Columnist Matt Drudge on Shapiro's resignation, UPI's new-found brevity, the Applewhite suicides, and A. J. Benza
FBI counsel resigning - Shapiro sacrificed?
FBI general counsel Howard Shapiro, just last week cleared by an internal Justice Department review of his dealings with the White House during the FBI file/Gary Aldrich messes ["no misconduct but showed bad investigative judgment"], will soon submit his resignation to FBI director Louis Freeh, the Drudge Report has learned from a well-placed congressional source.
The departure is "designed to appease Republicans in Congress who are demanding a catch," says the source. One other factor leading Shapiro to leave could be the Hill buzz that Anthony Marceca, colleague of Craig Livingstone of FBI-file fame, may have plead the Fifth during public hearings, but he performed the Beethoven's Fifth for investigators - so the talk goes. Footnote: Kenneth Starr's report on the FBI-file controversy is believed to be nearing conclusion.
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Snacking on Slugs
In Monday editions of The New York Times, writer Iver Peterson examines the UPI news service. After three owners, two bankruptcies, and one court-ordered liquidation, the company's latest incarnation is a sexier brand of journalism. Peterson reveals that after a complete reorganization last September, the hope is to find an audience by satisfying the world's appetite for bite-sized bits of news.
UPI has developed something called Short Service, which sells two-sentence news summaries for clients wanting only the briefest of brief summaries for broadcast, beepers, and/or Internet. (Example: On Inauguration night, UPI moved the headline "Clinton Goes to Bed Early.")
As examined previously in this space, UPI now transmits and distributes its news using a sophisticated network of hyper satellite transmissions - a system that allows the service to excel during world-breaking news tantrums.
"I started with UPI in 1943; I would ... write those three-line stories for radio, so this new approach is not so hard for me," Helen Thomas, UPI's White House everything, tells Peterson. "I think we're adjusting to the new reality, which is that we have to write shorter...." End.
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... Monday's Los Angeles Times has two wealthy businessmen offering to buy and raze the mansion in Rancho Santa Fe where the UFO cult suicides took place. The two want to protect property values and "spare Rancho Santa Fe the stigma of what happened...."
Bell Redux
Thanks to the scores of people that emailed and phoned over the past few days blasting the Drudge Report for its flashing of the Art Bell radio program. In a Thursday afternoon report I stated that overnight talk-show host Art Bell "popularized the notion that the Hale-Bopp comet could possibly be shielding an unknown companion" - a statement that I was surprised to discover other Bell listeners would find strongly offensive.
While this report could be faulted for not elaborating on the literally hundreds of hours of Bell broadcasts that dealt with the Hale-Bopp comet and its possible companion, or lack thereof, it certainly would be folly to deny that it was Bell's show that popularized and added intrigue to the comet's arrival.
To the point, results from a Bell Poll still remain intact on the program's official Web page.
Naming the Companion:
Here are the FINAL vote totals as of Monday 12:30 a.m. PST: 35% 322 - Hale-Mary or Hail-Mary 16% 152 - Shramek 15% 138 - Shramrock 11% 98 - Big-Bopper 8% 76 - Steve 7% 61 - Genesis 4% 40 - Rapture-Mobile 4% 39 - Kato
Benza: The Loss of Column
A. J. Benza of the Hot Copy column of the New York Daily News has quit - after being pushed by the paper's new editor in chief, Pete Hamill. Benza, who chronicled the world of fashion models and trash pop, has resigned his post effective immediately, after four years on the scene.
The exit caps a period of high tension between editor Hamill and Benza, who also appears on E! channel's Gossip Show. The Drudge Report has learned that Hamill was furious with Benza for sharing personal sex conquests [describing in a Sunday column how a cheap prostitute performed a sex act on him] with Daily News readers.
Hamill recently issued an internal memo putting Benza on warning: "This column is not about you getting laid." Hamill also had concern that Benza rushed items into print without checking their validity.
"A. J. fumed and vowed not to alter his style of writing," a newsroom rat tells the Drudge Report.
But the ultimate act of rebellion against Hamill came last week when Benza printed that he spotted actor Robert Downey Jr. boozing at the Mondrian Hotel's Sky Bar on the Sunset Strip over the Oscar holiday. Downey is on probation for recent drug run-ins and any drinking would violate court orders, resulting in instant imprisonment. A classic Benza bust. Slight problem: Downey says he wasn't even in California during the time in question. Reports set to be published on Monday now have Downey threatening to sue the News and Benza.
Daily News brother Michael Fleming on Monday explains: "Benza ... was sure Downey was 5 feet away from him in the bar, but mused that he himself might have had one too many, as he was tossing them down after having resigned the News gig."
Painful, the loss of column.
Drudge Wire
Democratic members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee move to extend the investigation of Campaign '96 to include fund-raising by Haley Barbour as Republican national chairman.... New Quentin Tarantino script surfaces in Hollywood: Jackie Brown, with casting of Sam Jackson and Bridget Fonda. Not known if it's simply retitled Rum Punch.... Ellen announces she's a lesbian to an entire airport terminal. The ABC sitcom has star revealing her sexuality to crush object at an airport as she accidently hits a button that turns on a public address system. The entire terminal hears her announce, "I'm gay. You hear that? I'm gay!"...
Turner on California suicides: "We've got too many people anyway."
This morning at a clubhouse news conference to mark the opening of the Atlanta Braves' new stadium, Turner Field, Spaceship Ted Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, made some choice comments about the Applewhite suicides:
"You turn on the TV and there's one murder after another. There's hardly anything good. Thirty-nine people committed suicide to go up to that comet, but what about the 6 billion who didn't? That's a small percentage, 39 out of 6 billion.... It's a good way to get rid of a few nuts.... Who knows? They could be behind that comet. It does look good. I've been looking at it. I would kind of like to go up there myself. Is there that much difference in other religions saying you're going to heaven?"
(And it's only 1997.)
