Rupert Murdoch

O.K., so we knew that Leonardo DiCaprio was like the first person to buy a Toyota Prius, but last week he even rode up to the opening of Bonhams Flagship Showroom with his mom on bikes, and parked right out front on 57th and Madison. [P6]

David Mamet interviews himself about his new film. [New Yorker]  read more »

Later this morning, Newsday should belong to the Dolans.

Their $650 million bid will likely be accepted by Tribune owner Sam Zell later this morning, and the only thing that stands in the way are "minor details," said Charles Dolan in an interview last night with Newsday. The Times reports that Charles and James Dolan were in Chicago two weeks ago talking to Sam Zell, and Cablevision bankers and lawyers are there now hashing out the final terms of the deal.  read more »

Two nights ago, Rupert Murdoch told The Observer that he went "a little too far" by declaring that his purchase of Newsday was a certainty, which he boldly told reporters and investors earlier in the week. This afternoon, he has withdrawn his offer.  read more »

Rupert Murdoch said he "absolutely" trusts Sam Zell to sell him Newsday—after all, Mr. Zell is a man of his word, right?

"We're hoping to wrap it up within the next week, and I don't mean the end of next week, I mean within the next seven days. It takes two to agree, but we're at a pretty advanced stage. I trust Mr. Zell absolutely. He's famous for being a man of his word. We think everything's in hand."  read more »

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It's officially a horse-race for the tabloid in a tutu.  read more »

Given more time, Thomas Bray, one of the members of the special committee to oversee editorial independence at the Journal, would have liked to question Marcus Brauchli. There are two stories today: one in the Journal, and the other in the Times, airing the committee's grievances, but those complaints amount to little.  read more »

New York Post reporter Ken Lovett is leaving for the New York Daily News, where he’ll compete head-to-head with his former partner, the Albany titan Fred Dicker.

The shift was confirmed by a reporter in Albany who said Lovett has already cleared out his desk and begun the move. A Daily News publicist declined to comment.  read more »

The old adage that goes "never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel" could probably be updated to "never pick a fight with Rupert Murdoch." And Barack Obama might have violated that one.

On April 21, Obama held what was supposed to be a conversation about economic policy with concerned Pennsylvania voters, seated around him on benches under a low hanging tree blooming with yellow flowers.

The first question was off message. It was about media consolidation, by Murdoch and others. "What can be done to ensure that our press is really giving a free, all-point-of-view [perspective] to the population," asked the questioner.

Obama called it a good question and then, referring to the television cameras, national and local media reporters ringing his quaint afternoon conversation, said, "I think the press would argue that there are a multiplicity of voices out there, but you're absolutely right that there has been a lot of media consolidation and that's happened partly because it's so expensive to set up big TV networks."  read more »

So how's that editorial independence board for The Wall Street Journal doing? And will they do anything about Marcus Brauchli's departure?

"I'm really not going to comment on any of it," said Tom Bray, one of the five members of the committee and the de facto spokesman.

When asked if the board has met, he said that it has, but refused to speak about whether they had any say--or any knowledge--about Marcus Brauchli's departure.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal reports today that after Marcus Brauchli formally announces his resignation—which could happen later today—he'll be replaced on an interim basis by publisher Robert Thomson. Thereafter, a search for a full-time replacement "would begin shortly, with candidates coming from both inside and outside the paper." The Journal also reports that Mr. Brauchli would stay on with Dow Jones either as a "consultant or an executive."  read more »

Barack Obama said today that voters had a right to be concerned about media consolidation and when “Rupert Murdoch has his eyes on a lot of different media outlets.”

The comment, made at an outdoor talk with a few dozen voters in Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, was in response to a question from a voter concerned about how media consolidation impacts the freedom of the press.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal is organizing reporters into two news desks. One desk will consist of general news for the paper's newly organized A section—it'll include religion, science and foreign news—which sounds an awful like the A-section of The New York Times. The other desk will be the bread and butter of classic Journal reporting on corporate and business news. Romenesko has the memo, and in part, here's what Marcus Brauchli had to say:  read more »

It doesn't say much either way, but here's Rupert Murdoch at Georgetown today speaking about Newsday: "I don't know if we'll get it, somebody else might get it." [Fishbowl DC]

Crain's is reporitng that Mr. Murdoch has put in a bid to buy Newsday. The sourcing in the Crain's piece is odd--it is "now believed" that he's done this according to "one newspaper industry insider"--but the speculation is convincing.  read more »

Howell Raines is back.

