Apparently the paper business isn’t paying what it used to. New York Post reporter, Jared Paul Stern, who the paper now claims only freelanced there, has been accused of offering a financial deal (ie extortion) in which the butt of recent party-boy stories, Ron Burkle, would pay him $220K to NOT write about him in the juicy Page Six columns that makes the Post so tabloidish.
… Stern outlined the three levels of protection. At the first level, Burkle could act as a source, sending the column tidbits about his celebrity friends in return for immunity for himself. Burkle refused. Stern then explained that Burkle could earn the second level of protection by hiring Stern’s friends to do PR. The third level of protection, explained Stern on the videotape, was “some way to be in business with the paper, more of a colleague.”
During the meeting, Stern asked Burkle to invest in his clothing line, Skull and Bones. When Burkle refused, Stern settled for cash, saying “Um, $100,000 to get going and then you could get it to me on a month-to-month, maybe like $10,000.”
The dialogue for the meeting between the blackmailer and his victim reads like something out of a schlocky mafia movie. When Burkle offers to hire Page Six editor Richard Johnson’s wife, Stern reprimanded “Being friends with Richard is fine, but that will not stop your problems.” At another point, Stern cautions Burkle, “You know the saying, ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’?” (via)
And bloggers lack credibility…?