The Daily Beast Merges With Newsweek, Creating "BeastWeek"

The Daily Beast, the news site ran by Tina Brown (Businessinsider.com photo at left) and with a staff this blogger pointed to as devoid of blacks when the website was established in 2008, is completing a merger with Howard Fineman's old media home Newsweek.  

When it's completed, this blogger will call it BeastWeek.

According to The New York Observer, Brown, the web and editorial staffs will merge, and Brown will be in charge of the combined tribe.  The merger itself will be a 50-50 ownership split.  Reportedly, Newsweek owner Sidney Harman and IAC Chairman Barry Diller could not agree on an operating system for BeastWeek, but have worked through their differences and are close to something they can agree on.  (Really, they should have spent more time on a New Media business plan, but I digress.)

Newsweek and The Daily Beast are both just not performing well, so without a sound plan and financial backing, it's not likely BeastWeek will fair much better.   It's not enough to merge two media organizations, but roll the dice and create a new way of distributing media in a cost effective yet impactive way.

The model Harman and Diller should copy for BeastWeek is Associated Content or The Examiner, and with an eye toward eventual acquisition by a large web organization like AOL.  But BeastWeek has to form itself into a must-be-at product (note that), and even with the sure-fire combination of Megan McCain's sexy intellect, nothing short of a complete overhaul of the media delivery system between Newsweek and The Daily Beast will really turn things around.

BeastWeek.  Because it will either grow to a beast of an organization that devoirs the week in news, or be the dying media beast spending weeks on life support.

Time will tell.

Tucker Carlson Fakes Keith Olbermann, Breaks NY Law

Apparently having nothing better to do now that his website The Daily Caller reached 1.5 million visitors per month (Hey Tucker, you're in striking distance of Zennie62.com, so watch out) , Couch-Potato Conservative Columnist and TV Pundit Tucker Carlson decided to play "Fake Keith Olbermann" and send angry emails to a Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky last weekend. (Thankfully Carlson didn't go after Walgreens CEO and Walgreens CFO for a "Health Care Reform-friendly" business model, instead.)

Tucker planned to establish that ability back in July of this year, when he purchased Olbermann's domain name, taking advantage of the fact that Keith and his people at MSNBC would be so careless as to leave a domain name that should be owned by him available for just anyone to buy.

Then, when Keith was suspended by MSNBC President Phil Griffin last Friday, Carlson pounced.

Bykofsky innocently used the email keith@keitholbermann.com to contact the person he thought was Keith, only to unknowingly get Carlson, who was in a mood to clown around.

Carlson, posing as Olbermann, had written a series of biting emails in response to a column Stu wrote that concluded FOX News' Bill O'Reilly was more "fair and balanced" than the real Keith Olbermann.  Here's a sample of the emails exchanged:

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: [SPAM] From the Philadelphia Daily News

From: “Bykofsky, Stu”

Date: Fri, November 05, 2010 1:44 pm

To:

Mr. Olbermann:

I’d like an opportunity to speak to you about your current situation.

I am doing a column for publication Monday. I will be here until 6 p.m., but won’t finish until 1 p.m. tomorrow.

If you would rather respond via email, what I want to know, essentially, is the following:

Do you think you were treated fairly by MSNBC?

Do you consider yourself a journalist or a commentator?

If a journalist, is it proper for you to give your opinions?

If a commentator, should you be anchoring a newscast, such as Tuesday night’s election program?

Do you regret chastising others (Rupert Murdoch) for making political donations?

Is there a difference between what he did and what you did?

Thank you.

Stu Bykofsky

Columnist

Philadelphia Daily News

215-854-5977

From: keith@keitholbermann.com [mailto:keith@keitholbermann.com]

Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 2:46 PM

To: Bykofsky, Stu

Subject: RE: [SPAM] From the Philadelphia Daily News

Mr. Bykofsky:

Unfortunately your column (which I just saw) had already run before I read this email. What a shame. I assume you saw the irony in attacking someone for betraying journalism, while you, a self-described journalist, failed to get a single quote from the person you were attacking. Pathetic. Indeed, beneath contempt. How dare you pose as the heir to Murrow.

