You know times are tough for the newspaper business when sworn enemies come together: "Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns The New York Post, and Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and owner of The Daily News, who for years have been bitter tabloid competitors, are considering the unthinkable: cooperation. Representatives of Mr. Zuckerman and Mr. Murdoch have been in discussions for several weeks to find ways to combine some business functions of The Daily News and The Post, according to people briefed on the matter." [NYT]

After bitter tabloid rivals the Post and Daily News both lost their bidding war for Newsday to bumbling Long Island cable concern Cablevision, discussion centered on which tab would be first to strike some kind of cost-cutting partnership with Cablevision. As it turns out, the Post and Daily News may just cut Cablevision out of the loop entirely — the Times tonight substantiates prior rumors the two papers will partner. The tabloids are in preliminary but "committed" discussions to share printing, distribution, sales and other functions, stopping short of a full Joint Operating Agreement. If only it were all so easy as simply signing off on such a deal.

As you are likely painfully aware, MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann is in a big feud with the entire News Corporation, since he picked a fight with thin-skinned Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. This feud recently grew to include News Corp.'s Post. When Post reporter Paula Froelich researched an item for Page Six on Olbermann supposedly demanding Tim Russert's old job, Olbermann preemptively called the reporter "the worst person in the world" on his show. When the Post did a story on Olbermann supposedly demanding to fly first class, he called Page Six-er Corynne Steindler "the worst person in the world." And now someone else at the Post is about to be called the "worst person in the world," because Page Six just ran some more bullshit gossip, this time about how Olbermann was way too nice in eulogizing former Bush press secretary Tony Snow. Wait, what?

Gawker's own Josh Stein has a big article coming out in Page Six Magazine Sunday about Anne Hathaway's scuzzyupstanding ex-boyfriend, Italian con mangentleman philanthropist Rafaello Follieri. The Post gave a brief preview of the article today, stating that Follieri Group vice president Vincent Ponte used to co-own of "one of the largest waste-management firms in New York." Not sure why the Post picked that particular fact to highlight. So Follieri's associate came from waste management. Sounds like just the gig for a legitimate businessman looking to make an honest living, at least until he is convicted of racketeering due to being unfairly stereotyped as an Italian American. From the same article, but surely unrelated: Follieri's "friend" says Hathaway should come pick up her pretty little dog from Follieri's apartment, because it would be a shame if something nasty were to somehow happen to it. [Post]

The tabloid said semi-retired Anna Kournikova wants to work for Vogue's Anna Wintour, but really it was the other Russian tennis blonde, Maria Sharapova, who does. Easy way to keep them straight: Sharapova calls her blog posts "doodles," while Kournikova calls them "blogs," just like Arianna Huffington. [Observer]

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns Fox News and the New York Post's Page Six, so there's often a bit of corporate synergy in the targets those two outlets decide to attack. Like NBC, for example. MSNBC competes directly with Fox News and NBC with the Fox network, so it's only good business to undermine them at every turn. But it's become an all-out a war, lately, waged both in print and on television. Let's go back to the beginning!

For Gawker commenter Karion, who has developed a crush on freebie-loving New York Post reporter, Justin Silverman: some beefcake shots.

So the Post has posted the Page Six item Keith Olbermann was so worked up about yesterday, and it does indeed say Hardball host Chris Matthews "seemed" to be talking about a strategy for landing Tim Russert's job at a memorial event for the NBC personality, and that Olbermann is threatening to quit if he doesn't get Russert's Meet The Press job. (On Countdown, Olbermann denied issuing an ultimatum for Meet The Press and said Matthews shut down talk of him replacing Russert when an acquaintance brought it up.) But the gossip item also quotes a source, ostensibly from the traditional broadcast side of NBC News, who claims that Russert himself wanted NBC News political director Chuck Todd as his own replacement, and that the network will never install someone from MSNBC on the show:

Keith Olbermann's feud with Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. media properties reached a bitter new milestone today when the MSNBC Countdown host smacked Murdoch's Post for a forthcoming gossip item that will, he said, allege that fellow MSNBC-er Chris Matthews was jockeying to succeed Tim Russert as host of Meet The Press at a memorial event for Russert yesterday. The item will also reportedly say that Olbermann has threatened to quit if he doesn't get Russert's job himself. Olbermann leapt to sometime-rival Matthews' defense, saying the Hardball host was asked by an acquaintance at the event about succession and immediately shut the conversation down. As for himself, Olbermann denied he had demanded to replace Russert and said he was, in any case, unqualified (though any savvy and honest successor would attach that caveat). The Page Six reporter working on the item, Paula Froelich, was awarded Countdown's "Worst Person In The World" title for the night, which will teach her a very important lesson: Do not call TV people for comment until after their shows have aired. Clip after the jump.

The day after the Post's Fred Dicker reported that David Paterson called Michael Bloomberg a liar (among several other not-so-nice things), all parties involved are feeling a wee bit defensive today. Bloomberg dismissed suggestion that relations had frayed ("He and I never had an acrimonious relationship"), although Paterson only half-denied it, allowing that Dicker could have heard something to that effect, but that he didn't get the story straight. But Dicker isn't about to let the story go or let anyone cast suspicion on his scoop. Dicker defended his journalistic chops today and even suggests who might have leaked him the info. Oh, and for visually-minded readers, Dicker's article includes a state-of-the-art BS meter. Because you just can't argue with science.