The former executive editor of the New York Times has written his first media column for Portfolio, and it's about—surprise!—the New York Times. It will appear in the April issue that hits newstands later this week. (Online this morning.)

The article, titled "Murdoch v. the Times," examines the paper's vulnerability, particularly in the wake of Rupert Murdoch's purchase of the Wall Street Journal.

"There is no more important question in American journalism than the future of the Times, and I don't think the newspaper or the journalistic profession is taking Murdoch in particular or the takeover issue in general seriously enough," he writes.  read more »

Time magazine lifer Priscilla Painton, who was named editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster's flagship imprint yesterday, will edit Karl Rove's forthcoming memoirs, according to The Politico.

Ms. Painton, who was deputy managing editor of Time until she quit this past October in search of a "second act," has known Mr. Rove for many years, according to The Politico, and calls him a "natural storyteller." What's more, "they already like each other," which is perhaps why Ms. Painton is getting involved with the book even though it's being published by a different imprint of Simon & Schuster than the one she'll be working for.  read more »

And just a bit more from that interview with Neil Cavuto.

Rupert Murdoch also talked about where he'd search for journalistic talent. When Mr. Cavuto asked him if he'd look for future Journal reporters at The Times, he responded:

There are some very fine journalists there we would be happy to have, but, I mean, equally there are in other newspapers. I don`t want to be too specific. I mean, they have been trying to steal, without telling us, some journalists from The New York Post. And The New York Sun is a very obvious place where are there some very fine journalists. It`s a small paper and a new one -- but all over the country.

More from Rupert Murdoch's sitdown yesterday with Fox's Neal Cavuto: Mr. Murdoch also discussed how important The Journal would be to building up the recently launched Fox Business Network.

"Oh, I think they'll build each other, they'll help each other," he said. "You know, at the moment, there's a standing agreement with our competition, but that will run down or run out and we'll be able to put the two together more and more."  read more »

Dow Jones shareholders said yes to a $60-per-share bid from Rupert Murdoch this morning at the Marriott on West Street in the Financial District.

The Wall Street Journal will formally become Mr. Murdoch's later today.

Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff, who is writing an authorized biography of Rupert Murdoch due out next fall, takes a shot in today's New York Post at the Wall Street Journal's media reporter Sarah Ellison, who recently announced plans to write a book about the transformation of the news media, using Mr. Murdoch's takeover of Dow Jones as its centerpiece.

Mr. Wolff told the Post's Keith Kelly that Ms. Ellison has no business writing a book about the Murdoch takeover in light of her affiliation with the company that's being taken over.

"The problem with someone from The Wall Street Journal writing a book is that they are inevitably conflicted," Wolff is quoted as saying. "Either they're bitter that Murdoch bought the place or they are trying to save their job."

It's unclear whether Mr. Wolff is suggesting that Ms. Ellison's coverage of the Dow Jones-News Corp. deal--her beat at The Journal since this past summer--is similarly tainted by conflict of interest.

UPDATE: In an e-mail to the Media Mob, Ms. Ellison said, "I'll let my book speak for itself."

Sarah Ellison, the Wall Street Journal media reporter who recently signed a deal with Houghton Mifflin to write a book about Rupert Murdoch's takeover of Dow Jones, said she will leave the paper for a year in order to work on the book.

Ms. Ellison would not comment further on what will be in the book, but George Hodgman, her editor at Houghton Mifflin, said the book will contain new reporting.  read more »

No surprise here. Dow Jones formally announced today that the 15 Ottaway community newspapers are up for sale.

Back in August, Rupert Murdoch said: "We will probably be selling the local newspapers."  read more »