"The paper's editors are being urged to think more about how they can use the front page to boost newsstand sales — not something that has traditionally been a major focus."

Those instructions conjure visions of the parody tabloid Journal published in April (pictured), which included a topless dot-drawing of Anne Coulter and a garish, Post-style promotion for NYSE lotto. Today's front page story on the dramatic suicide of a "flamboyant" real estate developer could certainly be given the tabloid treatment, although the headline, "Real-Estate Financier's Death Hints At Trouble for Lenders," would need to be sexed up (possibly with ALL CAPS and a slammer!).

As if orders to tart up the paper weren't disorienting enough, staffers are also on edge about 50 job cuts at the South Brunswick New Jersey offices, reports Keith Kelly at the Post.

It could be worse, Journal-ites: At least you're not getting paid by the page view (yet)!

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]

Olbermann called Snow "optimistic, funny and courageous," adding, "While we could not have disagreed more on policy, we were in frequent contact, even during his days as Press Secretary."

The temerity!

...a true friend of Snow's says Olbermann had "no relationship with Tony, at all." In fact, Olbermann named Snow his "Worst Person in the World" on Jan. 9, 2007, accusing him of lying about President Bush's 2003 "mission accomplished" speech. Olbermann hissed, "You're just baldfaced lying. You were hired to lie . . . We're not all third-graders out here."

Clearly, Olbermann's parting words for Snow should have focused on their bitterest moments of disagreement rather than on what Olbermann admired about Snow. In fact, Olbermann should have included in his eulogy the phrase "worst person in the world," if only for the sake of consistency.

[Post]

May 2003. This, according to Jack Shafer, is when Keith Olbermann instigated the NBC/Fox War. In a throwaway wisecrack at the close of his show, Olbermann compared Fox Blowhard Mascot Bill O'Reilly to Joe McCarthy. By 2006, the two hosts were fighting with each other almost nightly.

January 2006 Bill devotes his nightly comment to attacking NBC itself—and not Olbermann by name. "But 'Talking Points' is troubled by the behavior of NBC, which cheap shots FOX News on a regular basis and has been doing so for some time." He then takes it to the next level by going over Keith's head and pinning the blame on NBC President Robert Wright! (Keith responded by declaring O'Reilly his Worst Person in the World.)

October 2006 Fox's NBC war was expanding beyond Olbermann and O'Reilly. Fox gossip Roger Friedman turned a benefit report into an odd swipe at NBC's ratings, blaming Wright for the failure of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

January 2007 The O'Reilly Factor presented a fair and balanced report on The Decline of NBC News. "As we reported NBC News has taken a sharp turn to the left under executive Jeff Zucker and Robert Wright with elements at NBC News now actually using propaganda from far left web sites as primary source material. Unbelievable." He went on to gleefully report on the supposed misdoings of Maria Bartiromo, bringing in a financial analyst willing to publicly trash CNBC.

April 2007 As the odious Michelle Malkin hosted his program, O'Reilly appeared via satellite to blame the Don Imus affair on Jeff Zucker. Meanwhile, Fox business correspondent Terry Keenan gleefully reported that NBC's parent company GE wanted to unload the network.

January 2008 The war heats up! O'Reilly does one of his patented ambushes of General Electric head Jeffrey Immelt! Supposedly because of some deal with Iran, but mainly because GE owns NBC and NBC employs Keith Olbermann and Keith Olbermann makes fun of Bill O'Reilly.

And so the feud widened. From Bill versus Keith to Fox versus NBC to News Corp versus General Electric. It went as high as Immelt and Rupert Murdoch! Fox News head Roger Ailes called NBC head Jeff Zucker personally to complain about Olbermann and threaten to take the battle to the New York Post. Murdoch called Zucker to ask that the network not play a video of a blogger harassing O'Reilly.

Page Six, the Post's gossip arm, constantly runs embarrassing stories about Olbermann. Which often leads to Olbermann naming some News Corp or Post-related figure his Worst Person in the World. And then the cycle begins anew! Over and over again!

Post columnist Andrea Peyser overhears Keith bitching about Connie Chung, Keith calls Peyser the worst person in the world, a few months later, Page Six reports that Olbermann is bad in bed! Then column editor Richard Johnson gets the first of his Worst Person in the World awards. (The second would come when he threatened to rape Vanessa Grigoriadis.) It's fun!

But the involvement of Murdoch? The harassment of Immelt? As GE decides whether it wants to keep its toes in the broadcasting business, this ego-driven bullshit might help convince them it's not worth it. Bill might win this one, sort of!

