The New York Times Could Always Just Start a LiveJournalThe ‘Times’ today had three stories about the media’s epic struggle to stay afloat. Way to be self-referential, ‘Times’! And they say newspapers are having trouble adjusting to the Internet.
Bankers to Paulson: You’re Kidding, Right? (Updated)Wall Streeters hope that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan for overhauling the U.S. financial system is an April Fools’ joke, Goldman head Lloyd Blankfein buys his maid a nice apartment, and someone has a birthday in our roundup of finance, law, media, and real-estate news.
company town
‘Esquire’ Feels That Heath Ledger’s Final Days Haven’t Been Examined Tastelessly EnoughMEDIA
• Esquire reports on how Heath Ledger spent his last days… except the story is not exactly true. Or, um, tasteful. [Vulture]
• Let the deluge begin! Media companies line up to bid for Weather Channel, which is up for auction. [DealBook/NYT]
• Wal-Mart appears to be irritated by Meredith Corporation’s creative tactic of selling its magazines, which include Better Homes and Garden and Ladies’ Home Journal, at the Dollar Tree store. [Folio]
early and often
The Goreacle Haunts Hillary Clinton, But Will He Speak?
Back in 2004, when Al Gore threw his weight behind Howard Dean, his endorsement didn’t mean so much. But since Al-the-Bore’s extreme makeover, in which he magically transformed from a grizzled, depressive also-ran into a Nobel Prize–winning environmentalist and Hollywood darling with a powerful economic voice (he’s on the board of Apple and a consultant to Google, among other things), Gore’s blessing has become very prized indeed. “Gore is, without question, the biggest ‘get’ when it comes to the fight for endorsements on the Democratic side,” the Washington Post noted earlier this fall, and Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama the other day was barely out of his mouth before pundits started wondering when, or if, the Goreacle might speak.
