Post Drops Liz Smith Column

Starsuckers exposes tabloids' habit of publishing fabricated gossip

(NEWSER) - The upcoming British documentary Starsuckers proves what we’ve always suspected: Tabloids—at least, UK tabloids—will print just about anything, including “complete and utter babble,” the director tells the Guardian. Among the fake stories he got published—and, often, reprinted around the world: Avril Lavigne passed out at a nightclub, Amy Winehouse’s hair caught on fire, and Guy Ritchie got a black eye from juggling cutlery. More»

(NEWSER) - Sure, people everywhere are suffering from the recession, but most of the country is managing to deal with it. Not New York. The Big Apple is “perpetually freaked out,” writes Hugo Lindgren in New York. The city is so packed with people, Lindgren theorizes, that it’s “prone to epidemics of all sorts, especially emotional ones," so banker-depression has seeped into the collective mood. More»

Denver saddened, surprised by the closure of old friend 'Rocky '

(NEWSER) - The Rocky Mountain News published its last issue yesterday just short of 150 years after its founder hauled a printing press by oxcart to the nameless gold-rush settlement that would become Denver. Staffers and readers alike mourned the passing of the paper believed to have been Colorado's longest-running business, reports the Denver Post—now the city's sole daily newspaper. More»

(NEWSER) - More bleak news from the world of newspapers: Hearst is threatening to shut down the San Francisco Chronicle—the nation's 12th largest daily—unless it makes massive cuts. Otherwise, Hearst will seek a buyer for the 144-year-old paper, which lost $50 million last year and is doing worse in 2009, MarketWatch reports. The prospect of finding a buyer is grim, making San Francisco a contender to become the first major city without a daily paper, notes the Wall Street Journal. More»

Storied career included helming New York , Harper's Bazaar

(NEWSER) - James Brady, a veteran of numerous publications who rose from business reporting to become the editor of New York and Harper’s Bazaar, has died. He was 80. Brady is credited with founding two long-lived New York gossip standbys, the New York Post’s Page Six and New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Brady was also an Emmy Award winner during his time as a TV talk show host. More»