Zuckerman had been the benefactor of "The Zuckerman Forum," a debate competition at NYU that annually awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships to undergraduate students. Tonight Victoria Keenan, the in-term Administrator of Student Affairs at the school, sent out the following email to Zuckeman Forum participants announcing the termination of the competition and scholarship money.

Dear Students:

As many of you are aware, the economic downturn and the Madoff scandal had a particular impact on our benefactor, Mr. Mortimer Zuckerman. Unfortunately, funding of the Zuckerman Forum Scholarship Program was one of the casualties in Mr. Zuckerman's necessary reduction of charitable giving. I regret that I must inform you that the Zuckerman Forum will not be held for the foreseeable future, including the 2009-2010 academic year.

It has been a great pleasure working with all of you throughout this competition. This has been a truly unique experience at NYU, and I want to thank you all for your dedication and enthusiasm over the past four years. I hope to see you at other events around the NYU campus; and I would be happy to put you in contact with other campus organizations that focus on debate, public speaking, and advocacy issues if requested.

Best of luck in all of your future endeavors.

-VIK

Sad. But will that won't stop the Post from taking a cheap shot at Zuckerman over this? It's doubtful.

Zuckerman told New York that the solution to the Great Newspaper Die-Off is bingo, which works in England: "Just make bingo legal on our websites.... The newspapers in England are supported almost exclusively by the profitability of running bingo games on their websites. It attracts an enormous audience. But here, you're not allowed to do it.... The Sun makes millions of dollars off of their bingo games."

What would happen if Zuckerman's Daily News were to start a bingo game? It would almost certainly screw it up royally, just like it did with it's promotional Scratch 'n' Match game in 1999, when a "production error" caused thousands of games to produce winning $100,000 matches. Or maybe it would screw it up royally like it did in 2005, when a "clerical error" did exactly the same thing.

Maybe Zuckerman should start with simpler math problems before moving up the big time.

Zuckerman's "blog," as the Huffington Post insists on calling posts, is headlined "The Story You Aren't Hearing About Israel," and leads with this:

Did you hear about the two policemen who stopped to help a driver stuck with a flat—and were shot to death in the head at point-blank range?

Did you know about the 120-kilogram bomb planted in a parking lot adjacent to a shopping mall where thousands of people were milling about the stores, restaurants, and movie theaters?

No, of course, you didn't. These are just two everyday incidents of the ordeal confronted by people in Israel while the world and the political leaders look away. Outrages like these do not make it into the Western media, which exhibit the familiar phenomenon of monitoring only the conflicts that are the flavor of the month.... Ordinary Israelis despair of the cruel bias.

Alright, let's take the bait! Here's the New York Times covering the two police officers getting shot. And here's the Washington Post. And here's the Los Angeles Times. Other papers that ignored the story by writing about it include the Boston Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel, and the London Daily Telegraph.

What about the New York Daily News? Did it devote newsprint to the murders? Of course not, because it is owned by a royal putz who knows not whereof he speaks.

Zuckerman also, in passing, blames the murders of the traffic cops on the fact that "Israel eased restrictions on movement in the Nablus area of the West Bank." This is false, according to Israeli police commanders:

Senior police officials say that the removal of checkpoints and the low intensity of Israel Defense Forces operations in the West Bank did not contribute to Sunday's shooting death of two traffic cops in the Jordan Valley.

But Zuckerman doesn't believe them, because he is a raving anti-Semite.

[Via Mondoweiss.]

• Alex Rodriguez's ex-wife is helping him through his steroid scandal, and Madonna is not happy. Who knows more about unhuman musculature than she does? [Gatecrasher]
• Some misguided woman in Los Angeles is suing Miley Cryus over the star's stretched-back eyelid picture. The suit seeks damages for 1 million Asian Americans. TMZ says this means "Asians Want $4 Billion From Miley Cyrus." Yes, because Asians are part of a monolithic borg. Cyrus is 16 years old; what's your excuse, TMZ? [TMZ]
• Mickey Rourke has maybe been secretly dating Courtney Love for three weeks. Try not to think about it. [Mirror]
• Kurt Cobain's writings were seen by a select group of publishers before selling for $4 million. So Mike Tyson figures if his writings are only circulated to a select group... [P6]
• After eliminating his contributions to Daily News worker retirement, Mort Zuckerman enjoyed a nice lunch at the Four Seasons. Cutting is a strenuous activity. [P6]
• Kate Hudson installed a stripper pole in her bathroom. She's very proud. [Scoop]
• People won't stop looking at Kate Moss and wondering if she's pregnant. [Sun]
• Michael Jackson may have a terrible skin-eating infection. [Sun]
• Lindsay Lohan was photographed carrying two pizza boxes, scientific proof she is eating enough food. [Mail]
• Here's a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow looking ridiculous is leather schoolboy shorts. [Daily Mail]

The all-glass office building in a formerly residential Manhattan neighborhood was to cost $980 million and house two major law firms, Gibson Dunn and Proskauer Rose. Last week, Boston Properties executives said they'd reached agreement with Proskauer; since then, the lawyers have backed out. Without leases in hand to make the project viable, Boston Properties has suspended construction-leaving the lot at 250 W. 55th as another highly visible relic of the boom.