As in most things Murdochian, Rupert doesn't dirty his hands. While it's fun to pretend to see his fingerprints on each Olbermann smear in Page Six, the truth is Johnson and Post head Col Allen do indeed call the shots. They just know which shots they're supposed to call. Just like Roger Ailes at Fox, all the way down to Bill.

Would that GE and NBC/Universal had a message machine so in tune? They've got the cable blowhards warring with the broadcast newsmen and it all ends up publicized by one News Corp outlet or another.

The real winners, as always: us!

The insider said, "They're cable. They're far too partisan. They have no gravitas. If gravitas is eight letters, they're about seven letters short."

Even more than the opinionated Matthews, Olbermann, with his long "special comments," has forced open a wedge at NBC News between the cable and broadcast side. (The division was explored, among other places, in this week's New Yorker profile of Olbermann.) It appears as though Meet The Press is the latest battlefield in this civil war, which in turn implies that, though Olbermann lashed out at longtime enemies Murdoch and Page Six over the Russert memorial gossip, the stories may very well have originated not with anyone from News Corp. but from a fellow denizen of 30 Rock, the NBC headquarters.

[Post, Previously]

Update: 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. The insider said, "They're cable. They're far too partisan. They have no gravitas. If gravitas is eight letters, they're about seven letters short."

Even more than the opinionated Matthews, Olbermann, with his long "special comments," has forced open a wedge at NBC News between the cable and broadcast side. (The division was explored, among other places, in this week's New Yorker profile of Olbermann.) It appears as though Meet The Press is the latest battlefield in this civil war, which in turn implies that, though Olbermann lashed out at longtime enemies Murdoch and Page Six over the Russert memorial gossip, the stories may very well have originated not with anyone from News Corp. but from a fellow denizen of 30 Rock, the NBC headquarters.

Update: Paula Froelich of Page Six responds: "I am honored and chuffed that someone with such a severe case of malignant self-obsession as Keith Olbermann would say I am the Worst Person in the World for June 19, 2008. Apparently I, by writing a true story about his ambitions, trumped the atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe, Than Swe, Boris Boyarskov (he wasn't in the news yesterday but I generally think he's a pretty bad guy and assume he did something bad), Ratko Mladic, Hugo Chavez, and his own beloved Dick Cheney. (Notice I didn't say what these people do — Olbermann will have to expand his scope beyond his own being to figure it out. Heres a hint, darling: one is the vice-president of the United States of America). Perhaps Keith, who is as infantile as he is narcissistic, should preach to his viewers about things that actually matter to them, rather than himself. But then again, there are only 300,000 of them. The FLDS has more members."

Delonas [Post]

1. Suck up to Peyser! Andrea Peyser is here to cast judgment on humanity. And generally, she does not like what she sees. As a hateful, finger-wagging moralist, her usual weapon is outraged hyperbole, especially against celebrities, and especially especially against lady celebrities. But, you know, if you give her an exclusive, and play desperately, shamefully apologetic, you might get a little sympathy! Especially if you compliment Peyser's columns viciously attacking a different terrible woman:

She called me to explain herself. Also, because she liked my columns slamming another discarded wife, Dina Matos McGreevey.

"If I were an acting coach, I'd tell her not to make faces!" she said of Dina. "Don't look mad or petulant. She looks like a 12-year-old."

2. Suck up to the NYPD! The cops? Heroes. Always. They do no wrong! Also, they are fantastic sources, if you're a tabloid. O'Neal is not only not mad at the cops for arresting her, she is grateful at the favor they did her!

"Just when I was about to change that and wreck my life, the cops came and saved me!" Tatum crowed.

"I was saved by the bell, by the guys in the Seventh Precinct."

3. Avoid the Sob Story Everyone's got one, and they rarely get you very far. So be careful when employing this one. Best to put on a cheerful, "there but for the grace of God" tone, say you're getting your life back on track, admit you've made mistakes, and leave it to Peyser to spin your tale of woe in her inimitable style. O'Neal focuses on the positive—her career is picking back up! Her boyfriend is a saint!—while Peyser reminds us of her lifetime of abuse and addiction. (Though O'Neal does point out that she lost her beloved dog, which is the sort of relatable sob story that does work. Poor puppy.)

(And if all else fails, hire Post flack Howard Rubenstein.)

Tatum to Cops: Thanks! [NYP]

Hey, at least they didn't include any of the high-profile women on corporate sibling Fox News. Like... uh... hmmm.

Greta lives in DC still? D'oh.

