Missing Boy Wanders NYC Alone, Has the "Greatest Day" of His Life
Most kids would freak out if they were separated from their parents in a busy city like New York—but not Chris Villavicencio.
Daily News, caught doctoring gore out of a bombing photo, says "everybody in the media should have been this sensitive."
Is Michelle Obama a 'Modern-day Marie Antoinette'?
So Michelle Obama took a fancy trip to Spain with her daughter and friends. Is she history's greatest monster for this extravagance? Irate Daily News columnist Andrea Tantaros sure thinks so! Why can't Michelle Obama travel like an "average" person?
Is the Daily News in Bed with Madam Kristin Davis?
On Tuesday, the New York Daily News took the New York Post to task over its new "sex, love and relationship" columnist Ashley Dupre, calling the ex-hooker's advice "useless" and bemoaning the fact Post editors have insisted on giving Dupre a "16th minute of fame." But the Daily News is a friend to publicity-seeking…
The Daily News Shares a Few Excellent Ideas with the Post
Not surprisingly, the Daily News isn't all that impressed with the New York Post's newest columnist, ex-hooker—and now singer and crisis management expert—Ashley Dupre. After dismissing the column as "useless," Joanna Molloy shares a few (great!) ideas on what the Post could cook up as an encore: "Bernie Madoff could…
All Tonight's Holiday Parties: the White House, Vogue, Daily News
Working for Gawker does not lend itself to getting invited to fancy media holiday parties. So we have to use Twitter to spy on them. After the jump: three of tonight's fancy parties and a plea for your help.
• The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are feuding once again. [DF]
• Thanks to a $200 million investment in new printers, Mort Zuckerman's Daily News can now print any page of the paper in color! Exciting! [Crain's]
• Does the fact Glenn Beck is a highly paid pitchman for a gold company explain why he promotes…
• A big round of layoffs landed at the Associated Press today. [BI, NYT]
• Budget Travel isn't shutting down, contrary to rumors. But its owner is looking to sell the magazine or find new investors, however. [AdAge]
• Time.com's managing editor, Josh Tyrangiel, will become the editor of BusinessWeek when Bloomberg LP…
The Daily News Will Not Be Left Behind
The New York Post has had a field day this week with the (quite possibly false) rumor that Eliot Spitzer is supposedly thinking about jumping back into politics. That Tuesday cover story led to a Wednesday cover featuring a response from Ashley Dupre's mom; then, yesterday, Ashley herself responded to the Spitzer…
Imus To Fox Business, Glenn Beck's Losses Mount
• Confirming the rumors from a few weeks back, Fox Business says it will begin simulcasting Don Imus' radio show beginning next month. [LAT]
• The total number of advertisers that have decided to yank their ads from Glenn Beck's Fox News show, according to ColorofChange: 57. [NYDN]
• More on the transition at ABC…
Roxanne Shante's Feel-Good Story a Fake?
Noooooooo: Last week we heard the heartwarming story of how old school rapper Roxanne Shante got her evil record company to pay more than $200K for her to get a Ph.D. Now Slate says the whole story's a fake.
A&E Buys Lifetime; Another Luxury Magazine Launch
• A&E has agreed to acquire Lifetime, which means it's not entirely out of the realm of synergistic possibility that Duane Chapman of Dog the Bounty Hunter will make a cameo on Project Runway sometime next season. Yay. [THR, NYT]
• The Daily News has dropped its restaurant critic, Danyelle Freeman, and doesn't appear…
Lindsay Lohan's Little Italy BlackBerry Bodega Brouhaha
This may be one of my favorite gossip items, ev-ar: Lindsay Lohan ended up having to call cops to get her BlackBerry back from a bodega in Little Italy, reports the Daily News today. Where? Who? What? Why? How?
Clients 1-8, 10-67 To Remain a Secret
This is sort of unfortunate, but not really. A federal appeals court today decided the news media will not be permitted access to the wiretaps that were used to bust Emperors Club VIP, the escort agency that employed Ms. Ashley Dupre and brought Eliot Spitzer's political career to a messy end last March.
The Sale of The Globe, Olbermann's Worst Week Ever
• The New York Times Co. is now publicly shopping the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, the list of potential acquirers is getting longer: The firm that bought the San Diego Union-Tribune is now a possible buyer. [AP, NYT]
• Related: The Globe is going to start charging to access its Web site. [E&P]
• News Corp. and GE were…
Time Warner's Loss, IAC's Gain & The McKinsey Mystery
• Time Warner sucked wind in the second quarter as profits fell 34%. Newly-independent Time Warner Cable, however, posted a profit. [AP, Reuters]
• McKinsey has set up shop at Condé Nast. What it is the consulting firm's actually doing (or recommending), however, remains a mystery. [NYO]
• Barry Diller's IAC posted a…
Ben's Big New Deal, Another Rough Quarter For Viacom
• Ben Silverman didn't have much success during his two-year stint at NBC, but that didn't stop him from scoring a super-sweet deal with Barry Diller's IAC. His new venture will reportedly give him $100 million to play with. [NYP]
• Viacom, the media conglomerate controlled by batty billionaire Sumner Redstone,…
The Times Sells WQXR, Murdoch to Buy the 'News'?
• The New York Times Co. is selling its classical radio station WQXR to WNYC Radio and Univision as part of a "complex deal." One thing that isn't complex: The sale will pump a much-needed $45 million into the paper's coffers. [NYT]
• Is Rupert Murdoch planning to buy the Daily News from Mort Zuckerman? That's what…
Farrah, Late Night Ratings & Anderson's Mea Culpa
• ABC and NBC will face off on Thursday night with competing tributes to Farrah Fawcett, who died today. But you probably expected that, no? [NYT]
• David Letterman beat out Conan in the ratings last week, the first time the Late Show has dominated the weekly ratings since 2005. [THR]
• Rosie O'Donnell will debut a…
The Daily News Plugs a Hole
The New York Daily News dismissed gossip writer Sean Evans last Friday. The paper has yet to name a replacement to head up the Gatecrasher column with Laura Schreffler, and from the looks of things, the recruitment process isn't going very smoothly. Filling in for the week is "swag hag" Sarah Polonsky, the former …