You didn’t wait for the facts before writing your screed, but for what it’s worth I, unlike you, am a journalist, not a hack. Was I treated fairly by MSNBC? It’s hard to imagine a dumber question, as I don’t work for MSNBC, but for NBC News. As I’ve said publicly before, Phil Griffin is not my boss (thank god), nor is he intellectually qualified to be. Phil pretends otherwise in public. I’m not his shrink, but I assume it makes him feel better. The remarkable thing is that fools like you believe his fantasies. That pleases Phil, but only exposes your ignorance. The proof? I’ll be anchoring on election night 2012, long after Phil Griffin has moved on to a job for which he’s actually qualified, perhaps on QVC.

I hope that clears up your misconceptions.

KO

You get the idea.

It goes on and the exchange is posted at the blog site Phawker. But the bottom line, as Stu admitted over at Phawker, he'd been punked.

And Carlson's little stunt appears to be illegal. Stu uses the text from, then link to a legal website by Lisa J. Sotto of Hunton & Williams, and informing that New York State made Internet impersonation a crime in 2008:

Specifically, New York’s Internet impersonation law amends section 190.25 of the Penal Law by adding Subdivision 4, making it a crime to impersonate another person by electronic means, including through use of a website, with the intent to obtain a benefit or injure or defraud another person.

But even with that information, neither Stu, nor Keith has said they would file charges against Tucker Carlson.

Stay tuned.

Conan O'Brien: Now on TBS

Conan O'Brien returns to late night TV after an 8 month hiatus as stipulated by his severance agreement with NBC. The fallout with NBC started when the network decided to push the "Tonight Show" back half an hour and give the time slot to Jay Leno. Jay Leno's new show hadn't been doing well in the ratings and it was thought that this was due competition with crime dramas in the new time slot. NBC believed that by pushing the show back ratings would improve. Conan refused to budge on this matter though and made a public statement saying that "I sincerely believe that delaying 'The Tonight Show' into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting," he said. "'The Tonight Show' at 12:05 simply isn't 'The Tonight Show." The disagreement ended with Conan O'Brien leaving the "Tonight Show" after only 7 months with a 33 million dollar severance deal for himself and another 12 million for his staff and the condition that Conan O'brien would not return to TV for 8 months.

Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS aired Monday November 12th at 11/10c. The new show is simply called "Conan" and the comedian joked that his reasoning for this was "So that I'd be harder to replace." The first episode had guest appearances by Seth Rogen, Lea Michele from the cast of "Glee" and featured Jack White as the musical guest.

Conan poked fun at NBC during the beginning monologue of his new show and even poked fun at himself for his new "basic cable" status throughout the show. In the introduction sketch, Conan is handed a folded piece of paper by a TBS executive who is presenting Conan with their offer for the show. The folded piece of paper reads, "Less," and then when unfolded the word "Much," is revealed above it. Conan even renamed the house band to the "Basic Cable Band."

In one of the many promos for his new show, that were run in the weeks before its debut, Conan asks the viewers, "Are you ready for a whole new kind of late night TV?......... Good. Neither am I." Conan has held true to that promise, the new show is much like the other ones. What do I have to say about this? "That's right Conan, don't change a thing, we love you just the way you are."

John Bobst

Jenn Sterger Gives NFL Evidence Of Photos Of Brett Favre's Privates (TMZ)

According to TMZ.oom today and just 18 minutes ago as of this writing, New York Jets Sideline Reporter Jenn Sterger gave the NFL (National Football League) evidence called "overwheming" that Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre sent photos of his privates to her two years ago, when he was the quarterback for the New York Jets.

The 26-year old Sterger (is this the year for 26-year olds? Tim Lincecum's that age!) and here lawyer and her manager met with NFL security chief Milt Ahlerich and another league investigator in Manhattan, according to The New York Post.

For a time, Sterger resisted the overtures to visit with the NFL, but then changed her mind just less than two weeks ago.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jenn_sterger_meets_with_messages_YdInLjV7Qpa3dNuRqux0WO#ixzz151dttZqo

Jenn Sterger's manager Phil Reese said the "Sterger team" expects "swift action" by the NFL after today's three hour meeting at what ESPN says is an "undisclosed location." There, Jenn Sterger gave the NFL a "substantial amount beyond what had already been reported," but just what that was, was not explained. One can only imagine.

Deadspin Broke The Story

To Recap, here's what was reported at Zennie62.com on Friday, October 8th:

On Wednesday, Deadspin Editor Al Daulerio posted a video on Deadspin that contains two photos of what's reported to be Brett Favre's dick. The move was totally unnecessary from this blogger's view.

Moreover, Deadspin did nothing to warm the video viewer of what they were about to see midway through the video, unless you happen to read the text below it first. Nothing. The penis photos just popped up, no pun intended. But what's this all about?

