August 2, 2007

Reflections on the news…

While having drinks at the Algonquin on Wednesday evening with a former client, his wife and son, my belt buzzed and I noticed a CNN Breaking News item saying a bridge across the Mississippi had collapsed in Minnesota. My immediate thought was that it must have been an older bridge in the nether regions.

Around 12:30 a.m. my cell phone rang and I pulled it into bed with me. It was my friend and attorney Mary Ann Zimmer wondering if my family and friends were okay. In my sleepy stupor it took me a few minutes to connect the dots and I realized the bridge was in Minneapolis. During the call, I didn’t completely wake up. When I did the following morning, I checked the call register of my phone after a nagging feeling Mary Ann had phoned with bad news. Once it was a decent hour, I phoned my brother who told me in a somber voice that everyone in the family was fine and it was very bad.

In one paper read this morning, the Minnesota bridge collapse was on page six. I flipped the page and the lead story on page eight was that 142 had died in explosions in Baghdad overnight. And while looking at the photos of the burning vehicles, it occurred to me that the emotional devastation that is being experienced in Minnesota over this collapse must be similar to the pain experienced everyday in Baghdad.

While Minnesota grieves, I am sure there is celebration in the House of Murdoch as at last he has gotten what has seemed to be his grail: Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. While you might not have read it here first, you did read it here. I predicted that Rupert would win this time. It had that feel about it. While many of the Bancroft family, which controlled the voting shares, declared their fears for the sanctity of journalism at the Wall Street Journal, they also seemed to have not noticed that their editorials have long since read as if they were being dictated by Rupert himself. The editorial stance of the paper had eroded its luster already. Still…. What struck me most was also something that also came from Mary Ann. She forwarded me a note from Norman Horowitz, a former Columbia Pictures executive. It contained a list of properties owned or controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp.

They include:
Television
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Television Stations

WNYW - New York City
WWOR - New York City
KTTV - Los Angeles
KCOP - Los Angeles
WFLD - Chicago
WPWR - Chicago
KMSP - Minneapolis
WFTC - Minneapolis
WTXF - Philadelphia
WFXT - Boston
WTTG - Washington D.C.
WDCA - Washington D.C.
KDFW - Dallas
KDFI - Dallas
WJBK - Detroit
KUTP - Phoenix
KSAZ - Phoenix
WUTB - Baltimore
WRBW - Orlando
WOFL - Orlando
WOGX - Ocala
WAGA - Atlanta
KRIV - Houston
KTXH - Houston
WJW - Cleveland
WTVT - Tampa
KDVR - Denver
KTVI - St. Louis
WITI - Milwaukee
WDAF - Kansas City
KSTU - Salt Lake City
WHBQ - Memphis
WGHP - Greensboro
WBRC - Birmingham
KTBC - Austin

DBS & Cable

FOXTEL
BSkyB
Star
DirecTV
Sky Italia
Fox News Channel
Fox Movie Channel
FX
FUEL
National Geographic Channel
SPEED Channel
Fox Sports Net
FSN New England (50%)
FSN Ohio
FSN Florida
National Advertising Partners
Fox College Sports
Fox Soccer Channel
Stats, Inc.
Film
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios

Newspapers
United States
New York Post

United Kingdom
News International
News of the World
The Sun
The Sunday Times
The Times

Australia
Daily Telegraph
Fiji Times
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
Newsphotos
Newspix
Newstext
NT News
Post-Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
The Advertiser
The Australian
The Courier-Mail
The Mercury
The Sunday Telegraph
Weekly Times
Magazines
InsideOut
donna hay
SmartSource
The Weekly Standard
TV Guide (partial)
Books
HarperMorrow Publishers
HarperMorrow
General Books Group
Access
Amistad
Caedmon
Avon
Ecco
Eos
Fourth Estate
HarperAudio
HarperBusiness
HarperCollins
Harper Design International
HarperEntertainment
HarperLargePrint
HarperResource
HarperSanFrancisco
HarperTorch
Perennial
PerfectBound
Quill
Rayo
ReganBooks
William Morrow
William Morrow Cookbooks
Children's Books Group
Avon
Greenwillow Books
Joanna Cotler Books
Eos
Laura Geringer Books
HarperAudio
HarperCollins Children's Books
HarperFestival
HarperTempest
Katherine Tegen Books
Trophy
Zondervan
HarperCollins UK
HarperCollins Canada
HarperCollins Australia
Other
Los Angeles Kings (NHL, 40% option)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA, 9.8% option)
Staples Center (40% owned by Fox/Liberty)
News Interactive
Fox Sports Radio Network
Sky Radio Denmark
Sky Radio Germany
Broadsystem
Classic FM
Festival Records
Fox Interactive
IGN Entertainment
Mushroom Records
MySpace.com
National Rugby League
NDS
News Outdoor
Nursery World
Scout Media
Enough said, I think.