Murdoch takes care of his own, but still won't talk about London tabloid controversy

 

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has done a pretty good job avoiding the ink-stained-wretches-turned-tweeters at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, by mumbling one- or two-word answers to their questions.

Wednesday, when asked whether he'd want to buy Twitter, he said no. Asked about selling MySpace, he said "hell no." Asked by this reporter whether he would buy the Los Angeles Times, he said "too difficult."

But he knows to take care of his own. The News Corp. chairman sat down today with his latest creation -- Fox Business Network -- for an interview here and during which he said the mood of the conference was "bearish."

“I’m shocked at the business mood, which is talking about either that we’re at the bottom or going lower, but that it’s going to take years and years, like five years at least before we see any real growth coming out of this," Murdoch said.

As for the newspaper industry, which Murdoch may be one of the last believers in, he said News Corp. would lead the way for a working pay model for newspapers, but offered no details.

"We have a lot of plans I’m not ready to disclose yet, to really lead the newspaper industry into monetizing what it has," he said.

There are advantages to talking to media outlets you control. One reason Murdoch has been dodging the media here is because of a controversy brewing at his London tabloid papers The Sun and News of the World, which have been accused of using wiretaps to get dirt for their stories.

But Murdoch didn't have to sweat the questions from Fox Business Network. Interviewer Stuart Varney tried to ask him about it and Murdoch said "I'm not talking about that issue today." Varney was more than happy to let it slide.

"No worries, Mr. Chairman," Varney said, adding "that's fine with me."

In fairness to Murdoch, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker also found time to squeeze in an interview with CNBC today, but otherwise has been hard to find. Last report was he's on the links.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Rupert Murdoch, left, talks with Univision Chairman Haim Saban and Thomas Staggs, chief financial officer of Walt Disney Co. Credit: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg News

You wanted this sew much: Info on 'Project Runway' contestants

I've been running around like a loon all day but I had to make time to post this "Project Runway" news. Lifetime has released the names of the 16 contestants who'll be competing in the sixth season of the show, which finally debuts on that network Aug. 20.

"PR" will have a new "companion" series, "Models of the Runway." Because if the world needed one thing, it was another reality show about models.

The Lifetime press release on the contestants is below, as is a picture of the cast.

READY…SET…SEW!

16 NEW DESIGNERS SET TO COMPETE DURING
SEASON SIX OF LIFETIME TELEVISION’S
 
Diverse Group of Contestants Set to Join Style Mavens HEIDI KLUM,
TIM GUNN, MICHAEL KORS and NINA GARCIA Beginning AUGUST 20

All-New Series MODELS OF THE RUNWAY to Air Immediately Following PROJECT RUNWAY

LOS ANGELES, CA (July 9, 2009) â€" Summer sizzles on Lifetime Television with the premiere of the Emmy®-nominated and Peabody® Award-winning hit series Project Runway, on Thursday, August 20, at 10PM ET/PT, followed by the all-new companion series, Models of the Runway at 11PM ET/PT.  Produced by The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions and Full Picture Productions, host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn and judges Michael Kors (leading fashion designer) and Nina Garcia (fashion director of Marie Claire magazine), will guide sixteen new contestants as they show off their design skills to see who makes the cut for New York Fashion Week.  Project Runway also features influential guest judges from the worlds of fashion, music, film and television.

During Season Six of the series, the contestants will design at Los Angeles’ Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).  The diverse group of 16 will get pared down to the finalists who will show their own lines in front of an audience of fashion industry influencers at New York Fashion Week.  As part of the winner’s prize package, an editorial feature on the victorious designer will run in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire magazine, and he/she will strut away with a cash prize of $100,000 from L’Oreal Paris to start a fashion line and a trip to Paris furnished by Evian.

The Season 6 Project Runway designers are:

          Althea Harper, 24Hometown: Dayton, OH; Resides in Brooklyn, NY

          Ari Fish, 26Hometown/Resides in Kansas City, MO

Carol Hannah Whitfield, 24Hometown: Anderson, SC; Resides in Brooklyn, NY

Christopher Straub, 30Hometown: St. Louis Park, MN; Resides in  Shakopee, MN

Epperson, 50Hometown/Resides in New York, NY

Gordana Gehlhausen, 45Hometown: Yugoslavia; Resides in San Diego, CA

Irina Shabayeva, 27Hometown: The Republic of Georgia; Resides in New York, NY

Johnny Sakalis, 30Hometown: Long Beach, CA; Resides in Los Angeles, CA

Logan Neitzel, 26Hometown: Blackfoot, ID; Resides in Seattle, WA

Louise Black, 32Hometown: Temple, TX; Resides in Dallas, TX

Malvin Vien, 24Hometown: Englewood, CO; Resides in Brooklyn, NY

Mitchell Hall, 26Hometown: Melbourne, FL; Resides in Savannah, GA

Nicolas Putvinski, 27Hometown: Moscow, Russia; Resides in New York, NY

Ra’mon-Lawrence Coleman, 31Hometown: Chicago, IL; Resides in Milwaukee, WI

Shirin Askari, 24 -  Hometown: Tulsa, OK; Resides in Garland, TX

Qristyl Frazier, 42Hometown: St. Louis, MO; Resides in Brooklyn, NY

For more information about the Season Six designers, visit mylifetime.com.

