The Awl

Thought for the Day

Choire Sicha — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:35 +0000

Exceptalism or decline.That is the choice. Maybe too late but can we gather forces to return social cohesion?Close the divide.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) February 9, 2012

Yeah, this is not a good look for anyone.

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'The Daily' Is 'On Target' to 'Break Even' in 'Five Years'

Choire Sicha — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:40:17 +0000

Here's today's fascinating and maybe really unlikely media assertion from the Times: "A $30 million tablet-only news publication... with 100,000 subscribers paying 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year, and 250,000 unique readers each month, The Daily is on target to break even in five years."

Hooray! They made it! Just five short years to breaking even. Well, it... could be.

"News Corp. has spent $30 million on development (which has been 'written off') of The Daily and current costs are less than $500,000 per week," according to Folio, a year ago. Okay, so maybe if you attributed the original $30 million to News Corp. itself and disregard it, that's... possible. Business Insider: "Add $30 million to startup and $26 million per year, and The Daily cost $56 million to run in year one." Now, I don't think it came to that; I think the $30 million was more like start-up costs and two years of budget. Even so: Nieman Journalism Lab estimated "$13.5 million in annual staff costs," at 150 employees. (But I think it's fewer than that, more like 100 employees. So correct that downward to... $8 or $9 million.) In the end, even ditching the $30 million from the balance sheet (which most media companies don't exactly get to do), and skewing the staff downward and then assuming that all 100,000 subscribers are paying full freight, that's still only conceivably at most $5 million a year in subscriber revenue. (I'd be charitable and throw in another million a year for web advertising, but the only ads I ever see on web content are for The Daily itself.)

So by what possible metric can the Times make the claim the paper is "on target to break even in five years"? ("On target" being a favorite vague-ism.) What possible growth trend forecast do you have to buy from the publisher to accept that as fact?

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Twitter Ramblings Verified

Choire Sicha — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:00:02 +0000

While Obama feeling courageous, why not follow his first class education policy. US' absolute biggest crisis. No read, no write, no jobs.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 3, 2012

So, well... this is not a parody account. Who would have guessed?

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Murdoch Hearing Suspended Due to Attack

Choire Sicha — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:56:40 +0000

Cameras cut off immediately at the Murdoch hearing as people in the room yelled—from what we could see, it looks like someone charged Rupert Murdoch from the audience. More as everyone figures out what the heck just happened. According to Josh Robin, who just rewound the tape: "Just looked at feed again – Rupert Murdoch was approached and seemingly attacked but does not appear to have been knocked down." THIS MAY HAVE BEEN A PIE ATTACK. Also: "Murdoch attacker taken out of the room in hand-cuffs," says Sky News. Apparently Wendi Deng got a swing in at the person? "Rupert Murdoch was pelted with a white substance during testimony – police have man in custody," says Times UK. And now with slo-mo video, featuring Wendi Deng lunging into action. A+++.

And here's who's taking credit for it.

It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splatless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet ReplyJonnie Marbles
JonnieMarbles

Protestor said "You're a greedy billionaire" before hitting Murdoch really hard on the head. Looked like serious assaultTue Jul 19 16:03:39 via Twitter for AndroidPaul Waugh
paulwaugh

And the hearing has resumed.

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Wendi Deng's Five Best Enraged Expressions

Choire Sicha — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:30:17 +0000

Wendi Deng: HOLD MY HOOPS. Don't you wish she was testifying instead, instead of Rupert Murdoch or poor, poor dim James? OH WENDI.

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Who Will Rupert Murdoch Destroy Today? (Himself?)

Choire Sicha — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:00:52 +0000

The Internet will explode quite soon, as Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks all go before a Parliament committee's inquiry this morning, circa 9:30 a.m. east coast time. It's a hearing almost two years in the making! ("So, yeah, this is gonna be a pretty big story," we wrote in July of 2009!) That being said, the committee is not as toothsome as an American congressional hearing would be, which isn't even all that toothsome anyway. Still, people expect Murdoch to come in hot, throwing anyone to the wolves that he can. Perhaps he might resign as CEO! Meanwhile, while we wait, let's look at some potential upsides from this debacle!

