Free Republic

The bareknuckled bankruptcy proceedings of The Inquirer concluded Friday, thrusting the 181-year-old institution into a new era. With the electronic exchange of purchase documents, Philadelphia Media Network Inc. formally took control of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and the website Philly.com Gregory J. Osberg, a former publisher of Newsweek, is Philadelphia Media Network's president and chief executive officer. Others named to the board...writer Jacob Weisberg, former editor of the online magazine Slate, owned by the Washington Post Co.

Second Thoughts By: William W. Lawrence 07/29/2003 Media Mayor Robert A. McMahon read last week's column -- he says he reads it every week -- and called to say that I was a bit hard on Congressman Curt Weldon. I asked him to write a couple of paragraphs summing up his feelings and the following is what he wrote: "I was surprised last week when you mentioned Curt Weldon's involvement with Dick Winters and followed it with Congress' lack of action on Veterans' Benefits. There is no congressman who is more involved with Veterans' issues than Curt. His fellow congressmen...

Second Thoughts By William W. Lawrence 02/12/2003 Philadelphia Inquirer editorial writers, who have never seen a gun control idea they didn't like, must be hyperventilating over Attorney General John Ashcroft's recent update on "Project Safe Neighborhoods." The plan, in a nutshell, calls for the feds to put a lot of money into states and municipalities that put gun-toting criminals into prison. President Bush said when the plan was initiated, "If you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time." It is working. Last year, more than 10,600 defendants were charged with violation of federal firearm laws and 93 percent...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Walter H. Annenberg, who parlayed America's love affair with television into a fortune by launching the national TV Guide magazine and later served as ambassador to Britain, died Tuesday. He was 94. Annenberg, who also created Seventeen magazine, gave billions of dollars to charity and endowed two leading journalism schools, died at his home in suburban Wynnewood of complications from pneumonia, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His wife, Leonore, was with him when he died. Annenberg was a friend to U.S. presidents from Dwight Eisenhower onward,...

City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life September 26-October 2, 2002 on mediaWho the heck is Walter Lundy?The Inky editor walks into a hornet's nest at a Jewish Business Network meeting.by Deborah BollingFrom the door, it was pretty apparent that the only thing being served up at the Sept. 18 luncheon hosted by the Jewish Business Network (JBN) was the guest of honor: Walker Lundy.For starters, the placards announcing the presence of the new Inky editor and executive vice-president read: "Guest Speaker, Walter Lundy."If that wasn't enough for Lundy to know that he was not necessarily amongst friends...

2dthoughts8-21-02The Inquirer, in another desperate move to survive, is going to beef up its coverage in the suburbs. They getting rid of 10 part-time assistants and eliminating 23 positions in the newsroom. (My guess is there is evidence that some of these people voted for a Republican.)The Thursday Neighbors sections in Pennsylvania will be eliminated. Heh! I remember when a forgettable Inquirer Neighbors editor addressed the Delaware County Press Club a few years ago. He promised club members that Neighbors would quickly put the weekly newspapers (including ours) out of business. Another broken Inquirer promise.In another move, Inquirer Editor Walker...

Posted on Mon, Aug. 12, 2002Lillian Swanson | Sweeping changes are planned for InquirerBy Lillian SwansonInquirer ColumnistThis fall, The Inquirer will undergo more change, at a faster clip, than at any time since The Bulletin folded in 1982.Editor Walker Lundy upended the chessboard, unveiling a new strategy that will assign three dozen more reporters - a 60 percent increase - to cover the Pennsylvania suburbs and South Jersey.At the same time, the paper will add more space for news across much of the paper, and improve its city neighborhood, business, sports and investigative coverage. Forty journalists will be hired.In a...

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a long, dull-witted editorial on Sunday in which it endorsed Ed Rendell for Governor.The editorial opened with, "Dog bites man. Yankees win. Sun rises in east."Ed Rendell's hometown newspaper endorses him."Ho -hum. Just a bunch a of equally predictable events, right." Yes! The Inquirer's editorial board finally got something right! But those buffoons did not endorse Rendell because of the lost list that followed. They endorsed him for the same reason they endorsed a lying pervert for president--twice. Rendell is a left-wing liberal. The Inquirer would endorse Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, or even Osama Bin Laden...