Project Runway and Models of the Runway are executive produced by Jon Murray and Sara Rea of Bunim-Murray Productions (The Real World).  Heidi Klum, Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of New York
City-based Full Picture also executive produce both series.  John Miller and Barbara Schneeweiss oversaw the production on behalf of The Weinstein Company.

ABOUT BUNIM-MURRAY PRODUCTIONS
Bunim-Murray Productions is the leading independent producer of innovative entertainment content.  The company is widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World. Bunim-Murray’s current programming includes the hit series The Bad Girls Club, The Real World/Road Rules Challenge and Keeping up with the Kardashians. Recently Bunim-Murray launched BMP Films, a film division, which premiered its first documentary, Autism: The Musical, at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival which went on to win 2 Primetime Emmy awards and its second documentary, Shadow Billionaire, premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Bunim-Murray Productions is based in Van Nuys, CA.  It was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim.

ABOUT FULL PICTURE PRODUCTIONS
Full Picture Productions marries talent with innovative formats to execute original ideas that capitalize on the company's extensive expertise, experience and relationships. Full Picture co-created and Executive Produces Project Runway, the four-time Emmy nominated, PGA nominated and Peabody Award-winning series and Runway companion series Models of the Runway and The CW’s Stylista.   Full Picture also produces Style Studio, Mind Body Balance and Pursuit of Health for MSN Entertainment.

ABOUT MIRAMAX FILMS
Miramax Films is a motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company committed to its mission of providing audiences with high quality, innovative and risk-taking films from the world's best filmmakers, established and emerging.  Miramax Films is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, the world's preeminent media & entertainment company in the field of family entertainment.   The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with four business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products.

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
The Weinstein Company (TWC) was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979.  TWC is a multi-media company that officially launched on October 1, 2005.  Dimension Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is also included under the TWC banner.  During the Weinsteins’ tenure at Miramax Films, the company released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films which received 249 Academy Award® nominations and won 60 Oscars®, and have generated billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more in home video sales.   In its history, Dimension Films has released some of the most successful franchises including Scream, Spy Kids and Scary Movie.

ABOUT MARIE CLAIRE
Marie Claire (www.marieclaire.com) is more than a pretty face. It is the fashion magazine with character, substance, and depth, for women with a point of view, an opinion, and a sense of humor. Each issue is edited for a sexy, stylish, confident woman who is never afraid to make intelligence a part of her wardrobe. Marie Claire is published in 26 countries and is read by more than 15 million worldwide. The magazine was founded in 1937 by French industrialist Jean Prouvost, whose goal was to present the realities of life mixed with fashion and beauty coverage. The American edition is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with nearly 200 editions around the world, including 15 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (70.6 million total adults, according to MRI, Fall 2008).

ABOUT FIDM/FASHION INSTITUTE OF DESIGN & MERCHANDISING
FIDM/ Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising is a private college for specialized professional education, accredited by WASC and NASAD, granting Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Business Management degrees.  Over the last 35 years, FIDM has graduated more than 35,000 students, preparing them for careers in Fashion, Graphics, Interior Design and Entertainment.  The college is headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, with other campus locations in Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco; 7,500 full-time students.  FIDM/Museum & Galleries has one of the nation’s finest costume collections dating from the 18th century and yearly presents major exhibitions.

ABOUT LIFETIME TELEVISION
Lifetime is a diverse, multi-media company, committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming that celebrates, entertains and supports women.  Through its award-winning public affairs initiatives, the Company also advocates a wide range of issues affecting women and their families.  Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network â€" cable’s two highest-rated women’s channels â€" Lifetime Real Women and Lifetime Digital (which includes myLifetime.com, Lifetime Games, Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com and MothersClick.com) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

Tori Amos does things her way
Amos, who will play in San Jose on Tuesday, has cut a singular swath through the world of popular music.

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In Borat's Footsteps, A Mincing Teutonic Menace

Sacha Baron Cohen dons hot pants and an Austrian-accented lisp for his new film, Bruno. Bob Mondello says that while the actor's appearance has changed, he's still pushing the same boundaries.