(Photo via Google Maps)

The announcement, which ran today in the News' recently rejiggered Gatecrasher gossip column is pretty bare-bones, only indicating that the new baby was born last Friday and, "A delighted father and daughter are now at home celebrating with elder sister Abigail."

The real estate magnate who now prides himself as a media mogul — aside from the News, he also owns U.S. News and World Report — married Marla Prather in 1996 (Abigail was born in 1997) and then divorced in 2001. Aside from that matrimony, since then he's long stoked his bachelor reputation by keeping company with, at one point or another, the likes of Gloria Steinem, Ariana Huffington, Diane von Furstenberg and Bianca Jagger. (Yes, there's a pattern in there somewhere.)

Though he's a self-confessed dabbler in plastic surgery and other youthful tonics, his "dating" life has seemed to slow down in recent years. The most recent supposed paramour we turned up was Diandra Douglas (ex-wife of Michael Douglas), but she's since married a guitar maker.

So, the question remains: whose fertile loins produced Zuckerman's latest bundle of joy? Your info and speculation would be much appreciated.

At least two! The Wall Street Journal has the scoop, reporting that U.S. News editor and real estate mogul Zuckerman "had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff, according to a person familiar with his investments."

No dollar figure is provided by the Journal, or by the Post, which carried its own summary of the Journal story, just to make sure the owner of the tabloid competition was suitably embarrassed among as diverse an array of New Yorkers as possible.

Other victims from today's coverage:

• Steven Spielberg's charity, the Wunderkinder Foundation, derived "roughly 70 percent of [its] interest and dividend income" from Madoff as of 2006 and has confirmed it suffered losses on its Madoff investments.
• Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel's Foundation for Humanity lost money.
• So did New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his family foundation.

It's no surprise to see Zuckerman's Daily News editorializing that the Bush administration is "yesterday's news... with the crucial exception of having to prevent major banking houses like Citigroup from collapsing." What is surprising, though, is that MSNBC would allow Zuckerman to do the same on Morning Joe and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the other day without so much as noting the conflict. Village Voice has a fuller rundown. A clip of Zuckerman's flackery is above.

News owner Mort Zuckerman is said to have blown his stack over the Sunday story. Editor-In-Chief Martin Dunn then ordered the Tuesday piece, our source said, but no writers would put their names to it.

It is Zuckerman's nominal rival Rupert Murdoch who is always under suspicion of subordinating the editorial voice of his media outlets to his own personal interests and beliefs. He has admitted to doing so with the Post, and Zuckerman was among those who worried he might do the same with the Wall Street Journal.

But Zuckerman, who made his money in real estate before snapping up the News and U.S. News & World Report, is not exactly beloved by his own journalists. A 2007 New Yorker profile noted the high turnover among his editors. And it described the mogul, who has presumptuously given himself the title Editor-In-Chief at U.S. News, as a "conservative-leaning Democrat, who supported George W. Bush in the last election." Those sound like the political beliefs of someone who would take umbrage at a particularly critical article on Sarah Palin.

Or perhaps Zuckerman objected, or at least claimed to object, to the Sunday article on strictly journalistic grounds. The story quoted one National Review columnist, an anonymous operative and longtime Republican campaign consultant Ed Rollins, who most recently worked for McCain rival Mike Huckabee. None of their direct quotes supported the claim made in the headline that Palin might be dropped from the ticket.

But, likewise, the Monday puff piece presented no evidence to support the assertion that Palin is a fundraising dynamo or unconditionally loved by social conservatives. Dunn and Zuckerman should have known it would have looked especially suspicious without any bylines — and word of the clumsy Palin reversal would likely soon leak from a manhandled newsroom.

Speaking of which — if you have any further details, we'd love to hear them. ryan@gawker.com

UPDATE: An alternate explanation: One source said the Monday story was supposed to run Sunday but was held for space. Zuckerman, who has been out of town, didn't order the the Monday story, the source added.

Also, an email tipster said the second story ran only online. Although if it only was for the Web, why not run in Sunday, the same time as the other one?

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and News owner Mort Zuckerman have yet to have their first meeting on the deal, but it shouldn't be particularly awkward — as shown in the picture above, the two moguls are comfortable chatting socially, in this case at internet publisher Arianna Huffington's May book party.

