Israeli Start Up Rumble Responsible for Inquirer's New Mobile Interface

One of the more interesting presentations at today's Philadelphia-Israeli Chamber of Commerce Mobile Conference was made by Israeli start up Rumble. I was surprised to discover that they created the  new mobile interface, which has been well received, for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.

Co-founder and CEO Al. E. Azoulay claims the platform is so easy to use that newspapers will start building a mobile audience within hours of downloading.

The company has some big backers, including the Knight Foundation. The former publisher of the Inquirer, Gregory Osberg, recently joined the advisory board.

The Audacity of Philadelphia Magazine

Philadelphia magazine is one of the better chroniclers of the rich in the Delaware Valley. Lately, they have veered into media criticism, which is the one subject that should not touch with a 10 foot pole. The magazine has always been beset with allegations that it favors advertisers in its editorial content. It is alleged that Best of Philly is really the Best of the Advertisers.

Philadelphia magazine itself does not adhere to basic journalistic standards such as forbidding journalists covering an event to accept payment from event organizers. At the very least, the magazine should include a disclaimer if the journalist was paid by someone connected with the event.

Hugh E. Dillon, one of the freelance photographers for their Philadelphia Scene column, also moonlights as an events photographer. At the Barnes opening, Dillon bragged that he was hired to cover by the committee for the Philadelphia Awards to cover the ceremonies the following week. Dillon's pictures of  Aileen Roberts, the wife of Comcast CEO, and Aramark CEO Joe Neubauer, the recipients of the award, were later featured prominently on the magazine's website.

Dillon is constantly blurring the boundaries between his photography gigs and his journalism assignments.  Advertisers (or their clients) on Dillon's website, Phillychitchat, often are covered in Philadelphia magazine by Dillon.

One local pr hot shot told me, "Everybody in pr knows that if you want coverage in Philadelphia magazine, you have to pay HughE."

A reader of mine contacted the publisher of Philadelphia magazine, David Lipson, alerted him to the journalistic conflict of interest. Lipson wrote back in an email, "I do not know anything about Hugh E's blog or other business ventures. Do I know you?"

When the reader urged him to check into it, the reader never heard from Lipson again. Erica Palan, the online editor, and Tom McGrath, the magazine editor did not answer the emails sent to them that questioned the propriety of payment of staffers accepting payment for coverage.

The magazine does not have particularly distinguished track record for their media criticism. In 2011, Steve Volk wrote an article about the Inquirer publisher, "Greg Osberg: Savior". A year later, Osberg is out as publisher partially due to his attempts to censor his own newsroom's coverage of the sale of the papers. 

Even worse, Volk later confessed to leaving out a crucial fact in his big story. When he was interviewing employees of the Inquirer, he was always escorted by a in-house public relations person. While that might be standard procedure for the business world, it does seem to indicate a newspaper publisher that does not value free press.

In this month's issue of Philadelphia Magazine, writer Jason Fagone starts the death watch for Philadelphia's two alternative weeklies, City Paper and Philadelphia Weekly. Both free papers rely solely on shrinking advertising revenues. In his analysis of their problems, he never once mentions the Metro newspapers. The   free daily has a completely different editorial model, but competes for the same advertisers and some of the same readers. He also did not reveal that Metrocorp, the parent company of Philadelphia magazine, is starting a weekly of some kind.

The two alternative weeklies fill a journalistic gap in the city. They are must reading for anyone that wants to know what is really going on in the city's neighborhoods and Harrisburg. Their arts calendars list affordable entertainment and events in the city. Fagone never mentioned that.

Suzanne Roberts, the wife of Comcast founder Ralph Roberts, expressed my sentiments about the article, "Wasn't it awful?'" She was objecting to how the article characterized the purchase of Philadelphia Weekly by her son-in-law, Anthony Clifton.

Philadelphia magazine, people in glass houses should not throw stones.

UPDATE David Lipson responded to my post: Thank you for sharing.  I am so pleased they spelled our name correctly.

The editor in chief of Philadelphia magazine, Tom McGrath's response was: "You spelled my name wrong." I had incorrectly identified him as Tim.

It is pretty obvious that journalistic ethics are not a priority there.

Disclaimer: I am a freelancer for Metro and sometimes contribute to Philadelphia Weekly. I have no knowledge of their publishing side because they are kept separate at Metro.Two bloggers for Philadelphia magazine objected to the coverage of my scoop that former Governor Ed Rendell was not going to buy the Inquirer, which proved accurate.  Hugh E. Dillon questioned my reporting that Sarah Madson, wife of former Phillie Ryan Madson hated the fans, which also was later proven to be accurate.

Former Pa Governor Rendell Under Federal Investigation

The Washington Times is reporting that the Treasury Department's counter-terrorism unit has issued a subpoena to former Pennsylvania Governor Rendell over his advocacy for the Iranian dissident group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), which has been declared a terrorist organization by the State Department. Many in Washington, including former Homeland Security Secretary Thomas Ridge, have publicly called for the removal of MEK from the terrorist watch list. So far, Rendell is the only one that has been issued a subpoena. 

To appease Iran, President Clinton placed the MEK, which some say is responsible for the deaths of 17,000 Iranian, on the terrorist watch list. Members of the organization, who are housed in a camp near the Iran-Iraq border, renounced violence in 2001. 