[Post, AdScam]

Of course, Murdoch is correct that virtually any story in the Journal, or in any other newspaper, can pack in the same amount of fresh information in half the space. But that begs a follow-up question: Aren't newspapers, and the Journal especially, differentiated from newer media by precisely the sort of context and analysis that would end up on the cutting-room floor? Mossberg, interviewing his boss, is disarmed by a Murdoch joke, and doesn't ask that question, at least not in the footage he's released.

On editing and competition with the Times:

On Obama and the Post endorsement:

More Murdoch gushing on Obama is available here, along with his claim that cable channel Fox News conveys both right- and left-wing political perspectives in its news coverage.

As the Thatcher era drew to a close in England, Murdoch switched his allegiance from John Major's Tories to the Labour party. Specifically to its rising star Tony Blair, a Clintonian centrist liberal who promised to remake and modernize (or modernise) his stagnant party. Murdoch's papers endorsed Blair in 1997, because Murdoch generally prefers backing winners to ideological purity. This tends to help with things like encouraging the government to let one crazy Australian own as many forms of media as possible. Of course, Blair spent some time courting Murdoch's support personally, surely flattering for the would-be kingmaker.

Murdoch even rewarded the former Prime Minister with a job offer! It was the least he could do for the despised Blair, who dragged his nation into Bush's war against everyone's will and consulted with Murdoch multiple times a year (often in secret) on government policy. Murdoch won important victories, getting Blair to reverse his opinion on the Euro and more. Though the BBC was not, sadly, destroyed.

In other words, Obama should watch out for Australians bearing gifts. Though Murdoch isn't yet as powerful in the US as he'd like to be, a couple years worth of regulatory changes could fix that. And maybe Rupe will finally get his long-overdue invitation to the White House.

(Also, Murdoch on Keith Olbermann, virilant critic of Fox: "I fired him 5 years ago," when he was on FoxSports. "He was crazy.")

Olbermann has been criticizing O'Reilly on his show for four years, including naming him the "worst person in the world" and saying his kids have a home life as difficult as that faced by the forthcoming child of a pregnant, transgendered man.

Instead of taking what he dishes out nightly, O'Reilly allowed News Corp. chairman Murdoch and Fox News chief Roger Ailes to complain to NBC executives on his behalf, asking that Olbermann be reined in. NBC refused, and O'Reilly launched a campaign on his show against NBC corporate parent General Electric and its CEO Jeffrey Immelt, saying that GE's business with Iran — "mostly... sales of oil, gas and energy and health-care equipment," according to the Washington Post — endangered American troops in Iraq.

News Corp. then offered to end the attacks in exchange for Olbermann backing off O'Reilly, according to NBC.

The Washington Post said Ailes threatened to deploy the New York Post against Olbermann, but an Ailes spokesman denied this, saying, "Roger doesn't control the editorial policy of the New York Post."

Within a few hours of that denial going online, the New York Post published its initial attack on Olbermann on its website.

That Murdoch properties do one another's dirty work and then lie about their actions is hardly surprising; but one would hope thinned-skinned rageaholic O'Reilly would learn to fight his own battles at some point instead of complaining to his bosses and permitting a sucker punch from Page Six, as though he doesn't have enough media firepower at his disposal on the O'Reilly Factor.

[Page Six, Washington Post]

Anti-cop radicals [like] the New York Civil Liberties Union... won't be happy 'till every last cop is off the streets (and maybe behind bars)... If cops stand down, as critics demand, it'll be welcome back crime and chaos.

Blair wrote an account of his police incident for the Post in December.

After he was stopped and angrily asked if he spoke English, and after he threw back "No, no hablo ingles" and the officer briefly took him seriously, Blair was handcuffed and taken to a precinct house. There, he announced his affiliation with the Post, he said in a statement given to Editor & Publisher:

The only reason why I declared to these officers that I was a reporter for the New York Post, that I was a graduate of Columbia University, is because I wanted it to end. I should not have to pull on cards to be respected as an individual.

Saying he was with the Post proved to be sort of get-out-of-jail free card, he hinted in his writeup in the Post:

I unloaded: "I have a master's degree from Columbia University. I am a reporter for the New York Post. What do you mean this is not incarceration?"

The air froze. Officer Castillo kept writing, but I watched his face go flush.

"Now I understand what black people mean in this country when they talk about things like this," I said to Officer Reynolds.

"What do you mean? I am black, too," he said.

"That's what makes it so shameful," I said. "You stood there and watched him cuff me for no reason and you said nothing." He walked away.

