York Post

NEW YORK -- Rupert Murdoch may be running the New York Post by Monday morning, thanks to a conference-call putsch that all but ousted publisher Abe Hirschfeld yesterday.The international media mogul will ask Federal Bankruptcy Court for permission to operate the paper for 60 to 90 days.lTC Once assured that government regulations will not prohibit his owning both the Post and WNYW-TV in New York City, Mr. Murdoch is expected to repurchase the paper he owned from 1976 to 1988."We won what we think is a very important, major, but not complete victory in terms of trying to save the newspaper," said Post editor Pete Hamill, who has been battling Mr. Hirschfeld since the real estate developer took over the paper two weeks ago.Bankruptcy Judge Francis Conrad ordered Steven Bumbaca, the Post's controller, to immediately take over from Mr. Hirschfeld responsibility for authorizing checks and paying bills.

WASHINGTON -- A lot of romanticism is being spread around over the latest circus involving the New York Post, wherein a real-estate operator with no interest in journalism grabbed the tabloid in bankruptcy court and fired a large chunk of the editorial staff, whereupon the deposed staffers in effect seized the paper.It is, to be sure, a helluva story made all the juicier by the rebellious staff turning out a first issue lambasting the new prospective owner from Page One to the want ads. Even the lofty New York Times, which is to the New York Post what caviar is to a hot dog, has waxed positively poetic about the development, quoting Dylan Thomas in commending the rebels for their determination to "rage, rage, against the dying of the light."

IT'S a nasty sight, the carrion crows descending to feed upon the entrails of what was once a vigorous newspaper. And it's hard to imagine, after this evisceration, that the New York Post can be brought back to anything resembling journalistic life.There's a dishonor roll attached to this sad event that's worth looking at. It reads: Murdoch, Kalikow, Hoffenberg, Hirschfeld -- the names of the money men who in less than 20 years stripped the nearly two-century-old paper of its self-respect.

Baltimore County can survive without Chief Behan. It just doesn't seem that way.At last we have a president who is on-line.India is (A) a coming super-power; (B) disintegrating or (C) both. Choose one. Choose three.For a measly $45 billion this administration can wrap up the S&L mess and move on to the banks.The New York Post story is a New York Post story come true.

NEW YORK -- The New York Post, which was supposed to be sold to real estate developer Abraham Hirschfeld last Friday, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday.Attorneys for Peter Kalikow, the paper's current owner, who is involved in personal bankruptcy proceedings, said the newspaper took the action, with Mr. Hirschfeld's consent, to prevent spurned bidder Steven Hoffenberg from interfering with the paper's operations.The 192-year-old newspaper, founded by Alexander Hamilton, didn't publish yesterday because of a near-revolt by its staff, prompted by Sunday's announcement that Mr. Hirschfeld planned to fire 272 workers.

NEW YORK -- Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown, you think you've got problems with the New York tabloid press? Say hello to John Gotti.The Arkansas governor and the former California governor have spent the last week sparring with the oft-times irreverent Fourth Estate here. Mr. Clinton has even run a television ad complaining about how the tabloids have been kicking him around.But while Tuesday's New York presidential primary could be decisive in determining the Democratic nominee, the tabloids -- and local television -- have found a more inviting whipping boy in Gotti, the Mafia don found guilty of multiple murders and general mayhem.

NEW YORK -- It's morning again in the Big Apple, and the tabloids are beating up on Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown."If Bill Clinton is Slick Willie, then Brown is Jerry the hypocrite," writes Bob Herbert, a Daily News columnist."

Washington. -- As the learned jurist said, he couldn't define obscenity, but he knew it when he saw it. As the grizzled newspaperman says, he can't tell you how to write a column, but he knows a good one when he reads it.Since the glory days of Tommy D'Alesandro, Teddy McKeldin and Ike Eisenhower, I have written about 4,000 news stories and 2,700 columns for this newspaper, but I need a little more practice to get it right. However, I have studied the art long enough to recognize its masters.

Stop the pressesThe Oakland Athletics' Jose Canseco was in New York Thursday. Madonna was in New York Thursday. Early Friday morning, Canseco was seen outside the apartment building where Madonna lives. Instant headline."Madonna's Batboy?" was the offering from the New York Post, which published two Page 3 photographs of Canseco outside the Central Park West building. The Post did allow that it did not know whether Canseco was visiting Madonna or someone else in the apartment house.The Post reported that Canseco arrived at the building at 11 p.m Thursday and left about two hours later.