new:
Rupert Murdoch is on Tumblr. For real.
He’s not really a Tumblr user until he reblogs that Marina Abramović gifset that’s popped on our dashboard a dozen times in the past twelve hours.
First iPad-only newspaper ‘The Daily’ shutting down on December 15th
:( A real heartbreaker. As you guys might know, some of SFB’s staff worked for The Daily until a recent round of layoffs. (I also did a piece for the publication a while back.) Peter, who you might know as BrooklynMutt, also worked on it. They also ran one of the best big-media Tumblrs. It was a great publication with solid design and a forward-looking approach — a real trailblazer. Its death is all-around sad. — Ernie @ SFB
With Tribune Co. expected to emerge from bankruptcy soon, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is looking to acquire two of its trophy properties — the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Tribune Co.’s debt holders — two investment firms and a bank — will become majority owners of the company after it exits bankruptcy, which could happen by year’s end. News Corp. executives have had preliminary talks with these debt holders about acquiring the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, according to two ranking News Corp. executives and others familiar with the situation.
These people cautioned that talks are in the early stages, and that a deal is by no means certain. Other potential buyers have expressed interest.
News Corp. has denied the reports, which surfaced in the very newspapers the company is rumored to be interested in buying. The Los Angeles Times could go for as much as $400 million. Meanwhile, Murdoch’s last foray into Chicago journalism — a purchase of the Chicago Sun-Times in the 1980s — was a disaster, with a sharp drop in circulation and the loss of many key writers.
According to David Folkenflik of NPR: In total, British prosecutors alleging a conspiracy going to paper’s top levels to hack into mobile voicemail of 600+ people over 6 years.
Brooks remains defiant. In a statement: “I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.”
Met Romney last week. Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.Rupert Murdoch • Tweeting yesterday about meeting Mitt Romney, a tweet that is bad for Mitt in three ways: 1) Romney met with a guy who is facing scrutiny in the UK over his cozy relationships with politicians; 2) A powerful conservative just ripped Romney and his staff; and 3) Romney will be stuck trying to put out this fire for like a week. While Murdoch later claimed he supports Romney (though hasn’t donated to his campaign), the tweets look bad for Romney.
News Corporation confirmed today that it is considering a restructuring to separate its business into two distinct publicly traded companies.A press release from News Corp. • Revealing that it is consid… oh you can read the quote! That’s like the entire statement, verbatim. (ht Matt)
I am so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a personal friend but because professionally we’re definitely in this together. Speech of your life? Yes, he Cam!Former News International exec Rebekah Brooks • In a text message to current British Prime Minister David Cameron, on the brink of a speech Cameron was about to make at a Conservative Party conference. News International had to hand over the text messages between the two as part of the Leveson Inquiry that grew out of the company’s phone-hacking scandal. It’s been a fun one so far, with such luminaries as Tony Blair (who also had a tight relationship with Brooks) and Rupert Murdoch being forced to testify. Today was Cameron’s turn.
Hey hey, what’s shakin’ Tony? We heard you had to speak in front of the Levenson Inquiry today regarding your cozy relationship with the media, particularly between yourself and Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch’s already spilled the beans about a few things in his conversation with Lord Justice Leveson, but hearing from a former prime minister certainly makes for a fun time, right guys? Here are a few of our favorite highlights from the four-hour questioning session:
» Blair also called Rebekah Brooks … with condolences: When Brooks, who is facing criminal charges in the phone-hacking scandal that led to the current inquiry, resigned from News Corp., Blair was one of the first to call. ”I’m somebody who doesn’t believe in being a fair-weather friend and certainly I said I was very sorry for what happened to her,” he explained. Because, hey, they were pals, too! (photo via the World Economic Forum)
I’m walking across the street from my apartment to a hotel. We were mobbed by journalists and paparazzi. I had a microphone stuck on my mouth and they said ‘what’s your main consideration?’ and I said ‘her, here.’News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch • Complaining about getting “mobbed” by the press over the phone-hacking inquiry. Note: He’s in the media industry. He indirectly hires people to do this for a living. One of his lower-levels at Fox News, Griff Jenkins, is so well-known for being the jerk who ambushes people that people ambush Griff sometimes. He doesn’t see the irony in complaining about it?
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
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OMG. I got so...
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Rupert Murdoch denies influencing UK politicians: The News Corp. leader, who has had a close personal relationship with a number of British prime ministers, denied undue influence on them. Murdoch spoke in front of an inquiry Wednesday tied to the company’s phone-hacking scandal. “It is only natural for politicians to reach out to editors and sometimes proprietors if they’re available to explain what they’redoing and hoping it makes an impression,” Murdoch said. Since 1988, Murdoch has met with the various prime ministers 75 times — 31 for Tony Blair alone.
I was not told sufficient information to go and turn over a whole bunch of stones that I was told had already been turned over. I don’t think that, short of knowing they weren’t giving me the full picture, I would’ve been able to know that at the time.News Corp. exec James Murdoch • Speaking in front of an independent panel investigating the phone-hacking scandal facing his company — a scandal which has hurt his own reputation significantly and cost him a number of roles in News Corp. He’s already testified twice in front of similar panels. Murdoch’s dad, Rupert, will testify in front of the same panel Wednesday.
» But what don’t we know? Rupe’s going to testify: Murdoch, who has seen his considerable British political influence fall since the hacking scandal broke, now plans to return to the UK to testify on his political influence over the years. Last time he did this, Wendy Deng kicked some guy’s pie-throwing butt.
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Sky News, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp media empire, admitted on Thursday it had hacked into emails on two occasions but said the actions had been editorially justified and were in the public interest.
Murdoch’s son James resigned as chairman of BSkyB on Tuesday to prevent a phone-hacking scandal at News Corp’s News of the World tabloid newspaper from harming BSkyB, a British pay-tv broadcaster of which News Corp owns 39 percent.
Sky News, BSkyB’S news channel, said that on one occasion it authorized a journalist to access the emails of people suspected of criminal activity in the so-called “canoe man” case of a man who faked his own death by paddling out to sea.
“We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest,” the head of Sky News, John Ryley, said in a statement.
Sky did not say what the second hacking episode was, but media reports said the said journalist accessed the email accounts of a suspected pedophile and his wife in an investigation that did not lead to any material being published or broadcast.
READ MORE: Sky News channel admits to email hacking
Of note in part because Sky News is seen as more “above the fray” compared to their newspaper cousins. The defending of the actions is significant.
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