Anyone else feel like New York politics has turned into some sort of evil game of roulette? With yesterday's news that Harold Ford would not be throwing his hat in the New York senate ring (carpetbagging is harder than it looks folks!) comes a whole new round of gaming who might be willing to give it a shot. Enter (again) Daily News and US News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman. Even the New York Post thinks this is a good idea. (more...)

Is this Gov. David Paterson's last day in office? The New York Times' ongoing blockbuster investigation of our beleaguered governor is less a blockbuster at this point than the political equivalent of the Friday The 13th franchise, with each installment gorier than the last. Today's story however, may be the final nail in the coffin. Perhaps now might be a good time to brush up on New York State's governor succession rules. (more...)

The New York City tabloids are in agreement. Both their about headlines -- I suspect the lack of any sort of pun is supposed to denote some level of seriousness on their part -- and the fact it's time for David Paterson to GO! Nothing brings batting media empires together like a politician on the rocks. It's hard not to wonder whether they've had various versions of this front page under wraps for the last couple of weeks as they bided their "bombshell" time. Meanwhile here's today's A-1 story hed from the NYT: 'Paterson Weighs Race as Top Aide Quits in Protest.' According to Elizabeth Benjamin, Paterson has said "he's a candidate for governor "right now," but also allowed he has an "open mind" about suspending his campaign." Which I suspect means he's just biding his time to see how much worse this can get. Aren't we all.

Rachel Maddow's continuing emergence as the educated grown-up at the cable news talking head dinner table is not going unnoticed. Over at the Daily News today, critic Stanley Crouch is commending (in fairly strong terms, actually) both Maddow's wit and her intelligence: (more...)

The collective conscience of the New York City tabloid editorial departments are at work this morning. After news broke yesterday that Tiger Woods would be giving his first press conference (coffee klatch conference?) tomorrow, everyone wants to lock Tiger Woods up! Tiger on the loose, etc. (more...)

High-rolling real estate player and New York Daily News publisher Mortimer B. Zuckerman may have politics in his future, according to a New York Times report this weekend. Zuckerman sees the Senate seat held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand as "vulnerable," but might run as a Republican or independent -- despite his known political leanings -- to avoid having to pay for a primary campaign. (more...)

Meta Wow. Well welcome to the new, new journalism where even the New York Times editorial board is forced to go meta. Seriously meta. Apparently, the rumors about a Paterson, fueled in equal parts by the blogosphere and the venerable New York City tabloids, got so out of hand the Times felt they had to push back in a editorial blog post. Snake eating its own tail, etc. (more...)

New York was promised a government sex scandal, dammit, and we better well get one! At least if the New York City tabloids have anything to do with it. Apparently not satisfied with the news that the New York Times has only a sort of mediocre scandal to report in their much-gossiped about upcoming David Paterson profile, the tabloids have taken it upon themselves to stir up as much "chaos" as possible. Something which David Paterson is not terribly pleased about. Paterson tells the AP: (more...)

Whispers have been building about huge news regarding New York governor David Paterson, who took office after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer. Friday, The Huffington Post noticed the growing media buzz about a forthcoming New York Times scoop, but little other information could be gleaned from the handful of anonymous sources. Now, The Business Insider is reporting exclusively that the news will drop Monday and Governor Paterson's resignation will follow. (more...)

The subject of today's Inside the White House Press Corps is the New York Daily News' Ken Bazinet, proprietor of the Mouth of the Potomac blog. He's the guy in the briefing room who best fits the image of a hard-boiled reporter that we've all seen on TV and in the movies, the kind of guy who pulls a corned-beef sandwich out of his pocket rather than stop work on a story. If you're interested in politics, you should put Ken's blog on your daily reads, and follow him on Twitter. Here, he offers us his insights on covering the White House, and how Robert Gibbs is growing into the role of Press Secretary.

Ah, a tale of two tabloids. Over the weekend Governor Paterson, who admitted early on in his term that he and his wife had not always been faithful to each other, and whose son was arrested last week for shooting dice, (which is to say, Paterson is not new to the tabloids) was seen canoodling with a strange woman in New Jersey steakhouse. Or not. Politico's Michael Calderone first noted the different versions: behold the NYP vs. the NYDN over the case of our lovin' Governor. (more...)

The media establishment in New York may frequently feel that the dismantling of their industry has reached what could be described as biblical proportions of the "dogs and cats living together" type. Be that as it may, it apparently is not yet bad enough for the New York Post and the New York Daily News to consider "printing together," despite the fact such an arrangement would feasibly be to their mutual benefit. (more...)

