Poor Ed Rendell. He feels like everyone is picking on him for trying to control, er, buy the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. As Rendell sees it, he is just a guy trying to help save a civic institution. But the more Rendell talks, the more clear it becomes that his owning the newspapers is fraught with trouble.
I detailed some of the potential conflicts facing Ed Rendell and his ownership group two weeks ago. Others have weighed in as well, including Buzz Bissinger and Dave Davies (no relation).
Rendell can’t believe all the fuss. Last week, he told the New...
"I don’t know Chief … this shark is either very smart, or very dumb … ” So was the famous line uttered by the legendary Quint in Jaws, as he was trying to figure out the intentions of the great white.
After the recent roller-coaster ride regarding Philadelphia's Catholic School closings—and now the many reprieves—Catholics across the Philadelphia region are wondering the same thing: Is the Church hierarchy very smart (in a conniving way), or very dumb? Or are they, and the "blue-ribbon” school commission deciding the fate of so many, just downright incompetent?
Grocery Shopping in Philadelphia: The Whole Foods Problem
Food shopping at the market near my home sometimes makes me feel really bad about my life.
If Whole Foods was a celebrity, it would definitely be Gwyneth Paltrow. I know this because I shop there on a regular basis (it's the closest grocery store to my house), and because I have seen enough in this life to recognize the impossibly sublime when I see it.
Inky and Daily News Owner Antics Are Pathetic
A former Inquirer columnist weighs in on the recent drama surrounding the sale of Philly’s two daily newspapers.
Why all the Sturm and Drang about potential new owners for the Inquirer? Judging by recent history, whoever closes that particular dealYo won’t stick around long. On the cusp of its fifth owner in six years, the Inquirer has become the Elizabeth Taylor of daily newspapers. Don’t like the current husband-owner? Wait a while. This time, the new suitor won’t need the Krupp diamond to get to the altar.
Ed Rendell Didn’t Think He Was Talking to a Reporter
New rules of journalism: Anyone can quote you. Anyone.
When I was managing editor of Philadelphia Weekly in the largely predigital 1990s, readers frequently came by the office to give us tips. Some panned out; others didn't. Many times you knew from a person's pressured speech or glittering eyes that the "tips" would take you nowhere. But we never made any assumptions. We simply followed up after they left. Sometimes we got really great scoops that would seem, from the outside, to be impossible not to use. But to tell you the truth, it never occurred to us to use a tip without doing due diligence. Vetting sources was serious business then, even at an alternative paper.
Should the New York Times Take Over for the Inquirer?
After a week of depressing local media news, it’s time to start thinking about real solutions.
Has there been a more depressing week for Philadelphia media in recent memory?
In the last few days, we’ve learned that A) the separate identities of the Inquirer and Daily News are slowly but surely disappearing; B) that a large number of hardworking journalists are going to lose their jobs; C) that the front man for current ownership believes he can get away with lying to the New York Times; and D) the next ownership group, led by Ed Rendell, is so loaded-up with conflicts of interests that Philadelphians can never entirely trust the papers they propose to run.
Daily newspaper journalism in Philadelphia isn’t quite dying—but it is being slowly smothered into irrelevance and untrustworthiness. Is there anybody who can save us?
How Would You Like a Ride in a Brand-New Philadelphia Taxi?
The medallion system is screwing drivers and passengers.
The Philadelphia taxi is in the news again. The Philadelphia Parking Authority, perhaps the most loathed institution in town, has decided that it wants more taxis that are wheelchair accessible. I think this is the best news, not just for those who are in wheelchairs, but for all of us. Think of it: We might end up getting new taxi cabs!
Google Refuses to Help Temple Grad With Her Creepy Google Cyberstalker
So she’s suing the Internet giant and the creator of "Korean Dating Bloggers."
Earlier this week in Philadelphia's Federal Court, 25-year-old Temple grad Cailin Arena and her friend Patricia McWilliam of South Carolina sued a John Doe they say has been cyberstalking them and publishing their copyrighted photos and writings without their permission. In the same suit, they name Internet giant Google—which hosts the perpetrator's blog, Korean Dating Bloggers, as well as a fraudulent Google Plus account set up in Arena's name—for failing to do anything about it.
