Fairfax Clanger of The Year

It's that Silly Season time of the year when tabloids print endless round-ups of yesterday's stale offerings so here is Whisper's take which we think is the Clanger of The Year.
It's a tale about our most wonderful Opera star  who took the stages of the great Opera Houses of the world by storm and dominated for several decades.
We refer of course to the late great Dame Joan Sutherland who may be turning in her grave if she read this tale in the Sydney Morning Herald to find the Sydney Opera House- where she appeared in so many triumphant performances including her final public concert (watched by Whispers) is to re-name it's theatre the Joan Sullivan Theatre (who she?)

Perhaps they are all in the local pub celebrating New Year's Eve early. Even on their uncorrected Google web search the Mysterious Joan Sullivan lurks.

Fairfax Fail # 14

Don't get Whispers wrong, we really are fond of Fairfax Newspapers. Especially having worked for lengthy periods twice for them although the partnership didn't always end amicably. The real problem is despite Fairfax hosting some of the nation's best journalists, those in management are not newspaper people. They are businessmen looking at the bottom financial line and that isn't always a happy marriage.
Say what you will about the Dirty Digger ( Rupert Murdoch) he employs expert experienced newspaper men & women to run his worldwide operations and that's why they succeed (hey and they pay on time !).

So it's always sad when you see an obvious corker in one of Australia's venerable institutions and one we need so badly. As in this report by the local Southern Highlands' Fairfax newspaper where two budding journos got it so badly wrong.

Local newspaper baron Cristian King (pictured right with his Mum Jane)  Australia's youngest newspaper executive and an editor at King Media is involved in a dispute with some local Highland's colorful characters. He's been charged with an offense but most certainly not 'stalking' a fairly serious offense as the local Fairfax newspaper alleges. Cris is in good hands though His brief is from one of NSW's best law firms run by Christopher Murphy. We reckon King will prevail in court. We don't think M'lud will be happy with the Fairfax report.

Disclosure : Whispers has worked for Fairfax, Rupert Murdoch, King Media, Vanity Fair, the Wentworth Courier..oh hell, who haven't we worked for?

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And on the subject of King Media, Cristian and Jane King are about to launch their fourth local newspaper, The Independent Goulburn. This is the way of the future in print publishing - small independent newspapers will thrive. Take it as gospel from an old hack.

TOMORROW: THE TRUTH ABOUT MOVIE STAR MARILYN MONROE

Madame Arcati Scoops the World-by 12 months

It was exactly 12 months ago that the famed British blogger Madame Arcati drew our attention to an interview with the wife of the Syrian president,  Asma al-Assad in US Vogue, declaring it in bad taste as demonstrating Syrians were being massacred by security forces. Shortly after the Arcati story, the article disappeared from Vogue's website.:
                                  
 "Vogue keeps up Asma al-Assad interview as Syria burns

While the Syrian government massacres its revolting peasants, I see that US Vogue has still yet to take down its recent ghastly and fawning interview with Asma al-Assad, Syria's 'dynamic first lady' who is on a 'mission to create a beacon of culture and secularism.' She should import the BBC's resident proselytising atheist Prof Brian Cox to help her out."

                                                                                           

Now the fabled Washington Post has just caught up to speed, 12 months after Madame Arcati's scoop.
Read the story as re-produced in the Sydney Morning Herald here and Madame Arcati's original posts here
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 Two days ago we asked who was the famous brother of the person in the snap we published.
The answer was Kevin Spacey.

 The pic was of his older brother Randy Fowler who runs the Rod's Limo Hire company in Boise Idaho.
You can see the family resemblence-can't you? :

more tabloid tosh

       Georgina Robinson writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that "Veteran rockers the Who's performance at the most coveted televised gig in the world was panned by some viewers but praised by music critics." under the headline: Rock of ages ... the Who get mixed rap for Super Bowl.

     The fragrant Georgina goes on to quote 5 "at home viewers" who all knock The Who's peformance.  That's 5 out of a US TV audience estimated at 40 million, plus countless tens of millions of worldwide viewers-and the roughly 100,000 stadium audience who gave The Who a standing ovation. Nice one.