Rupert Murdoch's Invisible Hand p. 16

By: George Garneau

RUPERT MURDOCH HAD absolutely nothing to do with the scandalous tale of former presidential adviser Dick Morris, but the Australian-born media mogul's footprints were all over it.
The story was reported by Star magazine, the supermarket tabloid founded by Murdoch in 1974 and sold by his News Corp. in 1980 to what is now called American Media Inc.
The sordid tale was first reported in the mainstream press by two struggling big-city tabloids: the New York Post, a Murdoch property, and the Boston Herald, which Murdoch sold in 1994 to comply with federal cross-ownership rules.
The journalists involved in the story on all three tabloids have long ties as former colleagues in Murdoch's sprawling global media empire. And those links helped the supermarket tabloid "place" the story in the two mainstream tabloids to promote sales, just as the Star was about to hit supermarket checkout lanes across the country two weeks ago.
It was that familiarity ? plus the evidence supporting the story and the supermarket tabloid's growing track record of credibility on such stories ? that convinced the mainstream tabs to run with the story, even though the Star paid Virginia prostitute Sherrie Rowland "five figures" to tell on Morris.
The reporter, Richard Gooding, was a former news executive at the Post and at the Daily News.
Star editor Phil Bunton helped Murdoch launch the tabloid and worked as a news executive at both the Herald and Post before returning to the Star.
Post editor Ken Chandler, formerly assistant editor of the Star and editor of the Herald, calls Bunton a friend of 25 years.
And Star President Roger Wood once upon a time edited the Post.
And Herald editor Andrew Costello formerly worked under Chandler and alongside Bunton.
All of which goes to show, perhaps, that great tabloid minds often think alike.