AllThingsD » Tim Arango

Here's a Story About Rupert Murdoch, the New York Post and Michael Wolff

Peter Kafka — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:01:51 +0000

In the trade, this is called a buried lede: At the bottom of today’s item about media bomb-thrower Michael Wolff’s new gig at AdWeek Media Group, the New York Times tells us something really interesting.

It’s the news that this story should have run in the New York Post last week.

NYT reporter Tim Arango reports that Wolff is still feuding with News Corp., which owns the Post, as well as this site, over a 2008 Rupert Murdoch biography. The beef is serious enough, Arango says (he intimates, to be precise), that Post media ace Keith Kelly wasn’t able to publish a scoop about Wolff’s move:

Elsewhere in the tabloid’s pages, Mr. Wolff’s name is not so welcome. Last week Mr. Wolff spoke to Keith J. Kelly, the paper’s media columnist, about his new job, but no article was published.

Ouch. Arango himself is a veteran of the Post’s media desk, so he certainly knows the terrain here. But really? Doesn’t news trump all?

I asked Wolff about it, via e-mail. “You’ll have to ask Keith about that (and I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation),” he writes.

Kelly, alas, also declined to comment, and passed me on to Post editor-in-chief Col Allan. I’ve yet to hear back from Allan, and I’ve asked News Corp. PR folks for comment as well, just for good measure. Happy to include their responses if I get them.

Another Media Reporter Packs His Bags: Timesman Arango Headed to Iraq

Peter Kafka — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:26:25 +0000

Doesn’t anyone want to cover the media beat anymore? First, BusinessWeek’s super-sourced Jon Fine departs for a six-month globe-hopping sabbatical. Now the New York Times’s (NYT) Tim Arango is leaving town as well: Instead of writing about moguls and mergers, he’ll be reporting from Iraq.

I’ve heard that Arango is leaving for six months and that the Times doesn’t have plans to replace him while he’s out. But media editor Bruce Headlam, via email, says the paper is still figuring all of that out:

A lot is still up in the air–When Tim might go and for how long. We do know that he will be coming back, however, and he’s a huge asset to our group so we’re looking for creative solutions in the meantime.

Arango came to the Times after stints at Time Warner’s (TWX) Fortune and News Corp.’s (NWS) New York Post. I’ve asked him for comment–for instance, I’d love to know why he wants to trade midtown office suites for the desert–and will report back if I hear from him.

And to cap off the meta navel-gazing, I should report here that I like my gig very much and have no intention of leaving.

The Sirius Story in Two Sentences

Peter Kafka — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:01:52 +0000

Today’s New York Times profiles Mel Karmazin, Howard Stern and Sirius XM (SIRI), the troubled company that binds both of them together. It’s a nice read, but there’s no news there for anyone who has been watching the company over time (if you want an archive of excellent Sirius coverage, check out Digital Daily).

And if you’re time-pressed (it’s 64 degrees in New York City this morning–perhaps you’d like to get outside), there’s no reason to tackle the entire feature story. Because reporter Tim Arango has done a nice job of summarizing his 2,427-word piece in two sentences:

But Sirius XM does have a serious flaw in its capital structure. Its costs, which include servicing its pile of debt, appear to be too high to make the business viable.”