On Friday, Gawker speculated that The Brooklyn Paper was in trouble after a tipster told them freelancers haven't been paid since last summer (a late freelancing check...unprecedented!) and perhaps more relevant, if true, that editor Gersh Kuntzman told staffers the "independent, family owned, locally-run" since 1978 paper is "undergoing some turmoil." We asked Kuntzman about the rumor, and here's what he had to say:
"The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just won 'Newspaper of the Year' from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business. Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."
We bet Marty Markowitz would totally sign Rupert Murdoch's cast, though. As we noted last week, Kuntzman recently put up his used, signed cast on eBay -- and more recently he requested a last minute plug to generate buzz (and drive up the bid!) from Gawker. He described the cast, which sold for $102.50, as "a piece of journalistic, medical and political history." Priceless.
Photo of Kuntzman getting cast signed by Markowitz via The Brooklyn Paper.