It's difficult to follow print journalism these days without feeling bashed over the head by the irony of the term. Most of the big stories are either about closures or firings (Gawker reports that AP layoffs may be coming today), and what positive news there is tends to be about innovative moves online.

But according to the New York Times, one man is doubling down on print: Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman. (more...)

When the Congressional debate of health care kicked into high gear Saturday afternoon, many news outlets had their coverage follow -- from endless updates on the Huffington Post to CSPAN's exhaustive video cataloging. Meanwhile, printed newspapers doubtlessly spent the day preparing their Sunday covers -- unable to foresee exactly how the vote and bill would shake out, but fully aware of its inevitable headline grabbing appeal. (more...)

Regardless of the practical money decisions that went into the shuttering of Gourmet earlier this month the loss of Ruth Reichl is a hard blow to the magazine world. Someone quick give this woman a Web enterprise to run! Doesn't Eater need a super-duper, extra-special, featured, guest columnist or something. (more...)

At some point the New York daily tabloids are going to become a luxury instead of a necessity. That day has apparently arrived at the New York Times Metro Desk. The Observer is reporting that the Metro Desk has been informed that as of today all magazine and newspaper subscriptions have been canceled, meaning if you want the paper you now gots to pay for it. (more...)

Based on the coverage David Letterman's alleged love life is getting these days you'd be forgiven for concluding that Letterman wasn't the victim of a $2 million extortion plot -- which he chose to reveal himself, to both the police and a national television audience -- but the subject of an undercover investigation or sexual harassment lawsuit. In the past three days the tabloids have done a fairly successful job painting the late night host as a lecherous, randy comic who preys on innocent staffers. Today we find out he keeps a a fold-out couch and a kitchen in his office! Oh the humanity. (more...)

Maybe it's the suspenders. Or maybe it's the fact that this snazzy 75-year old shops at Juicy Couture, but for whatever the reason, "celebrity" douchebags alike think that Larry King can save them from their swift decline into official American public scum. (more...)

video Happy Anniversary Great Recession. A year ago today Lehman Bros. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sent the economy into a tailspin the country is still struggling to cope with, and which will likely be the defining challenge of Obama's first term despite the recent focus on health care. For those of us who before this past year paid little attention to the business world it's been an education to say the least. For those who toil in the business world and cover it, it has often resulted in the sort of national exposure normally reserved for actors and sports figures (both notorious and celebrated!). With all that in mind, here's a look at the top ten highlights from the Great Recession: Year One. (more...)

updated Feel like you might have picked up an old edition of the New York Times this morning by mistake? It would seem every major paper, both local and national, managed to get the news of Senator Ted Kennedy's death on their front pages before going to press except the Times, whose top story is about the C.I.A. interrogations and whose front page picture depicts yesterday's attacks in Afghanistan. Does the Times go to press earlier than everyone else? It's too bad. Kennedy's death will be considered a seminal moment by people who lived through the Kennedy White House years, many of whom would likely go the extra mile to get the print copy of Times front page marking the moment for their scrap books. One suspects a lot of people would probably even pay extra for it. It's one of those rare moments when online coverage (even when it's terrific, as the NYT is today) is of secondary importance to print. And a missed opportunity for the Times to remind people why newspapers can still be relevant. A gallery of newspaper covers from today after the jump. (more...)

Rosemary Port, the 29-year-old anonymous "skank" blogger who was outed by Google after a court order forced the company to reveal the identity of the person behind the blog "Skanks in NYC," which attacked former model Liskula Cohen, feels exposed. Also angry at Google for violating her privacy. Port has apparently discovered the blogosphere is not so cozy without an anonymous handle to protect you! Not only that, according to Port, Cohen was asking for it. (more...)

When Mets general manager Omar Minaya called a press conference yesterday to announce the firing of Tony Bernazard, the team's VP for player development, New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin was bizarrely dragged into the story when Minaya alleged that "for the past couple of years," Rubin had been "lobby for a player development position," and might have wanted Bernazard out of the picture so he could get the job himself. Rubin, you see, had written a series of investigative pieces the week before that hammered Bernazard time and time again. As Deadspin put it, Rubin's "bird-dogging of Bernazard's behavior in the Daily News more or less forced the Mets to fire him." (more...)

When the summer news slump hits medialand and there is no Montauk Monster to fill post quotas (and the Sotomayor hearings are not quite the MJ circus C-SPAN hopes them to be) nothing quite fits the bill like speculation on the evil machinations of Rupert Murdoch. (more...)