Writing About Lives

The angels overlooking Central Park must be slightly deafened after German DJ Paul van Dyk delivered a four-hour ear popping set from 6 to 10 p.m last night. A superb mixer, van Dyk kept the crowd throbbing without a break, despite torrential downpours of rain for the first two hours. As the rain came down, the crowd got more enlivened, digging it’s heels in the mud to stick with the show. For about a minute, van Dyk’s master board short circuited. In a flash of lightning, it came back, and the crowd of mostly teens and early 20-somethings roared and started pulsing again. It was a sight to behold.

Between 8 and 10, the spectacular light show made the stage look like a scene from from another galaxy or dimension. And as if to reward those who stayed until the very end, in the last hour, one singer after another featured on “In Between,” van Dyk’s newest disk, appeared and sang, or should I say, appeared with mikes in hand while their gigantic images were featured on scenes in the background. A definite high point was “New York City,” featuring Ashley Tomberlin. The low point was never anything about the show, but the imbeciles near the front of the stage where I was. Drunk, pushing, shoving and fighting over their spots, they behaved abominably – all overcome by van Dyk’s supreme artistry.

THIS WAS THE NEWSPAPER TO WHICH I WAS MOST EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED

McCartheys to settle long court battle for Tribune ownership

By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/09/2007 07:28:42 AM MDT

A bitter seven-year legal fight over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune ended Wednesday with a settlement that averts a September trial.

The McCarthey family, which owned the paper for almost a century, agreed to end all lawsuits against Tribune owner MediaNews Group and other defendants in return for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement released by MediaNews. The payment will be made from a settlement fund that some but not all of the defendants will contribute to.

The McCartheys will relinquish an option the family received in 1997 to buy back the paper after they sold its parent company, Kearns-Tribune, to Telecommunications Inc. (TCI). The $731 million deal was arranged to obtain the profits from a hefty appreciation of TCI stock owned by Kearns-Tribune.

TCI was later bought by AT&T, which briefly flirted with the idea of selling the paper to the Deseret Morning News. When that sale went nowhere, AT&T sold The Tribune to MediaNews in 2001 for $200 million. The family and their company, Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., filed a lawsuit to block the sale – touching off a long series of legal maneuvers that would ultimately lead nowhere for the McCartheys.

“We are appreciative that the McCarthey family, the Deseret Morning News, Management Planning and others were willing to come together to resolve this seven-year dispute over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune,” MediaNews CEO and Tribune publisher Dean Singleton said Wednesday.

“The McCarthey family has a passionate love of The Tribune and what it means to Utah. We pledge to do our best to make all who love The Tribune proud as we strive to edit an outstanding newspaper for all who live in Utah.”

Phil McCarthey, spokesman for the heirs of Sen. Thomas Kearns, who bought the paper in 1901, said the family settled the dispute because they did not wish to face more years of legal skirmishes.

“After nearly seven years of litigation and a number of changes at the The Tribune, we have accepted a substantial settlement and are ready to move on,” McCarthey said.

“The nearly seven-year fight demonstrated our love and commitment to The Salt Lake Tribune.”

Tribune Editor Nancy Conway said the settlement begins a new chapter for Utah’s largest newspaper.

“I think it’s good for the community, it’s good for the paper and it’s good for the employees,” Conway said. “It’s just good to have this settled so we can leave all that behind and move forward and serve readers the way we need to.”

Jim Wall, president and publisher of the News was not immediately available for contact Wednesday. The McCartheys had accused the News in their lawsuit of conspiring to thwart their efforts to buy back the newspaper.

The agreement came less than a month before a trial was set to begin in a U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, where lawyers planned to ask a jury to overturn an appraisal that was used to set $355.5 million as the price the McCartheys would have to pay to buy back the paper, even though they said earlier this year they no longer wanted it.

The McCartheys refused to pay that amount, saying the paper’s value was closer to their own appraiser’s estimate of $218 million.

