The Lie Detector Says You ARE The Publisher
TV's favorite paternity detector, Maury Povich, launched a weekly newspaper in Montana. "The caring residents of the Flathead have opened their hearts to the Povich and Chung family," Povich said, in explaining his decision to publish the Flathead Beacon. "Since Connie and I have spent our entire careers in the media, we wanted to give back to the people of the Flathead Valley our appreciation ...[with] a publication filled with meaningful news about those events that will indeed affect the lives of everyone living here."
Lord Black And The Fickle Finger Of Fate
Conrad Black breezily told a BBC radio show that the prospect of going to prison didn't bother him at all. But during the federal trial in Chicago that ended with his conviction and sentencing to six and a half years in jail, the press managed to get under his skin a few times. He was photographed giving the finger to waiting reporters -- an image the publishers of "Robber Baron," an unauthorized biography, used for its dust cover.
....And So's Your Old Lady
Lady Black, too, lost her cool much earlier in the trial. The conservative columnist Barbara Amiel Black is known for her cool wit in print, but when a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. producer Melanie Glanz tried to get into the elevator with her and her felon-husband, she called Glanz a "slut." Turning to two other journalists in the elevator, she said: "You're all vermin. I'm sick of it. I used to be a journalist and I never door-stepped people."
Sweet Home, Ala -- Oh, Never Mind
When Birmingham (Ala.) News reporter Brett Blackledge won this year's Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, Rep. Jack Williams thought it would be nice for the Alabama House of Representatives to honor him with one of those resolutions legislators routinely pass congratulating Little League teams and National Merit Scholars. Instead, the House voted 49-20 to table the resolution.
Blackledge won the Pulitzer for his investigation into corruption in the state's two-year college system.
"And Mr. Roberts Also Has Stopped Beating His Wife..."
Almost nobody did more to keep the bizarre in the industry's bizarre year than Wendy McCaw with her, um, mercurial operation of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press. But even by her high standards of weirdness, the treatment of former Editor Jerry Roberts this spring was something special.
First the paper reported that 15,000 images of child and adult pornography were discovered "after the departure of a number of editors in June 2006, including Jerry Roberts, and that the News-Press computer in question had been used by him during his employment."
Then the paper waited weeks before finally acknowledging in an editor's note that, well, Roberts was a little honked off by the unfounded suggestion he was storing kiddie porn. Here's how the paper cleared things up:
"Following publication of the article, we received a letter from Mr. Roberts' attorney expressing concern that the article could be read to accuse Mr. Roberts of being responsible for the downloading of child pornography images. The April 22 article contained no such accusation and, to the contrary, the article eschewed knowledge of the identity of the perpetrator. Rather the article reported statements that persons in addition to Mr. Roberts may at various times have had access to the computer and that the News-Press would continue its efforts to determine the source of this child pornography."
Oh, if you didn't see an apology or expression of regret that's because there was none.
Par Ridder's Memo To Self: Try Really Hard To Look Like A Moron
But not even Wendy McCaw could outdo another rich kid gone weird, Par Ridder. In a jaw-dropping sequence of events, Par quit as publisher of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which MediaNews had acquired when Knight Ridder was sold off while being run by his father, Tony Ridder. In violation of a non-compete agreement he later said he had been released from, Par not only hopped across the river to join the rival Minneapolis Star Tribune, but he recruited some other top Pioneer Press executives, and allegedly shared the confidential contents of his Pi-Press laptop with his new Strib colleagues.
It was big enough story that Joe Strupp ranked its fifth on his list. Measured by sheer weirdness, though, the goings on in the Twin Cities clearly earned the number one position on my list.
There?s so much nuttiness you don?t know where to start. There was Par?s testimony that when he pledged, on his way out the door, not to poach any PiPress executives, he meant that he would not try to lure anyone away THAT DAY. And then there was his response to the Pioneer Press? demands that he immediately return a computer hard drive loaded with confidential business information. Par claimed that he thought they were just mad he had taken a $50 hard drive, and offered to buy them a new one.
But nothing topped the strange notes to himself that emerged as evidence in the MediaNews Group lawsuit.
Apparently he meant to prepare himself for the inevitable media inquiries when he left the Pioneer Press for what he cleverly called "X newspaper."
Suppose, Par must have been thinking, someone asks me what my interests are, or they want a little up-close and personal anectdote. (All quotes are untouched by a copy editor, just like the original.)
"What are your interests
--"I make time to read 4 papers a day
--"I have 3 kids.
--"I love to run. I go to the gym or run every day.
--"Work takes a lot of hours
"OR
--"I met my wife at math camp, one struck out at band camp.
--"On Friday nights I like watching almanac ... live
--"We're raising three little newspaper readers."
Or suppose The Wall Street Journal wanted to know about his business philosophy:
"How do you get change? In order to get EE engagement you need transparency. You need to treat them like adults and kill the parent/child relationship."
Yikes, calling Dr. Freud! Stat!
And then, finally, there's some simply inexplicable Deep Thoughts:
"Low point
Emily, cord, stop reading romenesko"
"High point
Staying in the Twin Cities"
So true, Par, so true.