News Corp. Cancels O.J. Simpson Book and TV Special. (now with link)

[seriousstan]

Shepherd Smith just announced it. No link yet.

On edit, Drudge has a flashing light saying the same thing.

link....




NEW YORK — News Corp., the parent company of book publisher HarperCollins and the FOX network, has canceled publication of the O.J. Simpson book and television special "If I Did It."

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

A dozen FOX affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before the book's publication.

Last week, Judith Regan, would-be publisher of Simpson's book, said she did not pay Simpson for the rights to publish his book, in which the one-time football superstar tells how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend if, in fact, he had done it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230838,00.html

[Fierce]

1. That's the best news I've ever heard on FOX involving FOX.

nt

[gratuitous]

2. Censorship!

Well, not really, but I wanted to see how it felt to holler that.

I'm sure this will be deeply disappointing to a significant segment of Fox's viewer base.

[babylonsister]

3. Wow. They must have gotten a whole lotta shit to do that. Even

they finally recognized how tasteless this OJ spectacle truly was? :think:

[xultar]

5. Black man killin a white woman. I can't believe they even considered it.

[coalition_unwilling]

14. Bill O'Reilly was calling for a boycott of Fox and its advertisers

yesterday. Where was the call to boycott advertisers of all the Fox lies about Iraq?????

[babylonsister]

17. He was? Such harmony going on over there!

:rofl:

[Ediacara]

18. Bill-O claimed that Fox News and Fox TV had no actual relationship

So it was a-ok for Bill-O to bash Fox TV on Fox News. Aparently Bill-O is dumb enough not to realize that Newscorp and Murdoch are in charge of both Fox TV and Fox News...

[babylonsister]

23. Sounds like Bill is in some sort of denial to me.

:evilgrin:

[Garbo 2004]

25. Billdo of course knows Murdoch and Ailes are over both FNC and Fox TV, he's just figuring his lies

will convince his audience that they're not.

I recall both Billdo and Geraldo had programs on Fox TV for a while and it sure wasn't because Fox broadcasting was completely independent from the management that also oversees Fox News Channel.

[calimary]

29. I believe roger ailes is chief of the Fox Television Group as well as

being Grand Dragon of Pox "news." They're two branches of the same diseased rupert murdoch tree.

[rocktivity]

24. Now we'll have to listen to Shrill O'Reilly bragging that HE made it all happen

But fortunately, that's the ONLY down side. Cue the Vonage theme!

:woohoo:
rocknation

[BlueEyedSon]

4. LOL... is that guys name really shepherd? so appropriate for the FOX viewers!

[Elidor]

6. So they finally plumbed the ultimate depth of shamelessness

The line beyond which they dare not go. I'm surprised it took them this long.

[sarge43]

Uh. So Faux finally stopped digging

Who'd guess.

[phusion]

7. Good...

Although I bet OJ will still try to self-publish. Sadly enough, I think this crap would really sell.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

8. Lot of affiliates refused to air it

I had planned to contact mine and ask them not to broadcast it.

*crosses "write Fox" off to-do list*

[ck4829]

9. Who killed it?

Sorry for the tasteless humor.

[K8-EEE]

10. I kind of always thought it was post-election distraction

They are looking for something to harp on all the time a la Natalie Aruba Gal to distract from the GOP/BushCo implosion, but this became problematic -- especially with Bill-O saying Fox had nothing to do with it etc! All their baubleheads have to be "outraged" it's even happening, it was just awkward.

They'll find another distraction then! And find ways to speculate about some BS crime case CONSTANTLY rather than covering politics/news.

[lapfog_1]

15. Yup... they tried to distract pre-election too

with the whole Jon-Benet thing... but then that fizzled out pretty quick, so then it was OJ, next will be a "new evidence" in the Aruba girl missing... and the Duke rape case... who knows, maybe they try to get Scott Peterson out of jail so he can kill someone else. It's really too bad for them that he was so inept at hiding the body... if Lacey hadn't been found they could have milked this one for 5 to 10 years.

[napi21]

11. There was a poll somewhere the other day asking if you are

going to watch that show, and the results were 98% NO!

I also saw a poll asking if you were going to buy the book, and again theresults were 98% NO.

