A provocative bar scene involving Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his female companion helped whip gossip about the pair into a frenzy, according to a journalism-conference spy. As if the New York Times publisher needed to seem more provocative. A business journalism conference in Phoenix last week was rife with rumors about Sulzberger and Katherine Kristof , a CBS MoneyWatch columnist with whom Sulzberger was seen getting “friendly,” as we reported last week. We’d heard the pair were together for much of the weekend. Another conference participant says gossip about the two turned especially dirty after Sulzberger and Kristof were seen at the bar at Phoenix’s downtown Sheraton hotel, following a conference awards dinner at the Heard Museum Saturday night. Kristof, who shared a table with Sulzberger at the dinner, is said to have stayed conspicuously close to Sulzberger from the moment he arrived at the bar. That only made her and Sulzberger’s later disappearance from the establishment all the more noticeable. The rumor mill went into overdrive with chatter, circulating throughout the day Sunday, that the pair was, if not in a relationship, then at least having some casual fun. Even if the most salacious of the rumors are true — and media wags have been wrong about Sulzberger’s love live before — there’s no big scandal to hide here. Sulzberger announced a separation from his wife two years ago, and Kristof is apparently single. But it would be advisable these days for Sulzberger to tone down any public partying with his babe, or to at least remove it from rooms filled with the cream of the business press corps. His executive team just doled out $12 million or so in bonuses, hiking his own pay to $5.9 million (and either doubling it or raising it 32 percent , depending who you ask). Staffers are said to be up in arms over the payouts amid layoffs at the Times and pay cuts at the New York Times Company’s Boston Globe . There’s no need to bait the scolds with any evidence of indiscretion. On the other hand, some more public hookups just might shut up the juvenile sucker punchers who lay out the Weekend Journal . We’d enjoy that.
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Times Publisher Parties in Phoenix While Paper Gets Pinched [Out Of Touch]
