Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Brooklyn Paper Submits To The NewsCorp Empire

Rupert Murdoch has been trying to get his filthy rich hands on the New York Times for a while, but for today he'll settle for the illustrious Brooklyn Paper. The long-time independent newspaper has decided to give in to the world-wide NewsCorp empire after 31 years of going it alone. They'll continue to publish of course but the city and specifically the borough has lost one more voice in the community.

From PolitickerNY:

The Brooklyn Paper's editor (and onetime Observer profile subject) Gersh Kuntzman and its publisher Celia Weintrob confirmed the news.

"We're very excited," said Mr. Kuntzman in an interview.

He said that he has not yet spoken to Mr. Murdoch, but he has had conversations with people from News Corp.

"They don’t want the product to change," said Mr. Kuntzman. "And they love the product. And the product is fantastic."

Kuntzman sounds so ecstatic about the deal, I can feel the sincerity in his quote all the way over here on the Upper West Side. The truth of the matter is, this is Rupert Murdoch we are talking about here. The purveyor of Fox News, the Post and dozens, if not hundreds of media outlets around the world has a distinct view of the world and like the Hearst of old, intends to make sure that vision is replicated throughout his empire. The Brooklyn Paper can claim they'll stay the same, but that line has been heard too many times before when an indy gets bought out by the big boys.