[Beaverhausen]

12. Good

[The Count]

13. Hoisted on their own petard! Murdoch had so much fun pumping it up!

Media circus over O.J. has a ringmaster
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/16/Worldandnation/Media_circus_over_OJ_.shtml
The many voices announcing and denouncing Simpson’s book have something in common: They’re controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

[Ediacara]

16. My boyfriend works for Borders

I just called him with the news, and he's very happy. Apparently, the ENTIRE STAFF refused to sell the book to anyone, and they were trying to figure out what the hell to do about it.

I can't believe I'm typing it, but Kudos to Fox for (belatedly) doing the right thing.

[Tansy_Gold]

26. Is "not doing the wrong thing" the same as "doing the right thing?"

eom



Tansy Gold, the nit picker

[Blaq Dem]

19. Good!

I believe OJ didn't murder Ron and Nicole. Why? This guy is too STUPID to do that. Why in the hell would he write a book about "If I Did It"?I seriously don't think he did it. He might've visited Nicole's home, saw the blood and ran. That's about it.

[Straight Shooter]

34. Stupidity has nothing to do with it. It's hubris.

O.J. thought enough time had passed that the public would forget about the crime, and remember how much they adored him.

I always thought he was a creep, certainly full of himself. But, hey, that's just me. I know lots of people who held him in high esteem. Apparently not very many do, anymore.

[greccogirl]

35. You've got to be joking.

Have you read any of the books or followed this case? O.J. Simpson is 100% guilty - there is not a shred of evidence that anyone else did it, and the evidence against him was overwhelming. Unfortunately, the jury was not intelligent enough and was so biased as to be unreal, and they had a terrible judge who allowed the trial to become a media fiasco.

[Scairp]

20. Please

If anyone thinks this is the end of it, they are sadly mistaken. I imagine the book will still be published, although quietly, and the interview will probably go straight to video or some such shite. I highly doubt they will just toss it out.

[REP]

21. From Broadcasting & Cable

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6393289

Breaking News: O.J. Simpson's If I Did It Cancelled
By Jim Benson and Caroline Palmer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/20/2006 9:19:00 AM
Digg This | add to Del.icio.us

With the growing controversy over O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened Fox cancelled the TV special and the book publication. In a statement issued today, Rupert Murdoch called the project "ill-considered" and apologized for any pain it caused the families of the murdered victims. The decision follows several affiliates decision to not air the two-part sweeps special.

Over the weekend, Pappas Broadcasting and Lin Broadcasting--who own a combined total of nine Fox affiliates--announced they would not air the show.


Pappas owns Fox stations in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.; Fresno, Calif.; and Dakota Dunes, S.D. Lin owns affiliates in Mobile, Ala.; Toledo, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Providence, R.I. None of the affiliates will run the interview.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the Pappas stations said they did not want to help Simpson profit from the project.

On Friday, after worldwide condemnation of Fox’s two-part sweeps special O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened, North Dakota’s Prime Cities Broadcasting was the first to announce it would refuse to air the interview.

more at link

[Ian David]

22. I'm disappointed

I was looking forward to going to Wal-Mart, putting all the copies of O.J.'s book in a shopping cart, and re-shelving them next to the steak knives.

It would be almost as fun as when I used to re-shelve "Doctor Laura's" books among the feminine hygiene products.

[Ilsa]

27. Buy this copy of "If I Did It" and get a free steak knife?

I shouldn't laugh, but it seems so realistic that FOX would do the most tasteless thing to promote this for a buck.

[Human Torch]

28. Too bad his kids won't be able to see "how he MIGHT HAVE done it"...

...I've got to say, as insane as this world may be, OJ Simpson makes it a little "insane-er."

:patriot:

[greccogirl]

36. I would imagine that

O.J.'s kids already know the truth. I doubt they are stupid.

[let us vote]

30. Rupert Murdoch is more likely to have committed the murders than OJ

I guess he was afraid that people would discover what the jury knew to a certainty - that OJ didn't do it.

[Cha]

31. Yeah, are the Goldmans and the Browns

still waiting for the money the courts awarded them when oj lost the civil they filed against him?

[greccogirl]

37. YES they are.

And whatever if anything he gets from this book I hope they pounce on it~!

[all.of.me]

32. Taos, NM protest

One video store owner did his part in our small community.

http://www.taosnews.com/db/Daily.php3#1347

[ButterflyBlood]

33. First decent thing FOX has ever done n/t