Murdoch Source of Post’s Gephardt ‘Exclusive’?
NYT – Murdoch Is Said to Be Source of Post’s Gephardt ‘Exclusive’ [RSS]
When The New York Post tore up its front page on Monday night to trumpet an apparent exclusive that Representative Richard A. Gephardt would be Senator John Kerry’s running mate, the newspaper based its decision on a very high-ranking source: Rupert Murdoch, the man who controls the company that owns The Post, an employee said yesterday.
The Post employee demanded anonymity, saying senior editors had warned that those who discussed the Gephardt gaffe with other news organizations would lose their jobs.
Mr. Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of the News Corporation, called his tip in to the Post’s news desk just after 10 on Monday night, between the first and second editions, the employee said.
The employee said that Mike Hechtman, an editor on the city desk, then rewrote the paper’s article on Mr. Kerry’s choice, which originally said only that it would be announced Tuesday morning. The article was rewritten on a tight deadline to say unequivocally that the running mate would be Mr. Gephardt. The article carried no byline and cited no source, saying only, “The Post has learned.”
Amusing. I guess either way people are talking about the NY Post a lot more than usual.
