Scandal of the New York gossip page

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 10 April 2006 at 11:22
Tags: Ethics, Newspapers, United States

It has all the makings of a Hollywood thriller. Two men meet secretly in a New York loft; a secret camera in the ceiling tapes their meeting as FBI agents stake out the scene from a room upstairs. The protagonists are a California billionaire and a New York tabloid journalist.

That meeting over a glass-topped kitchen table is now rocking the American journalism world, making big headlines and creating turmoil at Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post.

The two men were California industrialist Ron Burkle, who made his fortune from supermarkets and is somewhat notorious for his amorous affairs and freelance gossip writer Jared Paul Stern, a contributor to the Post’s “Page Six”, America’s best-known and probably most widely-read gossip column.

It’s alleged that the journalist was trying to shake down the billionaire with the promise of keeping his name out of the column. His price: $100,000 plus regular monthly payments of $10,000.

It all began, it’s said, with a letter the millionaire wrote to Murdoch complaining about the stories that kept appearing in the Post about his alleged romantic adventures – which he claimed were mostly untrue.

It was, he says, a friendly letter. But it was never answered by Murdoch. Instead, it lead, it’s now suggested, to a meeting with Stern, a contributor of “Page Six” for more than decade. Around New York, the 35-year-old newsman is known for his trendy dress and trademark felt fedora. In addition to providing items for “Page Sixâ€?, he also produced a regular column of his own for the Post called “Nightcrawlerâ€? and recently edited the Post’s new glossy Page Six Magazine.

At the meeting in the Greenwich Village loft, it’s alleged that Stern offered, in return for payment, to ensure that no more bad stories about Burkle would appear in the Post. He even advised, it’s said, how the money could be paid into his bank account. One of his supposed comments, recorded on the tape was: “It’s a little like the Mafia; a friend of mine is a also a friend of yours�.

Stern now claims that the allegations are distorted and “out of context�. He claims that he only discussed with Burkle the possibility of him investing in a new offbeat fashion company he has recently started in New York called Skull and Bones.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Stern claimed that he was set up, alleging that it was associates of Burkle who initiated the discussions of payment.

His lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told the AP: “Mr. Stern has been the victim of a smear campaign and expects to be fully exonerated and reinstated in his position.

There have been few comments from the Post itself. If the allegations are true, Post editor-in-chief Col Allan said in a statement, “Mr. Stern’s conduct would be morally and journalistically reprehensible, a gross abuse of privilege, and in violation of the New York Post’s standards and ethics.”

Stern has however been suspended by the Post until – as a spokesman put it – all the allegations have been investigated.

Meanwhile the other New York papers here are having a field day – notably the Post’s big rival, The Daily News, which broke the story and has been running what it claims are verbatim extracts from the secret FBI tapes.
Even the New York Times ran the story on its front page on two successive days. One headline, “Scandal Jolts a Scandal Sheet and Gossip Swirls”, was followed by more inside, including an interview with Stern and background on how the tabloid gossip game is played.

The Times included in its reports claims that Stern is alleged to have made that other wealthy American businessmen had been party to similar types of “protection deals� in the past. Hollywood filmmaker Harvey Weinstein and Ronald Perelman, head of the Revlon cosmetics company, were mentioned.

Perelman’s company did for a time employ the fiancée of Richard Johnson, who has edited “Page Six” since 1985. They, coincidently, were married over the weekend in Florida. At the wedding on a yacht in Palm Beach, they declined to comment on the reports making headlines — as did most of their wedding guests, many of them celebrities who have appeared regularly in “Page Six”.

Among American journalists there has been dismay about the allegations and condemnation of journalists who betray their position.

Many agreed that gossip writers are often recipients of gifts — even sometimes free trips, free meals and complimentary hotel rooms — but most said they drew a line at payment of money — and certainly demanding it.

As Diana McLellan, who wrote the gossip column that ran in the Washington Post and the Washington Star in the 1970s and ’80s, told the New York Times, “I know that people used to be on the take in the old days, but not for money, nothing so vulgar.� Caviar and champagne maybe, but cash for coverage — or non-coverage — is unimaginable, she said.

Whether the allegations will result in any criminal charges the FBI and New York Police are not saying. Not yet anyway.

Tags: Ethics, Newspapers, United States