Rupe, The New York Post, Junk, and What's New

Rupert Murdoch has spent some time recently trying to persuade people that his organization publishes real journalism and rises to the level of real papers like...oh, say... The Wall Street Journal - the people being the owners of Dow Jones. You might have to look around the world pretty hard to find somebody with two active brain cells that believes they publish something beyond fish-wrappers. That might seem like a bit of exaggeration until you stop to consider that the broadcast versions are Faux News and Fox Network, and since their employees include Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Chris Wallace your hands might start shaking when you contemplate the WSJ in the same hands.

Mentioning fishwrappers brings up the latest brouhaha over at The Jew York Post and its 'gossip' showcase Page Six. Jared Stern was suspended after allegations he demanded money for favorable coverage who is considering suing and whose lawyer obtained a statement from Ian Spiegelman also a former writer alleging editor Col Allen frequented a strip club, that long time column author Richard Johnson took a $1000 gift, and that Rupert Murdoch, Post owner, directed Page Six to avoid articles unfavorable to China where he was conducting business. Page Six published the allegations and denied some of them, sort of, in a rather botched preemptive strike. It has turned out to be a rather poor version of a soap opera - you know, darn near the definition of august journalism and high journalistic standards.