Newsday and its Spanish sister, Hoy. Wisely, the papers will comply. [Newsday]
· Haven't had enough Martha Stewart paraphernalia? A new deal will ensure you get more than your fair share of Martha Stewart furniture. God forbid she lose a single penny during her imprisonment. [NYP]
We'd be remiss if we didn't give a brief but sincere congratulatory note to Gawker founding editor Elizabeth Spiers, who has escaped the charnel house that is New York magazine to assume the role of MediaBistro's new Editor In Chief in November. (The position was vacated by Jesse Oxfeld, who recently fled into the arms of Editor and Publisher.) Why does Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby want someone so editorially-savvy to handle a party-supported site? Our prediction: Elizabeth is going to get bored picking through cocktail polaroids and will strangle Laurel by Christmas.
Mediabistro.com Hires Elizabeth Spiers As New Editor-In-Chief [Mediabistro]
Yesterday we briefly mentioned that Spy co-founder and current New York columnist Kurt Andersen was in possession of one of those blog things everyone keeps gibbering about. But, when we decided to check out Kurt's foray into this mod medium, we were sorely disappointed. We must do something about this:
Who cares about the First Amendment, right? Let's throw all the journalists in jail! Yeah! Matthew Cooper, Time magazine White House correspondent, has been held in contempt for court for, like Judith Miller, refusing to testify regarding sources in the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Also like Miller, Cooper faces up to 18 months in jail. Perhaps the two can share the romantic Journalist Suite at Camp Cupcake and take up macrame.
Time Reporter Again Held In Contempt In Leak Case [NYT]
The Smoking Gun just got their hands on the Bill O'Reilly sex harassment suit. The suit alleges that the Fox News anchor really liked to overshare: about losing his virginity in a car at JFK, doing Thai hookers, having a threeway with Scandinavian air mattresses. And, according to the complaint, he really, really likes phone sex.
One of these gossip columns is not like the other: In today's Daily News, Rush & Molloy report that, according to People magazine, Katie Couric's romance with Tom Werner has ended. Meanwhile, Lloyd Grove smokes crack and quotes Star as saying wedding bells will soon be ringing for the pair. Lloyd gives us the exclusive explanation:
In a preemptive move sure to leave the world snickering, frothy Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has filed a lawsuit against former Fox colleague Andrea Mackris, who has been threatening O'Reilly with legal action over offensive comments that O'Reilly allegedly made. O'Reilly's suit accuses Mackris of "extortion, infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful interference with contractual relations." Aw, look, he's the victim of emotional distress. Try telling that to any of the guests who've tried in vain to utter a word on his show.
O'Reilly: Female Aide in $60M Extort Bid [TSG]
If you asked us which celebrity we most fervently wish kept an online diary, we would quickly reply, "Melanie Griffith." Oh, wait a minute. We're changing our answer! We are proud to (belatedly, we know) present the free-associational prose stylings of Oscar-nominated legend Nick Nolte. Here, Nolte recounts the type of madcap "only in Hollywood incident" that happens to us at least three times a week:
· New USA Today editor wants readers to know "we're not snobs." [Romenesko]
· American Media, Inc. returns to the possibility of an IPO, thus presenting the possibility that Star editrix Bonnie Fuller would get even richer. [NYP]
· Want to toy with the emotions the haggard Observer staff? Send out an advisory email regarding their upcoming office move. Like that'll ever happen. Peter Stevenson, you're such a kidder! [Page Six]
· Supermodel Cindy Crawford demands that Jenna Jameson retract passages from her bestseller, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, alluding to flirtatious encounter between the two women. Boo. [Fleshbot]
Have Elvis Mitchell and Harvard ended their torrid love affair? We're just wondering, since the agitated former New York Times film critic has published no less than three reviews in the past five days. Seeing as it's the New York Film Festival and whatnot, it's not totally surprising that Elvis has been spotted chain-smoking on the red carpet—but, like, didn't he leave the Times in a big tizzy? And now he's back at his old digs for some freelancing? Maybe teaching at Harvard is just too hard and poor, overextended Elvis wants to go back to zoning out during movies.
UPDATE: If our stupid NYT links (did you guys forget to pay the bills, too?) would work, we'd be able to more clearly see that these are reprints, which raises another issue: why are we being served warmed-over reviews of NYFF flicks from the guy that stormed away from 43rd? Can't they get some new, starving writer to pen something nice and quick?
As if it's any surprise, Slate rounds up a gaggle of novelists and asks who they're voting for. With the exception of, like, two or three hawkish writers, the overwhelming consensus goes for Kerry. Everyone's favorite wunderkind novelist and New York mag reporter David Amsden, is of the Kerry camp as well, but he also divulges a choice bit of information:
Not to go all Wall Street Journal on you, but our ears are burning with wildly unsubstaniated rumors that the Viacom Death Star is about to blast Sirius satellite radio with a cash tractor beam (as some media outlets have speculated about and others have largely dismissed) and haul in the company and all of its sexy, newly-acquired debt to keep Howard Stern in the fold at its Infinity Broadcasting division. The crazy chatter further holds that Viacom co-president/future galactic dictator Les Moonves was so despondent over Stern's departure from his loving embrace (and over the possibility that the FM portion of his empire will be decimated) that Stern will now get to do his plain, old, over-the-air radio show in a new, commercial-free format. The upshot: Stern gets to keep his huge audience, Viacom finally shows they aren't taking him for granted, and Moonves gets Sirius' satellite pipleline to eventually deliver mind-control rays for his coming invasion Viacom content into the world's automobiles, assuring there is no place where we will be safe from Real World and Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.
It's amazing to see how low Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter will go in order to save a little face (or whatever miniscule amount of it still remains). Not only has the mag decided to get stoop to an inexplicable level of charity, but they're doing it by selling some truly tacky, "music-inspired items" on eBay:
When you're done taking a moment to reflect on the sad death of Christopher Reeve, do turn your attention to Sharon Osbourne, who is not dead, despite what an incomplete obituary briefly posted (and since removed) on ABC.com may lead one to believe. Osbourne, best known for putting up with rocker husband Ozzy's legendary drug abuse and then selling her family's privacy to MTV for a handsome profit, is still thriving. We wish we could say the same for ABC's online editors, whose gilded pink slips are likely being scheduled for a classy Friday delivery.
ABC: Sharon Osbourne Dead [Ledge of Liberty]
· Penthouse founder Bob Guccione leaves after the struggling magazine was acquired in a bankruptcy auction. Will masturbation ever be the same? [NYP]
· A BBC employee calls the American media "self-obsessed." No fucking shit, that's how we like it. [CBS Marketwatch]
· Knopf is set to publish a 20 year-old manuscript written by late actor Marlon Brando. The novel will surely be as insane as its author. [NYP]
· A Wall Street Journal editor goes off on "self-promoting" journalism professors. Why else would you teach journalism if not in the name of self-promotion? [WSJ]