• One minor good outcome of this ludicrous story could be America getting rid of "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson's punching bag, the despicable Piers Morgan, who, if you don't really "do" TV, is CNN's new Larry King and also a former News of the World editor, who may or may not know plenty about phone hacking but definitely knows there's a "huge witch hunt going on" to bring down Rupert Murdoch. He's pretty much the worst thing that's been brought to America since smallpox.

• And have you not been in hysterics for the last 12 hours over this one?

So Charlie Brooks, Rebekah's husband—and the pair met at Jeremy Clarkson's house—has a remarkable bio: He is: "a former amateur jockey and trainer who once ran a sex-toy mail-order company, now writes about racing for the Daily Telegraph and is the author of a couple of racing thrillers."

He's also apparently not very... organized. Recently he left a bag with a laptop and a phone and "some papers" with a friend. This friend returned this bag to an underground parking garage under a shopping center, "yards" from the Brooks' "gated apartment block," because that's what friends do when they return laptops, they leave them in nearby car parks, but this friend was apparently not very bright, and left the bag in the wrong part of the garage, and so it ended up in the rubbish. "The suggestion is that a cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin," is what Charlie's spokesperson said. Ha ha!

Then security found it and turned it over to the police, and Charlie's very mad, because certainly no one was trying to dispose of this laptop, and its contents certainly have nothing to do with the inquiry into his now-arrested and unemployed spouse. These are some rank amateur shenanigans.

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Murdoch Favorite Finally Jettisoned

Alex Balk — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:00:12 +0000

Continuing developments in Britain's phone hacking scandal: "Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive, has resigned after 11 days of mounting political pressure over the phone-hacking scandal. Brooks announced her decision to News International staff in Wapping just before 10am on Friday, saying her resignation had been accepted by Rupert and James Murdoch. She said she no longer wanted to be a 'focal point of the debate' surrounding the company's future and reputation. She stopped short of issuing a personal apology."

In related news: "In response to requests from members of Congress and to at least one news report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York opened a preliminary inquiry on Thursday into allegations that News Corporation journalists sought to gain access to the phone records of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to several people briefed on the matter."

And: "Rupert and James Murdoch are to be sued personally for their handling of the phone-hacking debacle, it emerged on Thursday night as the family’s woes intensified on both sides of the Atlantic."

Image by Surian Soosay

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Family Completely Unaware That Man Who Gave Them Ton Of Money Was Not Completely Reputable

Alex Balk — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:01:55 +0000

"A number of key members of the family which controlled The Wall Street Journal say they would not have agreed to sell the prestigious daily to Rupert Murdoch if they had been aware of News International's conduct in the phone-hacking scandal at the time of the deal."

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Will Rupert Murdoch Sell Off His British Papers?

Alex Balk — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:50:20 +0000

The British phone hacking scandal continues to amaze. Amid speculation that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will sell off his remaining Knifecrime Island newspapers (first reported in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal), the company has dropped its bid for the parts of British Sky Broadcasting that it doesn't already own. Plus there is a whole bunch of other stuff going on. The best coverage, as always, can be found in the Guardian.

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Murdoch's Brilliant International Tax Game

Choire Sicha — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:30:35 +0000

"News Corp. has 152 subsidiaries in tax havens, including 62 in the British Virgin Islands and 33 in the Caymans. Among the hundred largest U.S. companies, only Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have more tax haven subsidiaries than News Corp."
—Old Man Murdoch is no dummy. And this comes from the same legal department that engineered the shutdown of News of the World, so you know they know exactly what they're doing there too. This is, in part, why it was always hilarious when people used to make fun of Murdoch's New York Post for being unprofitable. That's part of the plan! Any good media company, from News Corp. to Gawker Media, wants to, in short, lose money in America for tax purposes.

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