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Can-Cannes: Sarah Murdoch, with her husband and News Corp. Chairperson, Lachlan Murdoch, attends WSJ. Magazine at WSJ Tech Live, October 2019. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, we have a very special guest column from Cannes Lions. The Breaker budget barely allows us to expense a Greyhound bus ticket to Philadelphia, so we were unable to join our media colleagues and competitors in the South of France for the annual ad (and gab) fest. See you next year!
Instead, we called on a Friend of Breaker (FoB) who works in the advertising industry and is in Cannes this week, to file an (anonymous) dispatch. Scoops include which Murdoch power players made the cut to join the News Corp chairperson Lachlan Murdoch on the jolly (and which former high-flying politician was playing tennis with News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks). Our man on the Croisette also reports on what was the hot topic of conversation amongst a sea of celebs and execs lapping up generous hospitality from the big brands.
Plus, how The New York Times and New York Post opinion sections are dealing with a very strange mayoral race. And some U.S. moves at Murdoch’s The Sun.
Mentioned tonight: Robert Thomson, Keith Poole, David Rhodes, Mark Read, Kathleen Kingsbury, David Leonhardt, Ezra Klein, Mike Bloomberg, Danny Meyer, Christina M. Greer, Howard Wolfson, Reihan Salam, Neil Blumenthal, Eleanor Randolph, Harry Coles and Scarlet Howes.
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Breaker’s Cannes Insider
(Exclusive.) “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.”
A quote made famous by Lord Northcliffe, who owned British papers including The Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. But what he forgot to add is that the rest can be a lot more fun, especially when it's on someone else's expense account.
Just ask the New York Times, which sent three reporters, as well as utilizing a freelance journalist, to cover the world’s premier event dedicated to advertising, where the most popular pass costs $5,000. (NYT’s last “36 Hours in Cannes” was 2013, so maybe it’s just for the update.)
I spotted News Corp. Chairperson Lachlan Murdoch standing proudly in the back of an expensive-looking black speedboat, lined opulently in a pearlescent white leather trim. The Australian flag lapped at the French Riviera's famous brise côtière.
Rupert Murdoch’s chosen successor showed why years of vigorous rock climbing and fearless spearfishing have paid off, displaying his buff physique in a figure-hugging cotton blue polo (possibly Italian), showing off one of the tattoos on his left arm.
Joining him were a who's who of Murdoch power players, including …
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