More difficult, for sure, will be the merging of the papers' fiercely competitive circulation groups. The Post has lavished coverage on Daily News circulation scandals, and the rivalry trickles all the way down to deliverymen, who have been known to trash bundles of rivals' papers. Perhaps, before any partnership goes through, a study of sectarian rivalries in Iraq is in order, if only as a cautionary example.

[Times]

"Mr. Murdoch spoke on the call with Wall Street analysts and the press after the release of quarterly earnings from the News Corporation, the global media conglomerate he controls. On the call, he said, 'No, I don’t think Cablevision will prevail; just be patient for a couple days.'

"Several weeks ago it appeared that News Corporation had a tentative deal to buy Newsday, based on Long Island, for about $580 million, but two other bidders have come forward.

"Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner of The Daily News, matched Mr. Murdoch’s offer, while Cablevision, the Long Island cable operator that also owns Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks and Rangers, was a late entrant but upped the ante to $650 million." [NYT]

Also? Murdoch gave bubonic plague to three of the Seven Dwarves.

"Late Friday afternoon Mr. Zuckerman submitted a bid of $580 million for the Long Island-based newspaper, according to a person briefed on the matter. The bid sets up a potential bargaining battle by the owners of New York’s two tabloids: The Daily News and The New York Post.

"Mr. Zuckerman opted not to submit a higher bid. Instead, he will make the argument to the Tribune Company, the debt-laden parent company of Newsday, that his bid is more attractive because it does not have the potential to fall into regulatory limbo.

"Mr. Murdoch’s offer would almost certainly be scrutinized by the Federal Communications Commission under its new media ownership rule."

In related news... I hope you fall off a curb and crack your stupid hip, Rupe. You old prick. [NYT]

1. Publishing economics. The New York Post's new size, 12 inches high, down from 13½ inches, will make it the size of the Wall Street Journal, folded in two. I'm told this will allow both Murdoch-owned papers to be produced on the same presses. If Murdoch's rumored $580m bid for Long Island's Newsday goes through, News Corporation will achieve even greater savings. A person familiar with the deal said the deal, by combining printing and distribution of the New York Post with another title in the same metropolitan market, would wipe out the $50m in annual losses that the Australian media titan still bears on his beloved New York tabloid. This move would be straight out of News Corporation's UK playbook: there, the media conglomerate transformed the profitability of its UK titles in 1986 by breaking the print trade unions and moving production of The Times, The Sun and other London papers to a heavily fortified print works in Wapping.

2. Influence. Rupert Murdoch may be the personification of the press baron, but he's never had anything like the influence in the US that his array of newspapers and television networks brought in the UK. His solitary US newspaper title, the New York Post, has given Murdoch influence over New York City and State politics, but precious little juice in Washington, DC. Murdoch has never had the access to the White House, even under George Bush, that he had to Number 10 Downing Street during Tony Blair's tenure as UK prime minister. Fox News is powerful, of course, but the cable news network is too reflexively conservative to provide any real influence over the liberals who are likely to run national politics, and appoint regulators, over the next political cycle. By creating a national title in the Wall Street Journal, and taking control of about half the New York newspaper market, Murdoch or his successor should be able to withstand any political effort to break up his empire. Look at the UK: the Labour party, which long sought to curtail News Corporation's media power, has entirely given up; about a decade ago, Murdoch passed the critical threshold beyond which he became untouchable. By creating a similarly interlocking network of television and newspaper operations in the US, he can achieve a similar result on a grander scale—if competition authorities allow.

3. Mortality. Last month, the Australian media mogul turned 77 years old. His motives are hard to divine, but one has to presume that the nightmare would be the breakup of an empire he has spent a lifetime in building, the fate which awaits Time Warner and Sumner Redstone's holdings. News Corporation is the one media conglomerate which makes some sense: the profits are made on sports and entertainment broadcasting; tabloids and quality newspapers provide political protection. That's the formula in the UK, at least. In the US, the richest media market, Murdoch bought New York Post in 1976 and has gradually accumulated television stations over the three decades since, launched a fourth entertainment network and a surprisingly successful cable news channel, Fox News. But it is only now, as proprietors such as the Bancroft family and Sam Zell lose hope in the future of newspaper publishing, that Murdoch has been given the scope in the US to achieve the same concentration he has in the UK. And it is no wonder that Murdoch is in such a rush. These newly available newspapers need a dramatic intervention if they are to make the transition to the internet. Potentially hostile Democrats are about to take control of executive and legislative branches of government. And Murdoch, the last great media mogul, is mortal. The aging press magnate can deny the reality by wearing black polo-neck sweaters on the urging of his much younger wife, but he doesn't have much time to conclude his legacy.