At 9:04 p.m., 10 minutes after I was put in the cell, Officer Castillo let me out.

"Mr. Blair," he said. "You are free to go."

(Side note: Sheila, you totally should have tried this!)

The only charges brought against Blair by the police, making unreasonable noise and disobeying a lawful order, were dismissed by a judge.

The Post wears its pro-police bias as a badge of honor, and Blair's suit was, perhaps, an embarrassment. It's easy to imagine its editorial yesterday as something other than an accident, a way to cement the paper's relationship with the NYPD and rebuke its off-the-reservation reporter without breaking any labor laws.

Or it could just be another pro-police Post editorial. Not sure it even really matters.

[E&P, Post editorial, Post story]

(Photo by New York Post)

It involves Murdoch somehow destroying Cablevision's $650 million bid for Newsday, a bid $70 million higher than Murdoch's own bid. You can just tell Murdoch is up to something. Listen to this quote:

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.”

Just be patient?? For two days? That's awful specific. And it sounds like a villain's line from a b-grade action thriller. Just tell me this, Rupe: Does it involve Australian frogman commandos? Please let it involve Australian frogman commandos.

And write about it in the Post before you raise the price in two weeks.

[Times]

“Murdoch’s papers are known for their great editorial cartooning,” said Rex Babin, the editorial cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee. Mr. Babin noted that Pepper’s targets — the foibles of offices and other institutional oddities of American life — were not distinctly editorial in nature, and The Journal page might benefit from an actual conservative editorial cartoonist, as opposed to a feature cartoon whose spiritual sibling is The New Yorker.

Ah, yes, the brilliant editorial cartoons of the Murdoch papers. Like that Sean Delonas over at the Post.

[Times]

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.)

Fortunately, there is an alternative explanation for the Post's seeming political correctness. The new "mini" size is the equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, Murdoch's newly acquired business newspaper, folded in two. So the change will allow the Post and Journal to be printed on the same presses. The timing, on the environmentalists' big day, is pure theater; it provides excellent cover against any suggestion that the Post is shortchanging readers. And Murdoch's News Corporation, by hiding a commercial motive in environmental guise, remains reassuringly evil.

"The large and in-charge diva's agent, Ruth Bowen, told her pal Page Morton Black that Franklin has rented a home in Westhampton for two weeks in July. Bowen and Black—the chairman of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation—seemed almost as excited by the news as they were about the Parkinson's annual fund-raiser May 14 at The Pierre hotel." Is this evidence that over-exposure to celebrity gossip can occasionally screw your shit all up? Or is this some passive-aggressive mindfuck between Franklin and her agent? I simply do not know. [P6]

For those keeping score, that story top is at least a quadruple threat: Pun, scare quotes, the word "Lie" and an EXCLUSIVE box. Rupert really knows how to kick 'em when they're down.

Times: Another Shift in the Wind for Clinton and Murdoch

Sema Markovic, 22, student: "It is an ugly thing for a politician to tell lies. We had problems for years, and I don't like when someone lies about them. It makes us look bad."

29-year-old Midhat Efendira: "It was a horrible lie."

Sead Numanovic, deputy editor-in-chief of Bosnia's largest newspaper: "We don't have space for someone's lies. Why is she so stupid?"

The little poet girl still loves Hillary Clinton, but refuses to say who she'll support in the coming election.

FROM BAD TO VERSE FOR HILL [NYP]

We came close once. Richard was on vacation and Wilson typed up what we thought was surely a family-friendly way of explaining the Santorum gag to unplugged newspaper readers. At about 7:00 p.m., we were all set to leave, when Post executive editor Steve Cuozzo—the Old Timiest of the Old Timey newsmen—came tearing out of his office, yowling, "Frothy discharge? Frothy discharge!?" Long story short: item killed.

What else do I miss about the Post? This lady right here. ::Sigh::

• "Kiss Your Asteroid Goodbye" (a runaway star possibly hitting the Earth)
• "Jiggle All the Way" (husbands giving their wives boob jobs for Christmas)
• "Bimbo Summit" (Lindsay, Paris and Britney partying together)
• "Good Noose" (Saddam Hussen sentenced to hang)
• "Wacko Jacko Backo" (a Michael Jackson comeback)
• "Bite of the Century" (Mike Tyson chewing off part of Evander Holyfield's ear)
• The 1982 incident that gave birth to the most famous headline of all, "concerned a Queens strip club where the bartender was shot dead and his head cut off. (The killer didn't want to leave the embedded bullet behind.)" [P6]