MURDOCH 'SOURCE' OF ERRONEOUS NY POST VP STORY, PAPER DENIES

[hightime]

When the NEW YORK POST tore up its front page on Monday night to trumpet an apparent exclusive that Rep. Dick Gephardt would be Sen. John Kerry's vice presidential running mate, the newspaper based its decision on a seemingly unimpeachable source: Rupert Murdoch, the man who controls the company that owns the POST!

Rival NY TIMES set to source the "Murdoch" source to a NY POST employee, who demanded anonymity, saying senior editors had warned that those who discuss the Gephardt gaffe with other news organizations would lose their jobs.

Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corp., called his tip in to the Post's news desk just after 10 p.m. Monday, between the first and second editions, the employee said. Murdoch spoke directly with Mike Hechtman, an editor on the paper's city desk, the employee said, though the person did not know where Murdoch was or how he learned of Kerry's supposed choice.

The paper's editor denies the source was Murdoch.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash7.htm


Note: I know it is Drudge and I know it is "developing".....but the irony is just too much to pass on.

[Taverner]

1. HA HA!!!!!

This is rich

[truthisfreedom]

2. maybe a prank call?

wouldn't that be delicious?

[NJCher]

3. somebody set up Rupert

to play the fool.

LOL.

Stinnnnnnnnnnnng


Cher

[bushwakker]

5. Maybe he could fire himself?*

[KittyWampus]

4. Fun To Imagine Kerry Purposely Leaking Info To Murdoch Somehow

just to fuck with him.

[AP]

6. This is like Fox calling the 2000 election early. Murdoch had no evidence.

They just thought that somehow this would hurt the Edwards announcement (which they must have suspected).

[DrBB]

8. Doesn't make sense

You're saying they committed the most notorious reportorial gaffe since "Dewey Beats Truman" on purpose?

I don't have enough tinfoil in my utility drawer for that particular hat.

I'm guessing that, if it was Rupert, he got it from a "reliable" source inside the WH, who in turn got it from a "reliable" source inside the Kerry campaign. I.e., somebody played Rove, and Rove unwittingly played Murdoch in turn. My evidence? None whatsoever, but I do know this: it had to have been a pretty high end tip, and the decision to go with it had to be equally highly placed. Nobody working for a guy like Murdoch would stick their neck out this far without absolute belief in their own authority and the credibility of their source. Which means some very high end people got gulled like rubes. Says a lot for the Kerry campaign, if they were able to engineer this boondoggle.

But I guarantee, nobody in the news business would commit a blunder of this magnitude on purpose.

[lapfog_1]

10. I agree with you

but it doesn't need to go to the white house.

There is a spy inside the Kerry campaign, somewhere very high up.
And that person is either a double agent, OR...

Kerry played the "water condenser on Midway is broken" card. And now
the spy is identified.

All pure speculation, but that was my very first thought when I heard
about the gaff.

[mark11727]

13. What does this mean?

"water condenser on Midway is broken" --- does this mean Kerry gave deliberate (and different) information on the VP choice to select people, and then match the leak to the specific source? I'm confused.

[lapfog_1]

17. YUP

We were reading the Japanese crypto messages throughout WW2.
In the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Midway, we knew
they were putting an incredible armada to sea but didn't know if
it was headed to Midway, Hawaii, or even Alaska or the west coast.

But we knew the Japanese were sending coded messages which contained
routine US message traffic. And we knew that the attack was going
to be at "A2". So a clever guy (can't remember his name, but he got
a medal for it) had Midway send a "clear" message to Hawaii about
the water condenser being broken... sure enough, later that day, we
intercepted an encrypted Japanese message saying "water condenser
broken at A2"... Bingo.

Which is why we had 3 carriers waiting for their invasion fleet a
week later.

So Kerry could have "leaked" disinformation to any number of suspect,
but highly placed, campaign workers... like "It's Clark" or "It's
Gephart", etc. Whichever wrong message got back to Rupert... that
person is likely no longer invited to meetings (or, maybe, IS invited
to meetings, just "special" meetings where the wrong strategy is
discussed).

Love this spy v. spy shit.

My first thought was that it was leaked, and possibly intentionally,
and maybe not just to embarrass the NY POST.

[Sterling]

19. I think you are right

Kerry played the Post. I think they played the whole media this time. Yes it is the same tactis as the battle of midway spoof.

[SayitAintSo]

12. I agree .... I think Murdoch was played ... but by whom?

The Kerry campaign is laughing thier *sses off ! :bounce:

[rooboy]

7. Not Rupert "Oil will drop to $13 a barrell if we invade Iraq" Murdoch? n/t

[struggle4progress]

9. I suggest we ignore little Matty D on general principle. eom

[Skinner]

11. The New York Times has this story...

Murdoch Is Said to Be Source of Post's Gephardt 'Exclusive'
By JACQUES STEINBERG and DAVID CARR

Published: July 9, 2004

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.''

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/national/09post.html

[Merlin]

14. Gosh! This story seems phenomenally similar to Drudges...

Did the NYT copy a story from Drudge, I wonder?

Or... Wait a minute! Or... Did... Is it possible that... Could Drudge have copied a story fr... Nahhhhhh! He has way too much integrity for that.

:evilgrin:

[tom_paine]

15. Oh this is the tip of a very large iceberg

Where do you think Faux "News" gets their "tips"?

Roger Ailes. The RNC. Bushevik Mockingbirds and Psyops Infiltrators.

That's it.

[eeyore]

16. Why wasn't it reported on Faux then?

Why would Murdoch only go to the Post, leaving out TV wing of his propaganda empire? Something is amiss here, though I do like the idea of it.

-eeyore

[displacedtexan]

18. Don't give Drudge any clicks...

I posted that story and a reputable link (Editor & Publisher) on my blog:

http://tinyurl.com/35e63

[dArKeR]

20. Murdoch Denies Being Source for NY Post 'Scoop' - Drudge/Murdoch

what's the difference? We don't need scum in our forum or in the United States!


SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch, chief of News Corp. Ltd. , on Friday denied he was the source for the New York Post's front-page "exclusive" that named U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt as Democrat John Kerry's choice as his No. 2 in the November U.S. presidential election.

Murdoch told reporters at the Allen & Co. annual retreat for media executives in Sun Valley, Idaho, that he was not the one who telephoned in the tip, adding that he had occasionally called in items for its Page 6 gossip column. Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns the New York Post, also said he hadn't called in any items for several years.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XVXNOJ0MOUQKYCRBAEZSFFA?type=domesticNews&storyID=5633696