(Citizen Kane's desolate mansion, in the Orson Welles movie based loosely on the life of William Randolph Hearst, the pre-eminent press baron of an earlier age.)

Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair: Carter's clashes with Weinstein were detailed in Ken Auletta's 2002 profile of the movie mogul in the New Yorker, for which Carter supplied some unflattering quotes. But the two made up: Weinstein and his Miramax Books advanced $1 million for a hardcover history of Carter's Spy Magazine, published in 2006 (the party photo at left, featuring Weinstein and Carter, was taken at a launch event for the book). When Weinstein wed fashion designer Georgina Chapman, Carter attended. The rehearsal dinner was held at Carter's restaurant, Waverly Inn.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.: Not only did he attend Weinstein's December wedding with wife Wendi Deng, but his four-year old daughter served as flower girl, according to Murdoch's Fox News.

Anna Wintour, Vogue: Met with Weinstein and his then-girlfriend Chapman about possible Vogue coverage of Chapman's fashion line. The gossip, as relayed by Page Six, was that Weinstein insinuated he could provide celebrities for cover shots in exchange for Vogue coverage of Chapman's fashion line. The line appeared several times in the magazine, and a Vogue rep confirmed to Page Six that a meeting occurred and that Wintour provided advice to Weinstein's aspiring fashionista, but said no deal was struck. Wintour also attended Weinstein's wedding.

Mort Zuckerman, Daily News, US News: Joined with Weinstein and others to bid on New York magazine in 2003. Also in the syndicate were financiers Jeffrey Epstein and Nelson Peltz, among others. Zuckerman also attended Weinstein's wedding.

For a fuller sense of Weinstein's connections, check out copious coverage of the guest list at his December wedding, which in addition to Murdoch, Wintour and Zuckerman drew network chiefs Les Moonves and Jeff Zucker and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels.

The mogul also makes his power felt further down the media food chain, where he can wow reporters with Hollywood glitz. David Carr said in the opening of a 2001 New York profile of Weinstein that the celebrities surrounding the mogul made Carr feel like "I'm in — kind of, temporarily, a member of the downtown tribe of Miramax."

At Fortune, Tim Arango opened a June 2007 Weinstein profile by recreating his trip with the mogul down the French Riviera in the back of "a midnight-blue Peugot." The pair drove past movie fans in Cannes, France, apparently on their way to a movie screening.

Arango went on to detail less glamorous — and less flattering — anecdotes, starting with how Weinstein's investors had just stepped up their oversight of his new company and were worried about management misfires. Weinstein's media influence, whatever he imagines it to be, has its limits.

It's awfully sweet that publisher Mort Zuckerman is committed (or deluded) enough to the future of his News to make "this significant investment in its future," as he puts it. Are the costs all that much different though? To be sure, purchasing brand-new press machines can cost a pretty penny. The German Koenig & Bauer presses that the News will use cost millions. But an industry insider we spoke to said the material costs to run the press (additional inking, etc.) aren't likely to be much different.

What is likely to change, however, are the number of people required to operate the thing. The main selling point of the Commander CT is that it requires far fewer pressmen than conventional machines. Good news for Zuckerman, not so much for the paper's press operators—we can actually hear the Pressmen's Union organizing from here.

Even if Zuckerman saves some cash with personnel, he may lose a little when it comes to ad revenue, surprisingly. Advertisers pay serious premiums for full-color ads. An extra $31,500 is tacked on to the bill for a full-color full-page ad in the New York Times. (Or you could send your kid to a damn nice college for a year, but it's not our money, sadly.) But they're willing to fork over the extra cash because ad departments remind them up and down that each edition has only a limited number of color positions available. Act now! Time is running out! You get the drift. It's harder to convince an advertiser to pay more for an ad when the others are just as colorful.

Mort Zuckerman
Publisher/EIC, New York Daily News. EIC, U.S. News & World Report.
Born: Montreal, Quebec.

Malcolm Gladwell
New Yorker staff writer, pop-nonfic author general media whore.
Born in the UK, raised in Elmira, Ontario. Attended the University of Toronto around the same time as Clive Thompson! And obv BFF w/ fellow frequent New Yorker contributer

Adam Gopnik
Born in Philly, raised in Montreal. Has also perhaps spent time in Paris? Someone look into this.

Graydon Carter
Editor, Vanity Fair
Born: Toronto, Ontario.

Dale Hrabi
Former editorial creative director at Maxim and elsewhere. Radar Editor at Large.
Worked at Canadian fashion mag Flare, just like:

Bonnie Fuller
Tabloid queen. Editorial director, American Media. Terror. Britney leaver-alone.
Born: Toronto.

Not pictured: Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sklar. Probably others! If you know of media-running Canadians we left out, drop us a line.