Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Grey Lady Lets Her Hair Down with Berlusconi Story

The front page of the New York Times
from July 29, 1914

For perhaps the first time in her 160 publishing history, The New York Times has let her aging grey hair down.

The front page of the Week in Review Section this Sunday looks like it could be a page out of Rupert Murdoch's New York Post.

The occasion is the hot story that is going global about Italy's media magnate and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged affair with an 18 year-old night club dancer that began when she was 16.

Innuendos abound, rumors swirl around with the lady in question throwing a screen about her age, her remunerations, her purported domestic abuses at an early age.

The truth is buried somewhere and, perhaps, will emerge in time.

The real news here is the large tabloid type, a sensual photo of the lady in question- eclipsing part of the title page line- and her remarks that she "Invented a Parallel Life" as well as the word SURREAL in extra large type.

The new deliberately shocking format is certainly an eye-catcher on the Times part and is perhaps 'signs of the times' ; Rupert Murdoch, the king of media, is beefing up his weekend edition of his Wall Street Journal in an effort to steal market share in a media war that is sure to further heat up.

Stay tuned....Meanwhile hats off to the NYT.

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