The Nine Media Lives of Tina BrownTina Brown signed a deal to develop story ideas and shows for HBO. Donny Deutsch celebrated his 50th-birthday party at the Jazz at Lincoln Center with lobster tail and foie gras. Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman are having trouble yachting around on their Caribbean honeymoon because there’s a massive fuel strike on St. Barts. (Weinstein’s friends also sent him a lot of video congratulations on the day of his wedding.) Lydia Hearst is mad that her name is being attached to Darfur awareness events without her permission. Gay activist Allen Roskoff keeps George Bush toilet paper at his Jane Street apartment.
it just happened
Conrad Black to Get Six to Eight Years in Prison, ‘Sun’ to Get ColumnistMedia mogul Conrad Black will be sentenced this morning to between six and eight years in prison for fraud and obstruction of justice, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve has said. The sentence is pretty lenient, especially considering that Black, whose Hollinger International company owned more than 100 newspapers, including the New York Sun, was less than endearing during the course of his trial. He referred to the charges that he had used the company to fund such luxuries as trips to Bora Bora and 100 pairs of Manolo Blahniks for his wife, among other things, as “rubbish” and “bullshit” and called his prosecutors “Nazis” and “pygmies.” Jail, Black recently said, would be “a bore, but endurable,” especially perhaps since Sun editor Seth Lipsky has reportedly invited the best-selling memoirist to contribute articles from his cell.
Conrad Black to Serve up to Eight years in Jail for Fraud [Guardian]
UPDATE: The verdict is in! Black will serve 6 1/2 years.
in other news
‘Sun’ Loves Conrad Black, French StonersWe were glancing over New York Sun editor Seth Lipsky’s panegyric to convicted felon Conrad Black on the Sun’s Website — “Conrad Black is one of the greatest newspapermen of his, or any, time,” and so on — when our eye was drawn to the right side of the screen:
Yeah, we imagine the thing would be better if we were stoned, too.
Conrad Black — The Strands of Honor [NYS]
gossipmonger
Obama Dunning Hill’s Dem Donors?Big Dem donors Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and George Soros have all pledged their support to Barack Obama, though Sant Chatwal and Ed Koch — who we’re shocked to learn is still considered a Democrat — are on Hillary’s side. Bill Clinton avoided a flirty blonde at a book party; Hillary called Obama to chat about her White House run. Michael Bloomberg doesn’t think taxpayers should have to pay for the mayor’s living expenses at Gracie Mansion. Shock jocks Opie and Anthony asked Donald Trump to come on their show and discuss the Rosie feud but afterward claimed that he had asked them. Derek Jeter went from Jessica Biel to Gabrielle Union.
