Tabloid Editors Can Act Like Gentlemen ... Sometimes
Part of the fun of reading Steve Fishman's profile of the former News of the World/New York Post editor and current New York Daily News editor Colin Myler, is finding out where he and his former boss draw the line now that they're rivals. Apparently it's at hackers and madams.
RELATED: New York Tabloids Are Trying to Outdo Each Other at Tasteless
A few weeks ago The New York Observer floated the rumor (which was quickly disproved) that New York Post editor Col Allan (who happens to be Myler's former boss) was a "good friend" of Upper East Side Madam, Anna Gristina. (Again, that proved false when The New York Post's Jeanne MacIntosh confirmed she was a friend of the alleged madam.) The surprising thing at the time was the one place we didn't read about the supposed friendship: The New York Daily News, which never fails to skewer its tabloid rival. With Myler's background--a hardened and loyal Murdoch protege sold down the river when New of the World was shuttered and now back for as editor of The Post's biggest foe--surely he'd jump at the chance of taking down Murdoch and Allan, right? Well, not exactly, as Fishman explains:
Still, what was billed as a delicious mano a mano conflict between Myler and his former boss at the Post started off more like a tepid cup of afternoon tea. The Observer reported that the Daily News learned that on surveillance recordings, Allan had been called “a very, very good friend” of the alleged Upper East Side madam recently dominating the tabloid headlines, yet Myler declined to run a story. (Allan denies having any relationship with the alleged madam.) Surprisingly, Allan was a gentleman, too. One of Myler’s former News of the World editors said that Myler had approved the surveillance of attorneys representing alleged hacking victims, but the Post wrote nothing.
So these two, kind of dastardly tabloid editors can and do gentlemanly things! But still, we don't want to be any Daily News reporter who isn't on top of the Beyoncé beat or, in other words, Myler's bad side:
“What did the reporter get?” Myler wanted to know [about Beyoncé's baby/hospital photos]. No reporter had been there. “We don’t have overnight anymore,” he was told.
Which is when Myler went crazy. He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone and his intensity were “withering.” To Myler, these were excuses—the Post had put a reporter on the scene. “There’s only one big story every day, and you have to be on it,” he told them. He let them know that their job was to never, ever get beat by the Post.
For the rest of Fishman's great profile, head on over to New York.