Jenn Sterger.

It extends back two years to when Brett played for the Jets and Jenn Sterger, a now-26-year old model and broadcaster along the lines of Inez Sainz, was with the Jets in the capacity of sideline reporter.

Jenn Sterger

As Deadspin explains it, Favre allegedly retained the help of Jets PR man Jared Winley in an effort to meet the hot Sterger in person. Once Brett got her phone number, he allegedly left several messages asking to see her, and sent the infamous text photos.

But Jared Winley says he never met or knew Jenn Sterger and that "he was not the main PR contact for Favre" according to Deadspin.

Al Daulerio's having a hard time, no pun intended, getting anyone to go on the record about this story. Jenn Sterger won't talk. Brett Favre will not deal with it. And no one from the Jets wants to hear about it. Moreover, the photos were obtained from a "third party" as Daulerio says, who also will not go on the record.

Then the voice, the one reported to sound like Brett Favre, is being question as well. Indeed, it looks like the story has little in the way of legs. But then, today, it got worse for Brett.

Now, two women have surfaced at Deadspin, claiming that Brett sent leud texts to them as well. Yikes.

According to FOX Sports, Brett Favre did admit to calling Jenn Sterger, but says he has no idea where the photos came from.

See: TMZ.com

Walgreens CEO, Walgreens CFO and Health Care Reform: An Update

Walgreens, the giant $60 billion national drug retailer, revealed a business model that embraces President Obama's Heath Care Reform initiative. Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson, Walgreens Executive Vice President and CFO Wade Miquelon, and several other executives present at it's November 4th Analyst Day, mentioned Heath Care Reform or said that the production business systems of Walgreens itself were ready to handle the increased load of an anticipated 32 million new participants in the American health care provider system.

Now, this blogger found a July 9, 2009 Fast Company article entitled Why Walgreens Is Building Its Own Universal Health Care System. The article's author, Zachary Wilson, reports that Walgreens Health and Wellness is positioned to be a provider for the new health care load that's anticipated. Walgreens' Wesson said "What it's really about is, it's an incredible way for us to leverage our existing footprint."

That "footprint" consists of almost 7,000 retailers nationwide, 68 percent of which lives within 5 miles of a Walgreens, and 6 million people walk into them each day.

Thus, Walgreens had anticipated the passage of Health Care Reform, and positioned its operations to be ready for it.

Don Perata Concedes To Mayor-Elect Jean Quan; Twitter Reveals Nasty Reactions

The political career of former State Senator, Assemblyman, and Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata is over. After a miraculous loss to now former Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan, Perata met with the media in Oakland today.

According to the blog Oakland North, who's Berkeley J-school students do a great job of covering the part of Oakland that's north of Lake Merritt, Perata said he would not seek a recount, and stood ready to help Oakland's new Mayor-Elect Quan, and any other elected official.

From the distance of 2,600 miles, where I am to visit my Mom, the announcement of Perata's decision not to legally challenge the Ranked Choice Voting count was a bit of a surprise, but given the hours that passed between last night and now, it's apparent cooler heads prevailed. That's a good thing.  Jean should be allowed to enjoy her win, and Don should call her ASAP, rather than at some point in time.

The bottom line is that Jean Quan won fair and square. Moreover, Don should be excited that he at least is a part of a turning of the page in Oakland's storied history. Quan's Oakland's first elected female and Asian mayor. That's huge and points to Oakland's proud tradition of diversity.

What's not huge is the level of nastiness expressed toward Perata on Twitter. The reactions to Perata's decision, particularly on the part of SFWeekly, which hasn't covered the Oakland Mayor's Race, are totally awful. It's one thing to have an informed view of a candidate you cover, but to toss hard nasty insults about a candidate you don't know, in a race you know nothing about, is something else. Heck, I don't even do that to Republican candidates on the national stage.

For example, one of the milder ones:

SFWeekly SF Weekly
Don Perata deserved to lose the race for Oakland mayor. Why? Because he acted like he deserved to win. http://bit.ly/b5BssX
23 minutes ago

Actually that's not true: every candidate acted like they deserved to win, not just Don. Terrance Candell also skipped several mayoral forums, but with the exception of this blogger, no one, and especially not SFWeekly, mentioned him.