In a hearing held July 19, Judge Paul Cassell urged the parties to attempt a settlement before the trial began. Discussions began a week later.

“The settlement happily ends a very long stretch of litigation. It’s disappointing that the objective of the family of regaining ownership of the newspaper was not achieved, but there has been a substantial payment to the McCartheys and their company that does vindicate their contractual rights,” said Patrick Carome, a lawyer representing the family.

Joel Campbell, a journalism professor at Brigham Young University, said he was disappointed that the payment to the McCartheys was kept secret.

“It seems ironic that a corporation that prides itself in open government, and certainly The Tribune has been active in preserving open government laws in Utah, would agree to keep this settlement under wraps and not allow the public to see what’s happened,” Campbell said.

Management Planning Inc., which performed the contested appraisal, will receive a payment from Kearns-Tribune. The amount wasn’t revealed.

A second trial had been tentatively set for February. In that trial, the family hoped to get a verdict that MediaNews and the News interfered with their right to buy back the paper.

From LA Observed

Giving the finger *
Kevin Roderick

Anyone who has watched the regular KOCE reports from the Register newsroom in Orange County knows it’s hard enough to get print schlubs to give good television. It’s even more challenging to do a quality show when one of the newspaper’s editors all but moons the camera in the background. Now, it’s been a difficult week at the Register’s “content center,” with running layoffs hacking at morale. But the news director of KOCE doesn’t see the humor in some guy picking his nose on camera. His memo fingering the perp as a repeat offender, and warning the Register of consequences, is below:

Dear Colleagues,
We had an incident occur with a Register employee that is frankly inappropriate and unacceptable.

During an interview, which will air tonight, with Register reporter John Gittelsohn another Register employee walked over to the interview area, intentionally stood behind John, faced the camera, picked his nose, and wiped it on his shirt.

Unfortunately, this was part of our live-to-tape 30 minute broadcast which airs tonight at 6:30 for all to see. It is also scheduled to be posted on the Register website after it airs on Real Orange. I have attached a video still image for you to see right now.

I’ve spoken with Register Broadcast Engineer Don Nebel about this individual. Don has stated that when the lights for the camera go on and we begin interview segments, this individual makes it a point to be loud, disruptive, and perform antics for the camera. Don has “waived him off” on numerous occasions, however he continues to disrupt our segments and has now escalated his attempts to embarrass both KOCE and the Register.

We cannot continue to conduct interviews from the Register newsroom, with this employee present. I do not want to cancel the next 4 segments we have scheduled this week at the Register, nor do I want to ask Register reporters to take valuable time out of their day to travel to our studio to avoid this disruptive employee. But I will have to do one or the other, until I can be assured that this employee is no longer going to be a problem.

Michael Taylor
News Director, KOCE-TV

I don’t know the picker, but my Register sources say his name is C.P. Smith — and that he has offered to take one of the buyouts. (And had been accepted.) * Update: Smith is the Register’s page one editor, its former rock critic, and the husband of L.A. Times deputy editor Sherry Stern.

If you really want a laugh go to the link

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2007/08/giving_the_finger.php

This ran in the latest edition of Time Out New York.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch shows he knows how to handle inappropriate reporters and how to be discreet.

1. You’re on a panel to discuss the 30th anniversary of the Son of Sam, but wouldn’t you rather talk current events? Which do you care more about, the Lohan debacle or the Spitzer debacle?

I care more about and I’m more interested in the Spitzer debacle.

2. How’m I doing?

You personally? Since I’ve never met you it would be difficult to respond, but people say that to me all the time and my general response is, “You’re doing terrific, how bout me?”

3. Awesome! Are you gay?

When was the last time you performed oral sex on your boyfriend?

4. Well, I’m single now so it was a long time ago.

See, I don’t think you should answer that question. It’s an improper question, and so is yours. My sexual orientation is none of your business and whether or not you performed oral sex on your boyfriend is none of my business – Alison Rosen.