It’s Splitsville for Rupert and Hillary

IT'S SPLITSVILLE FOR RUPERT AND HILLARY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] Honeymoons don’t last forever. Just ask Hillary Clinton and Rupert Murdoch. Two years ago, Mr. Murdoch, the head of the News Corporation — which owns The New York Post — was in the midst of a rapprochement with Senator Clinton. He put aside the antagonism that had defined their relationship, even holding a fund-raiser for her Senate campaign before the paper went on, improbably, to endorse her re-election effort. Their newfound friendship seemingly came to a crashing end last Thursday. There was the headline on the front page of The Post, right next to “Cop Sex Ring,” for all to see: “Post Endorses Obama.” Not only an endorsement, but they gave it the wood — industry jargon for the huge type on the front page — for crying out loud. Not even John McCain, a longtime favorite of both The Post and Mr. Murdoch, got the wood for his endorsement the next day. This was never a full embrace on either side. The Post’s cease-fire with Mrs. Clinton was built on realpolitik. Mr. Murdoch’s politics are less ideological than a kind of enlightened pragmatism of being in favor of those who are in favor. Part of the cooling in the relationship, according to people involved on both sides, has to do with the realities of being a hometown paper. When Mrs. Clinton was serving and running as a senator, she had a relationship with the paper. But as her candidacy for president gathered momentum, The Post became just one more part of the media scrum, and the paper did not react well to the disregard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/business/media/04carr.html?ref=todayspaper
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