New York Post editorial cartoonist Sean Delonas is known for his distinctive visual style, his keen grasp of current events, and his virulent, hateful homophobia. Seriously, at least once a week he commits a hate crime to paper. So his take on Thomas Beatie, the pregnant transgendered man, is predictably nuanced and clever. See, it's some bearded guy who looks a bit like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad going into labor while a bunch of doctors ask for "suggestions" on how to deliver the baby. Because he's a man! Men don't have babies! Get it? We enjoyed this cartoon even more today than we did when Delonas made the exact same one two months ago:

Bastion of credibility Maria Bartiromo—perennial leaker of information and the most famous adultress in the history of private jet aviation—weighs in today on the presidential election, telling Page Six that if Obama's elected, "He's going to take the capital gains tax at 15 percent right now all the way up to 25 to 28 percent." Just think of how much Obama will cost Maria and hubby Jon Steinberg when they finally divorce and they have to sell the East 62nd Street townhouse they bought for $6.5 million last year! [NY Post]

The Post's efforts to slam Keith Olbermann are getting increasingly desperate. In its latest attempt to lash the MSNBC personality on behalf of owner Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. comrade-in-arms Bill O'Reilly, who are in a feud with the Countdown host, the tabloid somehow managed to work an Olbermann dig into a story about bad gym behavior. Well, actually, not into the copy of the story itself, but into the accompanying infographic, pictured above. It's an awkward enough dig to make one miss Olbermann's Rupert-Murdoch-as-a-pirate imitation. [Post]

The New York Post is tough on crime. Especially celebrity crime. They take gleeful pleasure (as we all do!) in cataloging the excesses and trashy doings of the drug-addicted and famous. Yesterday's breathless report on the arrest of poor former child star Tatum O'Neal went into embarrassing detail of her arrest for purchasing crack cocaine ("I'm researching a part," a "source" told the Post). But today's front page? And accompanying exclusive report from brittle columnist Andrea Peyser? A sympathetic tale of a troubled woman just doing her best to stay clean. The lead: "TATUM is saved!" Who the hell is O'Neal's publicist, Obi-Wan Kenobi? (Or, uh, Howard Rubenstein?) Drug-addicted celebrities! You may wonder how to garner such friendly treatment in the Post after your next drug deal gone bad! We have some suggestions:

The Post rather idiotically suggests that "Wall Street big shots" are now "abandoning expensive limo rides and their gas guzzlers" and opting to bike to work instead due to "soaring fuel costs." The article failed to list a single Wall Street big shot as proof, but we'll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for sightings of Steve Schwarzman or Lloyd Blankfein pedaling through Midtown like a couple of bike messengers. [NY Post]

As if its listicle of the "50 Most Powerful Women In NYC" were not journalistically dubious enough, the Post also had to use the list for shameless self promotion, putting two of its own columnists on the list. Granted, some of the non-Post choices were also highly questionable, like the editor-in-chief of Cookie magazine, socialite Ivanka Trump and former hooker Ashley Dupre. But how can you even begin to take the selection of, say, Post columnist Cindy Adams seriously when the first qualification listed for her is "she's got a sandwich named after her?" The Post's self-serving choices are after the jump.

When News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch decided to sit down for a rare, on-camera interview, it was of course with two reporters from his own media empire, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal. In this clip from the Journal's D conference in Carlsbad, California, Murdoch explains how he thinks the Journal and Times will be competing aggressively with one another on all stories — business, political or otherwise — within just "a few months." He also rants about how it's "ridiculous" that an average of 8.3 editors looks at a typical WSJ story, inevitable expanding it beyond reason. "People don't have time for it — there's not a story that you can't get all the facts in (within) half the space." Also: Murdoch confirms he was involved in the Post's decision to switch its allegiance from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.

Google has turned us all into monetizable micromarkets. An ad for everyone, and everyone in an ad. the New York Post is now advertising against the keyword "Rachel Marsden" on Google to attract readers. If you're asking "Marsden who?", then you've gotten the point already. Marsden, the Canadian political commentator (and Valleywag commenter), is best known for having been dumped by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia. Current Post readers are no doubt more interested in her reportedly unceremonious exit from the Fox News show Red Eye. What this ad buy tells us: That the Post thinks it can profit from attracting the small number of people who have heard enough about Marsden to search on her name. And that if Marsden is worth advertising against in Google's frictionless marketplace, every last one of us is next.

Lovable media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp, has been going around predicting a landslide victory for the Democrats this November and also big-upping Senator Barack Obama—he called Obama a "superstar" and a "complete phenomenon" at a conference yesterday. He apparently nudged his pet tabloid the New York Post toward an Obama endorsement in the New York primaries (despite his early attempts at making friendly with the Clintons). And as the Post goes, so goes, well, other News Corp holdings. So maybe Fox News will let up on Barry a bit? They've never been terribly friendly to McCain anyhow. But why would this noted conservative tyrant endorse Mr. Liberal Hope? He's done it before—with a friendly little weasel named Tony Blair.

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He is, more or less, dying. So we can rely on our own New York Post to relay that fact as efficiently as possible. They do, of course, call him a "brave icon," but there's really not a lot of love lost between the rabidly conservative Post and the grand old liberal Kennedy. Boston's tabloid, the Herald, goes with a show of support. The poor Daily News splits the difference.