Minding Your Business; Gossip Wars
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They are bitter tabloid rivals here in New York. So when a "New York Post" gossip columnist -- well, really sort of a writer -- was accused of trying to shake down a billionaire in exchange for favorable coverage, "The Daily News" pounced right on the story. And ever since, page six has been playing out on page one. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho joins us with more on the gossip wars. Page six, of course.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They got the page in "The Post." "The Daily News" can't get enough of this story.</s>CHO: That's right. And if you think about it, Soledad, we can't get enough of it either because there's really nothing juicer than gossip about gossip. But having said that, here in New York it is no secret that there is a rivalry between "The New York Post" and "The New York Daily News." It is legendary. And if ever there was a story that illustrated that point, it is this one.</s>CHO, (voice over): For one New York tabloid, the celebrity gossip scandal surrounding "The New York Post" is like a dream come true. The papers are arch enemies.</s>WILLIAM SHERMAN, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER: There certainly is a rivalry. I mean, I'm not denying it.</s>CHO: "New York Daily News" reporter William Sherman broke the page six scandal in the paper Friday. It has been on page one ever since. "The New York Post" has virtually ignored it. Only one mention on Friday. The editor of "The Post" says "The Daily News'" shrinking circulation is driving its coverage, an assertion "The News" doesn't buy.</s>SHERMAN: Not really. I'm not surprised that "The Post" is not extensively covered it. I mean it's their paper.</s>CHO: And their reporter. Jared Paul Stern, who freelanced for the legendary gossip column, is accused of demanding more than $220,000 from billionaire Ron Burkle in exchange for keeping less than flattering things about him from appearing in page six. Stern called it a setup. The FBI recorded meetings between Stern and Burkle and excerpts have appeared in paper, including "The Daily News." "Daily News" gossip columnist Lloyd Grove says there is a line between news and gossip and this story is definitely news.</s>LLOYD GROVE, DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST: You're not going anywhere else with this, are you?</s>CHO: Grove's column called Lowdown is in direct competition with page six. You want to get it before "The Post."</s>GROVE: Sure.</s>CHO: But how badly? I mean, you know . . .</s>GROVE: Very badly. It's just -- it's a competitive business we're in.</s>CHO: Grove says the idea of accepting payments from sources is something new to him. He admits page six may be getting more ink these days. Don't they say there's no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right?</s>GROVE: That's what some people say. I think there probably is such a thing as bad publicity.</s>CHO: Over on the news side, William Sherman says he'll continue to work feverishly on what is for now his paper's top story.</s>SHERMAN: I covered this like any other story. This is a news story. For me, it had nothing to do with whether it was "The New York Post" or any other company or any other individual. I mean, it's a news story.</s>CHO: That's what they say. Now just to give you an idea of how much of a news story this is. Since Friday, "The Daily News" has done seven separate stories on this one subject. And you may be surprised to hear that the venerable "New York Times" has had even more coverage. We counted eight stories on the page six scandal in "The Times" including two, Soledad , that made it to the front page. So this is very big news certainly in some papers but not "The New York Post."</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Exactly. Yes, they haven't mentioned it that much at all.</s>CHO: NO, they haven't.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Do they have at "The Daily News" like real editorial discussions about how to cover this?</s>CHO: Oh, sure.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I mean whether to relegate it to the gossip pages or put it on the front page?</s>CHO: Oh, sure. You can bet they did and it was decided very early on that this would be in the news section, not in the gossip section. Your friend, Lloyd Grove, said that, you know, as soon as this sort of turned the corner and the FBI got involved and this became a federal investigation, he decided he would sort of stay out of it. This belonged over on the news side.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And the rivalry didn't hurt in that case.</s>CHO: No, it certainly didn't.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Alina, thank you.</s>CHO: Sure.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Miles?</s>MILES O'BRIEN: In a moment, top stories, including DNA test results are adding new twists to the Duke rape investigation.. More emotional 9/11 testimony today at the Zacarias Moussauoi trial. Pro-immigration protesters keeping up the pressure on lawmakers. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared permanently incapacitated. And an extraordinary waste of money in New Orleans. Wait til you find out what it costs to get one of those. A blue tarp. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.