Of the many things I’m thankful for this week, Rupert Murdoch on Twitter ranks high.

Just hours ago, the octogenarian media mogul popped off on what looks like a deal in the making. His tweet suggested the Tribune newspaper group is about to be sold and the crown jewel, the Los Angeles Times, will go to philanthropist Eli Broad and local bigs.

Strong word Tribune newspaper group to be bought by big Wall St firm, LA Times to go to philanthropist Eli Broad and local group.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 27, 2015

Asked by someone if he was interested, he said no. And then dropped the mic. Who were his sources? When is this landing?

Who cares? It’s Twitter solid gold and is a fresh reminder of just how boring the technocratic CEOs of today are and how grateful media reporters were when he burst onto Twitter on Jan. 1, 2012. Back then Wendi Deng, his ex-wife, kindly dropped News Corp PR a line authenticating the account. For the rest of us, it took Jack Dorsey to make it real.

With his own voice, in his own way, @RupertMurdoch is now on Twitter.

— jack (@jack) January 1, 2012

It’s been a blast ever since. In no particular order, here are a few of my favorites:

That time he claimed one guy was blacker than the other (!). He eventually apologized for suggesting President Obama is not a “real black president.”

Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 8, 2015

That time he held 1.6 billion Muslims accountable for the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris.

Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015

Comedian Aziz Ansar fired off a sweet retort.

.@rupertmurdoch Rups can we get a step by step guide? How can my 60 year old parents in NC help destroy terrorist groups? Plz advise.

— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015

That time he popped off on an overweight lady and poor people.

How did fat lady who fell thru street get to 400 lbs? Welfare, stamps, etc? Then leave us all with 20yrs immense health bills.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2013

Google or NSA, pick your poison.

NSA privacy invasion bad, but nothing compared to Google.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) August 17, 2014

That time he went after Vegans.

Vegans wake up! Bill Clinton looks incredibly healthy after giving up this nonsense. We all need a little red meat.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) April 13, 2014

It all started back in 2012, less than 48 hours after he launched the account when he tweeted “Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country!” while vacationing in the Caribbean.

We’ve been thankful ever since. And thank you once again, Rupert, for putting the news back into News Corp, reminding me once more why I miss media reporting so much. As a parting gift, here’s my favorite Rupert story in the pre-Twitter days. That time he lost his wedding ring. Kids, we had to blog the news back then!

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Hooray!

Re/code has received the National Press Foundation’s Excellence in Online Journalism award for 2014. Recipients of the award in previous years have included the Wall Street Journal and NPR.org.

It is actually the second award we picked up this year. Bosses Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher were honored with the i-3 award for impact, innovation and influence by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications earlier this year.

Thank you, readers, for sticking with us, and welcome to new audiences joining us for the first time.

Here’s the letter announcing the award recipients:

The National Press Foundation has announced recipients of some of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The winners will be honored at NPF’s annual awards dinner Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C.

Gilbert Bailon, editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will receive the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award for guiding his news organization through the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the tumultuous aftermath. “If ever a newspaper and its editor faced a real-time stress test it was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and editor Gilbert Bailon,” the NPF judges said.

Alberto Ibargüen, President and CEO of the Knight Foundation, will receive the W.M. Kiplinger Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism. NPF judges said, “Alberto Ibargüen has been one of the world’s leading champions of journalism excellence and innovation” at the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and now the Knight Foundation.

More NPF awards recognize excellence for specific news coverage.
Gregory Johnsen, John Stanton and Kate Nocera of BuzzFeed News will receive an Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress. NPF judges cited BuzzFeed’s “magisterial account of a 60-word congressional resolution that authorized military action against those responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. BuzzFeed captures the historic drama of that moment and all that has happened since. The details are unforgettable.”

Drew Griffin of CNN also won an Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress. Griffin’s year-long project, “Congress for Sale,” focused on the money game on Capitol Hill. NPF judges praised a strong package of stories with a wow factor, including an oil executive who said the exchange of money was extortion.