Rendell and Ridge admitted to the Washington Times taking money for their promotional activities. Rendell made 5 all-expense-paid trips to Europe on behalf of the organization.  It is illegal to accept money from organizations on the terror watch list. Since both men do not believe that the MEK should be on the terrorist watch list, they do not seem overly concerned about the legality of the payments. They also did not seem to know the precise source of their payments. In Rendell's defense, the William Morris Agency handles his speaking engagements. 

While Iran and the United States are close to war, their devil may care attitude about the origins of their funds seems strange. The issuance of the subpoena seems to indicate that the Treasury Department does not feel the same way. Many in counter-terrorism posit the financiers are just as dangerous as the bomb throwers. As one public official once told me, "Money is the mother's milk of terrorism." 

The subpoena may explain why Gerry Lenfest replaced Rendell as CEO of the investor group bidding for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. The Rendellization of the Inquirer continues. Although the Washington Times published this story at 6pm on Friday night, the Philadelphia Inquirer had not reported as of 9:36 pm Saturday. 

Possible Reasons for the Rigging of the Philadelphia Inquirer Auction

I have been puzzled why investment bank Evercore, run by Roger Altman, would have prevented the Perelman family and real estate investor Bart Blatstein from bidding for the Philadelphia Media Network, which included the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com. Very few people turn down Ronald Perelman's money.

Having been a stockbroker that specialized in trading distressed securities before I became a reporter, I called my old Wall Street contacts. This included former employees of the reclusive Randy Smith, one of the current owners of the Inquirer. I frequently bought bonds from Smith's old firm, R. D. Smith, which was closed due to charges of insider trading charges that were never proven.

This is what I have unearthed.

Roger Altman of Evercore, the former deputy treasury secretary under Clinton, is an ethical investment banker, but wants to be Treasury Secretary more than anything. While former governor Rendell is not as close to Obama as he was to Clinton, he does some sway and could possibly help Altman fulfill his dream of becoming Treasury Secretary. Altman would do what he could do in the bounds of ethics to tip the auction to Rendell.


While I think all money is green, my sources thought Bart Blatstein might not have enough of a national reputation for Evercore to consider.


Smith, whom I have met, is superstitious like many traders. The very few investment losses in his career have come from investing in Perelman controlled entities so he is not in a hurry to be involved with Perelman again. (Before he invested in newspapers, Smith had an unparalleled track record in distressed trading.) Smith, who is conservatively worth $500 million, has long disapproved of Perelman's tactics against minority shareholders. His investment philosophy has always been "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me."

He is also a make "lemons out of lemonade" kind of guy. Being a trader of debt, he is all about leverage, financial and personal. He has already lost a boatload on his investment in Philadelphia Media Network. Wringing the last dollar out of this investment is not going to help him get out of the hole he is in. Rendell, however, could help him with wooing clients in the government sector, which is a weak spot for his firm, Alden Global.

Now a word about the greatest bromance of modern times - not George Clooney and Brad Pitt- but Ed Rendell and Lewis Katz. I have actually seen the always dignified 60 year old Katz lose his cool and run down the street after Rendell.

Katz hates the media. He told me once, "I never talk to reporters even off the record." People close to him said, "He will do anything that Rendell asks. He is not buying the Inquirer to make money.

In a six degrees of separation meme, Katz was my mother's very bad divorce lawyer many years ago. He certainly has come a long way from his law office on Kings Highway in Cherry Hill. I would not count him out.

Rendell Not Buying Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News

Former Governor Rendell had assembled an investor group to buy Philadelphia Media Network, which consists of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com from hedge funds Alden Global and Angelo Gordon. His investor group included Flyers owner Ed Snider, South Jersey political boss George Norcross, parking lot king and former Nets owner Lewis Katz. In short, all the people who make news in the city.

Many complained that the auction process was rigged. Evercore Partners, the investment banking house running the auction, would not allow Raymond and Ronald Perelman and an investor group headed by real estate mogul Bart Blatstein to participate.

Just ran into former Governor Ed Rendell on Locust St near 15th. He said, "I don't think that we will buying." His thin skinned buyers group probably could not take the negative publicity on their bid from Buzz Bissinger, the New York Times, and others. Bissinger, who compared Rendell to Randolph Hearst, worried about the journalistic conflicts of interest with such an investor group. The New York highlighted a censored a blog post about rival bids on Philly.com.

The real villains in this deal are not Ed Rendell and his buddies but Randall Smith of Alden Global and John Angelo and Mike Gordon of Angelo Gordon. They refused to allow philanthropist Raymond Perelmann to buy the papers two years ago even though they knew that they were not interested in being long term owners of the paper. They can not even justify their refusal on economic grounds. The papers are worth less today than two years. One of the nation's finest regional newspapers, which was the only check on a corrupt political culture, was destroyed by their inflated egos.

Inquirer's DeLuca Needs a Raise

I sat near the Inquirer's venerable music critic, Dan DeLuca, at the U2 concert. DeLuca, who writes the "In the Mix" blog is one of the nicest reporters that I know. It is no secret that the Inquirer is not doing well but maybe publisher Greg Osberg can spring for a new shirt for Dan.