 Over the course of a few weekly episodes prior to the "New York Times"' article, Zaltzman and Oliver had gone "straight for the jugular" regarding News International, its newspapers, and Murdoch himself.Their barbs included a comment that "The News of the World" "would not be missed at all", as well as the assertion by Oliver—in response to the shaving cream pie attack on Murdoch—that despite the humor inherent in the attack, "[you] just don't want to find yourself with any misplaced sympathy for Rupert Murdoch.