And if it wasn't SFWeekly chiming in with blog from the cheap seats, it was twitterers like focalintent tossing hard insults:

focalintent focalintent
And really, Perata, if you claim you don't comprehend how RCV works, either you're lying to make a political statement, or an idiot.
58 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Or this one by some random person on Twitter:

DummieBear510 The Dummie Bear
YEAH JEAN QUAN IS #OAKLANDS NEW MAYOR!!! FUCK YOU DON PERATA!!!! HAHAHA
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Okay.

With all those, and other tweets, one would think Don actually did something to the people issuing them. But when you really think about it, he didn't do anything at all.

Frankly, I'm happy for Jean, but I'm really not happy with the classless way a number of Oaklanders, from mainstream media types, to Twitter participants today, have conducted themselves. Shameful.

The collection's more like classless workers in a garbage skow on a prison planet than civilized people. In fact, I may have just insulted the classless workers in a garbage skow on a prison planet.

Sorry.

It's apparent the era of class politics is out of the window. Don Perata, to his credit, never once said anything negative about his opponents to me either on or off the record. That's not true for his opponents, however, and that includes Quan and Kaplan.

Now, Mayor Elect Jean Quan, by the grace of God, becomes the person in the position Perata planned to get two years ago. Jean, by the grace of God, now has the position that, if she handles it incorrectly, could cast her in the role of the new Don Perata.

Stay tuned.

Zennie Abraham: Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Married But With Las Vegas Blondes, Mark Davis Update

Zennie Abraham (Zennie62Media CEO and builder of ZENNIEREPORT.COM ZENNIEREPORT.COM) blogs about Jerry Jones. This Zennie Abraham update contains accounts of Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis and Jerry Jones. Why Davis here? because he's in the process of building a new stadium in Las Vegas, and leading the effort to move his football organization to Las Vegas, and started on it with the aide of Jerry Jones. Davis has been tied to behavior in Las Vegas that is similar to Jones, if not more risky. The update is below. Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones should know that eyes are always on him. That's the price paid for being the face of an organization, rather than pulling its strings in the background.   It's the flip side of making hard decisions like firing Wade Phillips or releasing Terrell Owens.

Eyes were on him when Jones made the disrespectful blast before the 2010 NFL Draft about Bill Parcells and about how Tim Tebow would not "get on the field" if he was chosen by The Dallas Cowboys...



Eyes were on him when Jones was in Las Vegas Tuesday night, too.

According to TMZ.com and SpyOnVegas.com, Jones was seen with a young blonde woman at the Lavo nightclub in the Venetian Hotel, and took this photo with her.

Now, "seen" doesn't in itself mean anything. The woman could have been a fan or a friend of a friend. So at first glance, there's no harm. Except, of course, for the fact that Mr. Jones isn't wearing his wedding ring. He's got what appears to be a Cowboys Super Bowl ring on.

Yep. Jerry Jones is married, and has been attached to Gene Jones, but that hasn't apparently hasn't stopped him from having a good time with other women, and on a scale that reportedly rivals Tiger Woods before Thanksgiving 2009.

Eyes have been on Jerry Jones for a long time.

Jeff Pealman's book Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty, the account of "sex, drugs, and debauchery" of the Dallas Cowboys of the dynasty years of the 90s, when the organization earned three Super Bowl wins in 1993, 1994, and 1996.

That was a pretty wild and weird bunch, a far cry from the Christian values of Tom Landry's Cowboys. If it wasn't Charles Haley masturbating in front of teammates, or the team's need for what it called "skanks" to be around them, to the behavior of Jerry Jones as reported by "GMoney:"

Jerry Jones used to make his private plane shake in flight because he was banging his mistress so hard in the back. He also would ask his employee's wives if they were wearing panties and that if she would give him 5 minutes, he would take her to heaven...right in front of their husbands who were, as I said, employed by Jones.

Then there was the recent civil complaint filed September 30, 2010, in which a Patricia Gavin alleges that the same Jerry Jones who owns the Dallas Cowboys, which, while questionable in that it makes Ms. Gavin look like a pleasure-seeker who may be twisting events to get $500 million from Jones, seems to follow the pattern of behavior Jones is said to practice in Pearlman's book.

And eyes were on Jones at Lavo nightclub in the Venetian Hotel, beyond that photo.  The Dirty.com reports that Jones was with "this young lady" "all night long":

Yes it did happen. This young lady was with him all night long, and my friends in security told me they followed them on camera all the way to a suite with 1 other female. I must say Jerry Jones is a true “Gentleman” and has more game than any Trout I’ve seen here in 11 years.

