Worth the paper it's printed on

So, what am I to make of the alleged extortion scandal involving the New York Post's gossipy Page Six and a billionaire businessman who wanted favourable coverage?

(crickets chirping)

Let's try that again: I really don't care that gossipmonger Jared Paul Stern is accused of trying to get supermarket magnate Ron Burkle to fork over $220,000 (U.S.) to get better boldface in his column.

Too much celebrity journalism is already tainted. Publicists control access, questions and, on movie junkets, even the videotape which TV entertainment reporters use. Anybody who seriously believes that a gossip column, especially one that tracks powerful tycoons, hasn't made compromises along the way for tips is a few statuettes short of a cheesy awards show.

As the New York Times reports:

As with any gossip column, there are several ways an item gets into Page Six, according to those who have worked for the column and those who work with it on behalf of clients.

To deal with the publicists who want a certain client's name in the paper, there is a simple payback system, or favor bank. After a publicist feeds a few good spicy items, often about people who are not their clients, the publicist's client might get a harmless mention, usually in the "We Hear" feature.

"When you have gossip it's a commodity you can use," said R. Couri Hay, a publicist for luxury brands and some prominent New York figures, "to buy other placements, buy immunity for your interests or to do favors for other people."

Deborah Schoeneman, a former editor of New York magazine's gossip column and who has occasionally contributed items to Page Six, said: "In all gossip reporting you have to rely on a certain stable of sources. If one of those sources has a client who has a restaurant opening, you would mention that restaurant opening happening that night because that source can later give you something else."

The difference here is, these guys got caught asking for money. But nobody batted an eye in the past when they accepted trips, cars and other luxuries.

The New York Post "Page Fix" scandal grew yesterday as those familiar with the gossip page painted a picture of an out-of-control institution where lavish gifts are routinely bestowed on columnist Richard Johnson and his staffers.

Johnson was feted at a bachelor party last month that cost in excess of $50,000 hosted by soft-core porn king Joe Francis at his palatial estate in Punta Mita, on Mexico's glorious Pacific coast. More than 2,000 miles from New York, the resort area boasts 343 days of 80-degree sunshine.

Francis, 32, producer of the topless "Girls Gone Wild" spring-break video series, flew the party from New York on his private jet. Francis appears regularly in the column, almost always in a positive way.

Johnson also got a free trip to the Academy Awards last month, paid for by ABC and Mercedes-Benz. The trip included first-class airfare, a three-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel and a car and driver.

New York Post spokesman Howard Rubenstein acknowledged that Johnson received both trips gratis.

Really, only two things are worth mentioning here.

1. This story was broken by the New York Daily News, the Post's biggest rival. It's a newspaper war thing. Which is why the New York Times has gone ape over it.

In New York's tabloid newspaper war, revenge is a dish best served boldface.

Over the last few years, The Daily News has taken its lumps from its crosstown tabloid rival, The New York Post. No perceived gaffe has escaped The Post's coverage, whether it concerned the regularity with which The Daily News' owner, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, shuffled top editors, or a "Scratch n' Match" contest last year that, because of a typographical error, led thousands of Daily News readers to think they each had won $100,000. Writers at The Post regularly point out gossip items that they reported ahead of the "Daily Snooze" — as they call their larger, slightly more sober and more liberal rival.

All the while, The Daily News' once daunting lead in circulation over The Post has been gradually narrowing on weekdays, in part because The Post cut its cover price by half in 2000. Last December, The Post even hired away The Daily News' president and chief operating officer.

Now The Daily News has pulled out all the stops in its coverage of accusations of attempted bribery involving a popular contributor to The Post's vaunted Page Six gossip column.

2. As noted by Eric Boehlert, Fox News which, like the Post, is owned by Rupert Murdoch, hasn't given the story much play.

The juicy, jaw-dropping story that eviscerates any semblance of journalism ethics--even for gossip columnists--represents a big deal and has been covered by all the other cable news channels, the networks as well as major dailies. But not at Fox News. The story broke on Friday. It took Fox News more than 48 hours to mention the name "Jared Paul Stern" on the air, along with just single reference to "Page Six," according to TVEyes.com.

What makes Fox News' contorted silence all the more comical is that in recent years the channel has set itself up as something of a media watchdog, dedicating an overabundance of time and energy to covering journalism missteps...as long as the missteps didn't' come from within the Murdoch family. That's why Fox News treated the CBS Memogate scandal during the 2004 election as if it were the Apollo Moon Landing.

Though I am as anti-Fox as can be, even I think this is a relatively trivial story. I am sure much greater political favours are exchanged and crimes committed every day on Capitol Hill.

So now can we get back to what's really important, like Seymour Hersh's astonishing reportage on U.S. Preznit George W. Bush's plans for Eye-ran?

Thank you.

Comments

[Bill-Muskoka]

Gossip Columnists?

Are those the so-called scrum reporters we are entertained by at Parliament Hill?

[sooey]

uh oh... okay. i'll go with: “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” for... double jeopardy, alex.

[J. Gardner]

You just expended a great deal of verbiage on the problems of celebrity reportage and accompanying perks to reporters of celebrity, and then in a very quick few words alluded to Seymour Hersch's reference to "Eyeran" as being much more important, but gave us nothing. A lot less celebrity reporting from everybody, and a lot more of those things that will be of direct effect would make more sense. Or am I just being a poor sport?

[Antonia]

Not at all JG. I was getting to this.

[Bill Lee]

And in The Nation--online (via Romenesko)
about the NYT-Online (less grey, more "dynamic"?
.... This weekend's papers confirmed my concerns as the Times went VH1 over
allegations that New York Post [12]"Page Six" contributor Jared Paul
Stern attempted to extort California billionaire Ronald Burkle. Over
48 hours, the Times relentlessly deluged readers with multimedia
graphics, photos, charts, sexed up backstory and snarky quotes from
irrelevant pundits. It doggedly tracked down former co-workers and
associates who lurked in the "dark corners of nightclubs and parties"
with Mr. Stern sipping on "champagne with supermodels." It obtained a
copy of the key evidence (a grainy security tape of Stern with Burkle)
and expertly analyzed it. It camped out at Stern's Catskills home and
uncovered this vital piece of information: "he paid $220,000 for it."

....The stories broke within 24
hours of each other, and here's the recount for the weekend:

Articles about Scooter Libby: 2 (plus one op-ed by Maureen Dowd)

Articles about Jared Paul Stern: 5

Number of reporters contributing to Libby coverage: 4

Number of reporters contributing to Stern coverage: 9

Total word count for Libby articles: 2,872

Total word count for Stern articles: 5,468

[ more ]
URL: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=76221

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

An oint-oink of agreement with Sooey from this Peri-oink-oink, who's just about convinced they're going to drop something on Iran.
"How I learned to stop worrying and Love the...?

[Jay Currie]

Which, Bill, suggests rather good news judgement on the part of the Times. Jared is not much of a story; but hyping Scooter's not very revealing testimony and filings is a job best left to the loonier blog swamps of the Left.

[Moni]

Being from the fashion world, gossip mongers that pay attention to page 6 are important to me and others in my industry.
Thanks for the behind the scenes shot of this scandal.

I know this isn't very important in the grand scheme of things but I'm glad you addressed it.