

Jann Wenner at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
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In tonight’s edition we take a look at what lies beneath an innocuous-seeming Rolling Stone press release/trade story (it involves chagrin, strippers and Jay Penske’s relationship with Gus Wenner).
We also have an update from within the New York Times following our Tuesday scoop about a “death threat” allegedly made by business editor Ellen Pollock against star reporter Rob Copeland. It involves a dog.
Our podcast, video below from Super Burrito, examines who is Team Pollock and who is Team Copeland at the Times, how Wendi Murdoch maneuvered her way back into the orbit of her ex-husband Rupert, and all the juicy bits from Keith McNally's new book.
And finally which scandal PR operative had to recuse themselves from perhaps the most famous defamation lawsuit in the world, because of their connection to perhaps the second most famous lawsuit in the world?
Rolling strain
On Thursday the Jay Penske-owned Variety reported in an obscure trade announcement/press release that the Jay Penske-owned Rolling Stone was getting a new “Executive Chairman” and a new chief executive.
Exciting stuff. “Rolling Stone has announced that Gus Wenner will assume the role of executive chairman, and Julian Holguin will become the brand’s CEO,” the article read.
But the article raised more questions than it answered. It left out sexual misconduct allegations against Holguin, and added a most curious statement from Wenner that “building something outside of Rolling Stone has been on my mind for some time, and although it has been a hard decision to make, the timing is right.”
Because behind the scenes we have learnt there have been escalating tensions between Wenner and Penske about…
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