Gossip: Scandal on Page Six

 
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Gossip: Scandal on Page Six

As a freelance contributor to the New York Post's Page Six column, Jared Paul Stern was supposed to get the gossip, not be the gossip. But a New York Daily News splash last Friday alleged that Stern proposed that billionaire Ron Burkle pay him $100,000 to suppress negative stories. Howard Rubenstein, the Post's spokesman, says the paper suspended Stern, seized his computer and is cooperating with a federal probe. Rubenstein says prosecutors have not expressed interest in any other Page Six writer. Reports that film mogul Harvey Weinstein talked once with Page Six editor Richard Johnson about a screenplay are true, Rubenstein says, but a deal never materialized. (Weinstein's company affirms there was no deal. Johnson's lawyer, Ed Hayes, says, "Johnson never took a dime.") Hayes, who also represents Stern, says Stern was "sorry he did anything to embarrass the Post."

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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.

Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.

Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."

Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.

He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.

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