NY Post Vs The Public, Another Reason Bloomberg Is Out Of Touch

Opponents of Mayor Bloomberg (myself included) are looking at all ways to attack him as he attempts to run for his third term. There are so many avenues for that endeavor, fiscally, term limits debacle, etc. Now we can add racism to the mix. Not that the Mayor himself is, I'm not accusing him of that, but as the leader of our city, he must stand up for the citizenry and speak out against racist elements of our society, specifically the NY Post (more specifically the people there that drew and ran the cartoon) even if the Post runs good stories about himself.

So far the reactions to Bloomberg's reaction have been harsh:

At this morning’s City Hall rally, Councilwoman Letitia James called on black clergy members to block Michael Bloomberg from speaking to their congregations because of his lack of outrage over the controversial cartoon in the New York Post.

Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference ealier today that he accepted Murdoch’s apology at face value. Earlier, Bloomberg acknowledged that some people could be offended by the cartoon, but he didn’t seem perturbed by it.

Bloomberg may have been trying to avoid a clash with Murdoch, with whom he has had a good relationship.

Murdoch is among the contributors to Bloomberg’s effort to improve city schools, and the New York Post offered friendly encouragement for Bloomberg's presidential campaign. The September 15, 2006, editorial was headlined "Run Mike Run."

They also backed him in the term limits saga and that is just one more negative about the Murdoch rag. What we need is a new Mayor, one that will have the courage to go up against those that condone racist symbols in our society. Also, it is important that he or she be able to be able to see why people would be outraged by Delonas' cartoon.

News Corp Spreads NYC Tentacles

While Rupert Murdoch fights to take over the Wall Street Journal, he has begun spreading his enormous enterprise even further with local papers. After picking up a slew of Brooklyn and Queens newspapers, the company just acquired two Bronx weeklies. Of course this does not match the reach of the Wall Street Journal, but it counts in the Bronx, and it counts when looking at the end game.

From The New York Times:

The News Corporation, owner of The New York Post, bought two weekly newspapers in the Bronx yesterday, giving it a chain of neighborhood papers throughout three New York City boroughs that it hopes will complement The Post.

(snip)

The Bronx Times, which covers the entire borough, and The Bronx Times Reporter, which covers the southeastern neighborhoods, have a combined circulation of about 40,000 copies. Last fall, News Corporation bought The TimesLedger newspaper group in Queens and The Courier Life group in Brooklyn, with 28 weekly papers, 27 of them geared to covering specific neighborhoods.

Next month, News Corporation plans to expand circulation of some of those in the Howard Beach and the Richmond Hill areas of Queens, and to introduce two new weeklies covering Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

News Corp, like many other media conglomerates is always looking to grow bigger and reach readers with a synergistic approach. The advertising is mentioned first because that is just business. Though what the the Times does not cover is the journalism. Locals count on small time reporters to tell them what is going on in their neighborhood, not just what is for sale at the local market. News Corp has a decidedly conservative bent that might not be appealing to readers in the Bronx. It is a shame to see these two small weeklies be sold to Murdoch.;