Big stink over Fox News showing dead model's body
Fox News Channel has been accused of going over the top to pump ratings in the past, so the grief it's getting these days should come as no surprise. The latest tempest is over Sunday's episode of “Geraldo at Large” on which footage of the body of model Ruslana Korshunova was shown. The young model died in New York on Saturday, an apparent suicide, having jumped to her death. The footage shows Korshunova on the ground, her body mostly covered but her bloody face clearly visible to the cameras as Geraldo Rivera says, “This image stands in stark contrast to the fairy-tale image of the famous face and chestnut hair that made her modeling’s next big thing.” The footage, which ran for about a minute, is now all over the internet. The story has been picked up by New York magazine’s Daily Intel and the Huffington Post, among others. Fox News now says the footage was a producer error and that the network regrets it.
SAG Update: Producers make a final offer to actors
The Screen Actors Guild’s contract with the Hollywood TV and movie studios expired at midnight last night, but not before the studios' negotiating arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, made one last effort at settlement, in an offer it claims would bring more than $250 million in additional compensation to the actors. It would give SAG members a 10 percent boost in minimum pay over the life of the contract and a 0.5 percent increase in pension and health contributions. But it looks like a no-go as far as the actors are concerned. SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen, in a note to members, writes: “This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors,” namely residuals for new media. AMPTP and SAG are set to meet tomorrow at 2 p.m., but those talks don't look promising. AMPTP says it will only answer questions about the latest offer and won’t negotiate further. Key to it all is whether the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ratifies a contract it reached with AMPTP that SAG has encouraged members of the sister union to vote against it as too weak. If that contract is approved, SAG may well have to back down on its demands or strike, which would close down Hollywood production for a second time this year.
Coming, new international titles from big-name houses
Yes, times are tougher these days for consumer magazines, yet that’s not put an end to launches, especially in the international markets. The New York Times, the Financial Times, Conde Nast and National Geographic are all working on launching international titles. The New York Times is launching an international edition of KEY, its real estate title, which will be bundled with the International Herald Tribune and also sold on newsstands in major markets in Europe and the Middle East. Today the Financial Times is launching a new monthly, Rui, in China. The Chinese-language magazine is a controlled-circulation publication covering lifestyle and wealth management. Conde Nast said this week it is launching British and Italian editions of Wired magazine in 2009. And National Geographic will launch a travel supplement in the British market. Called Traveler, it will be bundled with National Geographic three times a year, and if it catches it could become a stand-alone publication.
Wenner's Us Weekly is on the block--or not
As America gets into its July 4 groove, media people will have something to chew over when the hot dogs are done and the conversation falters. The week's most talked about magazine story: Jann Wenner aims to sell his wonderfully profitable Us Weekly. It all got started last week when Wenner appeared on "The Charlie Rose Show” and was asked whether reports were true that he was selling Rolling Stone to Conde Nast. Rose got it wrong. The buzz was not Rolling Stone but Us Weekly, and over the weekend a story by the New York Post's Keith J. Kelly cited an industry source confirming that Wenner was indeed out shopping the magazine, that talks with Conde Nast were underway, and that the price could well run north of $750 million. Kelly quotes an industry source as saying: “Jann [Wenner] is definitely trying to sell Us Weekly.” Wenner's people are denying that any properties are for sale, and Conde Nast had declined to discuss any such talks.
Programming: AMC remaking 1960s cult hit ‘The Prisoner’
Movie actors Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel are moving to the small screen, at least temporarily. The duo has signed on to star in a six-episode miniseries remake of “The Prisoner,” the 1960s British show that worked as a metaphor for Cold War paranoia. The new version, to air on AMC sometime in 2009, will feature McKellen as Number Two and Caviezel as Number Six and will focus on 21st century issues rather than the Cold War. Meanwhile, in other programming, actor Tim Roth is also taking his craft to television, starring in the upcoming Fox drama “Lie to Me.” The series, which is scheduled to launch early next year, will star Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, a scientist who’s able to read faces, bodies and voices to unveil the truth in criminal investigations. And TV syndicator Program Partners has renewed “Da Vinci’s Inquest,” “Cold Squad” and “ReGenesis” for new seasons, clearing each of the crime dramas in over 90 percent of the country. All three will begin their new seasons this fall.
