They Wonder Why They Are Held In Such High Esteem
A reporter has been caught in a sting operation attempting to extort $220,000 in exchange for NOT reporting false information!
The shakedown began with a series of e-mails sent last month by Stern to Burkle.
It reached a boiling point more than an hour into the first meeting after Stern outlined various ways Burkle could buy protection on the gossip page.
An exasperated Burkle finally said, "How much do you want?" after Stern said he could control coverage by Richard Johnson, the column's chief writer, and his staff. "Um, $100,000 to get going and then you could get it to me on a month-to-month, maybe like $10,000," replied Stern.
"Okay, that's a great deal," said Burkle, the subject of numerous Page Six items including a "date" with supermodel Gisele Bundchen, meetings with other women and a nasty breakup with a longtime lover.
Wow. Just wow. Pay me not to make up lies about you on a gossip page. Wow.
UPDATE: This may NOT be quite what it appears to be and I may have jumped the gun. It appears that Jared Paul Stern, the accused reporter is saying HE was the victim of a setup and the Mr. Burkle leaked the information that generated the original story I reported after the FBI decided it did not have enough evidence to prosecute. This is developing. A sure sign that something is weird here is that Huffington Post has come out squarely against Stern because Mr. Stern's employer is Rupert Murdoch owner of Fox News as well.
By Black Jack, Saturday, 8 April , 2006 @ 11:03 am
MSM has had an exclusive on this sort of thing for some time. Now, you Bloggers want in on the scam. But, my question is: how about letting us commenters get in on the gravy train too?
I could use a few extra bucks now and again, and I’d be willing to kickback an appropriate percentage of the take. 30% seem about right to you?
By Gauis Arbo, Saturday, 8 April , 2006 @ 11:36 am
I think it’s pretty hard to read of this and still have any respect for journalism as a whole right now.