And note, they followed Jones with a camera! Eyes are always on Jerry Jones, but this blogger has to ask, why does the media pay no attention to Jones, whereas they paid a ton of attention to Tiger Woods?

For all of his romps in the hay, Woods was never, once, sued for sexual assault. And Woods is worth more than Jones. Yet, the media's had a field day in destroying Tiger Woods, where the married Jerry Jones continues to party like a rock star almost under the radar?  Why do we continuously read about Brett Favre and sexting Jenn Starger, but not the fun Jerry Jones has in Las Vegas or anywhere else?   What does Jerry's wife think about all of this?  If she's cool with it, then it's cool, right?  

Is the media afraid of a rich, white male NFL Owner?  Or is it that Jerry Jones is so likeable, which is true, the sports media tends to look the other way?

As our Zennie62.com hip hop journalist Davey D would say, "something to ponder."

Mark Davis Update 

Mark Davis' love for Las Vegas showgirls is no secret.  In fact, two years ago, this blogger asked a friend who's also a good friend of Davis why he was so determined to move the Raiders to Las Vegas, even though he had sellouts in Oakland?  

"Well," my friend said, "I know he's got a couple of girls in Las Vegas."   I was stunned, saying "You mean we're being put through all of this for a couple of women?"   

My friend's out-of-the-blue statement was baked by photo after photo of Mark Davis in Las Vegas hanging out with different women.  This blogger does not fault Davis for having a girlfriend or two, but there has not seemed to be one woman.  

 

That would seem to imply the existence of a dangerous mix: a rich NFL Owner who only achieved status in 2011, and with the passing of his legendary father, Al Davis, now able to live the kind of life he's wanted.  But he's by anyone judgement not competing with George Clooney in the looks department, and doesn't posses the body of Adonis.  What he has are three things generally

attractive to women: money, power, and a football team.  

 

That mix can be advantageous to its holder or lethal to its holder.  In Davis case, he has enough recorded partnerships to cause one to be concerned that a dangerous encounter is just around the corner.  

On top of that, he's hanging out with Jones in Las Vegas.  Given Jones' past track record, it's fair to ask if Davis copied some of the path set by the Cowboys Owner and partner in the business of building Las Vegas Stadium.  

 

It was Jones who got Davis the NFL Owner votes that allowed him to embark on a move from Oakland that's been painful for everyone.  Now, Davis and Jones are joined at the hip: Jones is responsible for the gathering of sponsors for Las Vegas Stadium as well as LA Rams new stadium in Inglewood. 

With all of that, Mark Davis has to be careful.  He can't afford to continue the habit of hanging out at strip clubs at night.  A few years ago, Davis was seemingly without a care:

Raiders owner Mark Davis hangs out at LA strip club

It's not easy being Raiders owner Mark Davis: Your team has the worst stadium in football, you haven't had winning season since 2002 and you don't even know where you're going to be located next year.
Actually, scratch all that because sometimes it is easy being Mark Davis, like the other day when he got to hold a business meeting at a strip club.
Sam's Hofbrau, an adult cabaret in Los Angeles, recently posted a picture of Davis on their Instagram page.
Next to the picture, the cabaret posted the caption, "Look who stopped by tonight for some #Viptreatment #MarkDavis Principal Owner of the Oakland Raiders. Thank You!!!"
Now, Davis hanging out at a strip club in Los Angeles doesn't mean Raiders fans in Oakland need to start panicking about a possible move -- or does it mean exactly that?
In Davis' picture, the cabaret also included the hashtag #LA next to Oakland Raiders, along with the hashtag #BusinessMeetings.
The woman in the picture, a hostess at Sam's, was asked on Instagram why Davis was at the cabaret, she was also asked if he talked about the Raiders moving to Los Angeles.
Her response?
"He's a personal friend of the owners. Very sweet and very humble and possibilities are definitely there. Yes he's in LA for something like that."
If an adult cabaret employee in Los Angeles broke the news of a Raiders move to LA, that would definitely be right up there with the time that Rob Lowe "broke" the news that Peyton Manning was retiring. Anyway, next time you're out in public this year, keep your eyes peeled for Davis because he seems to be everywhere. Over the past month alone, he's been spotted at Hooters and boarding a Southwest flight in Denver.

Mark Davis has to be careful. One wrong move by Davis with a girlfriend in Las Vegas could translate to key sponsors jumping ship, costing the Raiders and Legends Hospitality hundreds of millions of much-needed dollars, and wrecking the relocation effort in the process. 

As it turned out, it did mean exactly that.