Fired Regan Declares “War” Against Murdoch...

Wall Street Journal JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG December 18, 2006 09:10 AM

Even though Judith Regan made a book publishing mistake of epic proportions when she commissioned O.J. Simpson's "Why I Did It," few in the book industry thought she would lose her job over the incident. For all the volatility of her personality and penchant for attracting controversy, her commercial instincts were simply too valuable for HarperCollins to lose.

That reasoning turned out to be wrong, and there is now more controversy to come. HarperCollins Worldwide, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., abruptly fired Ms. Regan in a terse announcement Friday night, shortly before the News Corp. holiday party. The publisher gave no reason.

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David Carr: Regan Refused To “Go Away Quietly” After The OJ Simpson Deal Blew Up...

NY Times DAVID CARR December 18, 2006 11:06 AM

When the News Corporation killed Judith Regan's multimedia rollout of O. J. Simpson's "hypothetical confession," Rupert Murdoch called the project "ill-conceived."

The phrase he should have used was "ill-received."

The "If I Did It" book and television package was shelved not because it was in bad taste or because it was bad for the culture at large, but because it was bad for business. The News Corporation, after all, was riding with Ms. Regan every step of the way as she bolted together the multiplatform deal for "If I Did It." It was only after an outcry that included two dozen Fox affiliates that the HarperCollins project was junked.

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