IWA for Sunday, December 17, 2006

Hey folks,

It’s SUNDAY! Time for the IWA. This week’s winner most definitely deserves it for the complete lack of reason and blind greed. If you ask me, the winner got what they deserve. Actually, they must be having a pretty good Christmas. First, a gift from Rupert Murdock, and now, the Idiot of the Week Award.

Who am I talking about? Rupert Murdoch’s top book publisher, Judith Regan. According to,

ABC-"Canned at Christmas: Murdoch Axes O.J. Publisher"


Dec. 16, 2006 — - Just what does media giant Rupert Murdoch get his top book publisher, Judith Regan, for Christmas?

Apparently, a permanent vacation."

I love this,

"News of Judith Regan's Firing Broke During Company Christmas Party"

So why would he fire his top publisher?

"Regan, who recently made headlines for planning, then pulling, O.J. Simpson's quasi-confession, "If I Did It," was fired Friday by HarperCollins, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp. Word broke during the company's holiday party.


"Judith Regan's employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately," Jane Friedman, HarperCollins CEO, said in a statement."

Noone saw this coming,

"It's a shock," said David Hauslaib, publisher and editor of the New York media gossip blog, Jossip. "Judith Regan is such an asset to her publishing imprint, to HarperCollins, to News Corp. as a whole. This is really important, because you have this blockbuster personality who is suddenly axed from the publishing house she built, made a name for, and has really delivered for. She does great things for the News Corp. bottom line."

"I hesitate to call Judith a diva, but certainly that's the reputation that's attached to her," Hauslaib said. "She makes and breaks writers."

Break,

"When word broke that Regan was putting out a book in which O.J. describes what he would have done if he had committed the murders, the public outcry was swift. The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were outraged. Murdoch stepped in and, despite the millions already sunk in the project, nixed the book the day before it shipped. He also cancelled a taped interview Regan did with Simpson that was to air on the Fox network.

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

"Rupert Murdoch does not back down," Hauslaib said, "and to have him publicly acknowledge a mistake and apologize to Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman's families is quite out of character."

Hauslaib predicts Regan will bounce back."

Well of course she will. But did she even THINK about how idiotic it was of her to even consider OJ’s book? OJ is an idiot. No doubt about it. But to think that she could make millions on "If I did It" and NOT think of it’s effect on A LOT of people, was indeed just plain stupid.

Congratulations Judith Regan, you ARE the Idiot of the Week. A little advice for you, to "bounce back," stay AWAY from OJ.
Peter