Ron Burkle's Go-Between

The Friday, June 6, 2008, article on Ron Burkle [“Poor Little Rich Grocer,” published online at laweekly.com] quotes him as saying: “Murdoch wishes he made a deal” and that he “offered to be a go-between for the two candidates.” I participated in the interview of Ron Burkle by your publication. Neither Mr. Burkle nor I recall him making either of those two statements. These are just two of the inaccuracies contained in Patrick Range McDonald’s story. Unfortunately, neither time nor space permit me to detail all of them.

Frank QuinteroThe Yucaipa Companies

L.A. Weekly stands by the Murdoch quote, and has clarified the story printed on page 12 in this week’s paper and in the original, June 6 online version to reflect that Burkle, in discussing his willingness to be a go-between, may have been suggesting the idea to writer Patrick Range McDonald rather than to the Obama and Clinton camps. Regarding Quintero’s claim that he participated in the Burkle phone interview with McDonald: Burkle was the only participant during the interview. Before the story was published, in response to an e-mailed query from McDonald, Quintero said he wasn’t sure what city Burkle was in when Burkle called McDonald to give the interview. Quintero e-mailed McDonald later to say that Burkle had called McDonald from New York.

Three Firsts, 3 Seconds, 3 Thirds and an Honorable Mention

L.A. Weekly came away with 10 awards, more than any other newspaper, when the results of this year’s AltWeekly Awards were announced Saturday by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Nikki Finke won two first-place prizes — in the Blog category, for her “Deadline Hollywood Daily,” and in Media Reporting/Criticism, for her print column “Deadline Hollywood.” Jeffrey Anderson won first place in Investigative Reporting for his “The Town the Law Forgot” and follow-up stories. In addition, Anderson won second place for Short-Form News Story. Max Kornell won second in the Cartoon category for the Los Angelopolis images he creates exclusively for L.A. Weekly, and the paper’s staff won second place in the Special Section category for the 2007 People issue. Film critic Scott Foundas won third place in Arts Criticism for several of his movie reviews, David Zahniser won third in the Long-Form News Story category for his “End of Murder” investigation, our staff won third in the Website category, and cartoonist Mr. Fish won an honorable mention. We should also note that our O.C. Weekly colleague Gustavo Arellano, whose “¡Ask a Mexican!” column often runs in our paper, won first in the Column category, and Creative Director Darrick Rainey won first place in Cover Design for his work at our sister paper S.F. Weekly.

 

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