Tag Archives: Gawker

Rebekah and Rupert and Lachlan and Andy

Gawker reports that emails involved in the upcoming British phone hacking trials will show that Rebekah Brooks slept with Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan, and Andy Coulson, her fellow News of the World editor who became David Cameron’s chief spokesman, but resigned in 2011 as the hacking scandal grew.

You’ll recall that the British press reported earlier this year that Cameron had been shocked by reports of an affair.  Supposedly, the Brooks-Coulson part of the story was that sex scandal.

For those of you keeping score at home, Rupert is 82, while Rebekah is 45, slightly older than his soon-to-be-ex Wendi Deng, who is 44.

“Odds of This Happening to a White Kid Are Just Very Slim”

I haven’t followed the Zimmerman trial closely, but I’m a big fan of Josh Marshall, and I wanted to share this.

From “Trayvon’s Dead Body,” Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo:

“I didn’t know this until just now. But yesterday MSNBC momentarily aired a courtroom image of Trayvon Martin’s dead body at the crime scene. It was seemingly accidental and they quickly panned away. Our video team saw it but didn’t run it, which was totally the right decision by every standard we’ve always followed. I didn’t see it myself or even know about it until a few moments ago when Gawker ran the image.

“I’m sure it makes me sound a bit naive saying this but I was shocked when I saw it. Of course, I’ve seen dead bodies before. And I’ve seen countless crime scene photos of dead bodies. In terms of who’s guilty and who’s innocent, it is well worth noting just for the record that seeing a dead body is inherently inflammatory and disquieting. It’s not probative at all in terms of determining guilt, which is why there’s usually a lot of jousting in a courtroom about what jurors get exposed to.

“But I wanted to share a personal reaction when I saw it. I felt guilty journalistically that it hasn’t been seen. Not guilty as us, TPM, but guilty in terms of journalism in general. We’re not going to run it because we’ve always had a pretty conservative editorial standard about running images that show gratuitous violence or death, dead bodies, etc. Whatever the merits of that standard, it’s probably not the right decision to depart from it now in this one case at the end of a trial we have not covered closely. And in any case, it’s already published if you want to see it. Before I link to it, seriously, think it over before you click. It’s upsetting. Here it is.

“But back to the image itself. Seeing it, for all the tabloid coverage and endless CNN cable news coverage of the case, a big part of me feels like the real story here has been glossed over. Whatever the ins and outs of the legalities here, the odds of this happening to a white kid are just very slim. I knew that an hour ago. But I’m confronting it in a different way now.”

The $3.7 Million Joke

Gawker has posted what they claim is a copy of Lena “Girls” Dunham’s book proposal, the one that got her a $3.7 million advance from Random House.

It reads like a narcissistic and vulgar parody of what you’d expect Dunham’s book proposal to be.  If it’s a parody, the joke’s on Gawker.

But if, as I believe, this is the actual book proposal, the joke is on Random House.  It’s not funny, it’s not interesting, it’s just crap.  Very, very expensive crap.

The sad thing is I’m sure there’s something brilliant buried in the slush pile at Random House tonight that will never bring its overlooked author even $3.70.

Fox Fights on Two Fronts

Although busy hunting down Gawker’s  “Fox News Mole,” Fox fought on another front today, responding to Newtie’s criticism that the network didn’t treat him fairly because they were for Mitt:

“This is nothing other than Newt auditioning for a windfall of a gig at CNN–that’s the kind of man he is. Not to mention, he’s still bitter about the fact that we terminated his contributor contract.”

Don’t Mess with Fox News

The Fox Mole, the disgruntled Fox News employee who had begun posting on Gawker, is now a disgruntled ex-Fox News employee.  He is Joe Muto, an associate producer on Bill O’Reilly’s show, who had been at Fox since 2004.

After a meeting with Dianne Brandi, Fox News Executive VP for Legal and Business Affairs, Muto was escorted from Fox News HQ by security.

Fox says, “We are continuing to explore legal recourse against Mr. Muto and possibly others.

Ah, Joe, we hardly knew ye.

The Fox Mole, Part Two

 Despite Fox’s report that they found the mole, he or she apparently still lives.  From Gawker:

“So Fox’s PR team has been telling people that they have “found me” and are presently “exploring legal options.” If Fox has smoked me out, it’s news to me. I’m still here. Back to work.”

Another Reason to Love Gawker!

Gawker announces its newest hire — The Fox Mole, “a long-standing, current employee of Fox News.”

From his (or her) first column:

“The video above is of Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity bantering before the taping of an interview for the “Hannity Vegas Forum” in February.  Of note:  Romney professes his and his wife Ann’s well-known love of horseriding, praising the qualities of the ‘Austrian Warmbloods’ that his wife rides — they are ‘dressage‘ horses, he notes — while maintaining his own preference for the ‘smoother gait’ of his own ‘Missouri foxtrotter.’

“Now there’s nothing wrong with Mitt and his wife loving horseback riding.  But remember this video next time Romney attacks Obama for golfing.  The inherent elitism and snootiness of golf is NOTHING compared to competitive horseback riding.  And I think Mitt loses points with the GOP base for his correct pronunciation of dressage.  To GOP-voter ears, it sounds not only gay, but even worse, French.”  Emphasis added.

Politico‘s Dylan Byers weighs in on The Fox Mole — “Should be fun, until they find out who it is.”

If you watched The Borgias on Sunday and saw the king’s torture chambers in Naples, I expect Fox News has something similar in their basement.  The Fox Mole is either very brave or very stupid or both.  I think it’s fair to say he will “never work in this town again” once Roger Ailes identifies his sorry ass.

I wish I could hear the back-and-forth between Mitt’s campaign and Fox about this leak.  The video also shows Mitt declining a pink tie in a fake gay voice.

All this story lacks is a loofah.

If you still had a show, Keith Olbermann, you could and would air this video tonight.