Rupert Murdoch Getting to That Surly Age
In your snippy Tuesday media column: Rupert Murdoch gets snippy at Pinch Sulzberger, Sumner Redstone gets snippy at Rupert Murdoch, we get snippy at the LA Times, and Variety's readership gets snipped.
- The WSJ had its very grand New York section launch party yesterday! Performers from In The Heights were there, which is not very appropriate. John Koblin was also there. He asked Rupert Murdoch about the little tiff a couple weeks back when Pinch Sulzberger said WSJ editor Robert Thomson lied when describing a conversation they had. Rupert said Sulzberger should "get a life." He also said something or other was "bullshit." Oh dear. Have someone get Uncle Rupert a nice glass of Old Grand-Dad and sit him over in the corner, would you?
- And in a touch of karma, Rupert himself is stone cold gettin' criticized, by a fellow mogul! Viacom boss Sumner Redstone said Rupert was dumb to buy the WSJ just as print is about to become extinct. "The difference between me and Murdoch is, he lives in ink and I live with movies and television," Redstone said. "Ink is going to go away, and movies and television will be here forever — just like me." Has Sumner Redstone developed a robotic exoskeleton that will grant him immortality?
- Haha, one week after criticizing a local TV station for running ads masquerading as news, the LA Times announces that it will begin selling paid "e-commerce links" to various retailers within LAT.com stories. But only in its blogs and in Health, Image, Food, Travel, Books, Entertainment and Sports articles, because those don't count as journalism.
- Since instituting an online pay wall, Variety.com has seen page views decline by more than 40%. But now 100% of the readers are rich Hollywood people, so it will be okay.