Thomas Frank of USA Today is awarded NPF’s “Feddie” award for explaining how federal policy affects local government, in an extraordinary investigation into a rash of small aircraft crashes and fatalities. “Frank discloses how defective parts and unsafe aircraft, often concealed from the public and government regulators, contribute to these deaths,” the judges said.

Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press will receive the Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning. NPF judges cited “elegant simplicity in Clay Bennett’s work – clear drawings, clear messages. Bennett’s style is disarming and charming with a strong bite underneath.”

Re/code, the website led by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, will receive the Excellence in Online Journalism Award. The judges said, “Re/code’s coverage of technology is exceptional in its breadth. Lots of original reviews and smart commentary inform top-notch reporting on an industry that changes constantly.”

Heather Dahl, chairman of the NPF Board of Directors, said the work of the award winners is a celebration of the value of journalism. “These are a testimony to the vitality of what we do in society. I very much hope that in recognizing these winners, these winners will be inspired to keep going out and giving their best to their communities — and that they will also inspire others to reach higher and dig deeper in their reporting,” she said.

For more information on the winners and their work, go to NPF’s website.
The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism organization that conducts all-expenses-paid programs for journalists in the U.S., internationally and online, and hosts a robust collection of reporting resources on its website.
The awards will be presented at NPF’s 32nd annual gala awards dinner on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Breathe easy, Time Inc.’ers. Bloodletting is not the only thing on your boss’s agenda.

“I did not come back to bleed Time Inc.,” CEO Joe Ripp told Re/code’s Peter Kafka at Code/Media Series: New York.

Watch Ripp explain how he plans to turn around America’s largest magazine publisher.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

What’s not to get about sex, murder and gossip?

Jill Abramson, the recently departed editor of the New York Times, is the wrong person to ask.

“I’ve been trying to figure out … I’m trying to get why the Daily Mail is like catnip to digital audiences here,” she said in an interview with Re/code co-founder and co-executive editor Kara Swisher at the Code/Media Series: New York. “I don’t get it yet, other than I get the celebrity stuff. I’m looking at that.”

Abramson had an easier time ticking off the digital things she does like. Here’s what made the list:

Pandora: “Pandora is always playing. I think that is genius.”

Politico: “I am a fan and have been for a long time.”

Quartz: “I’m reading the Atlantic’s Quartz. I think that’s quite good.”

Huffington Post: “I don’t habitually go. I rarely go to the homepage. I mainly, if I’m researching something and they’ve written something, it’s usually at the top of the Google search. … I think basically, she (Arianna Huffington) is really smart and I think she pioneered what everyone else is copying now, which is to develop verticals. Everyone is vertical crazy. The newish vertical — wellness and sleep — that’s smart.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Time Inc. will borrow a page from the National Geographic playbook to revive its declining print empire.

Joe Ripp, the chief executive of Time Inc., who has unnerved old timers at America’s largest magazine publisher with deep cost cuts and controversial decisions, said he is taking cues from National Geographic’s transformation from a sleepy not-for-profit print publication into a “multimedia powerhouse” in cable television and online.

“I did not come back to bleed Time Inc.,” Ripp said in an interview with Re/code’s Peter Kafka at Code/Media Series: New York being held in the Steelcase WorkLife Center in Manhattan. “It’s a fun problem. It’s an interesting time. Journalism needs to be saved in this country … Time Inc. needs to be saved.”

Ripp last September returned to Time Warner, where he was once chief financial officer of the media conglomerate and of Time Inc., to revive the struggling magazine giant. He has slashed costs and has rewritten the rules separating business from editorial by having editors report directly to business heads.

What he has yet to do is articulate a coherent growth strategy.

On Thursday, he alluded to how he plans to proceed. “I have 98 different passionate audiences,” he said, adding that he planned to “superserve” them through different products and on myriad platforms beyond print.

“[Readers of] Horse & Hound, they spend 20,000 pounds a year on their passion and we only get 49 pounds,” he pointed out as an example of one property for which the publisher could develop new products.

Time Warner cut loose America’s largest magazine company, owner of 90 magazines in 30 countries, in June after failing to find a reason to cling to a division that gave the conglomerate its name, but which has been beset by steep declines in print advertising revenue.

No honeymoon period followed Time Inc.’s spinoff. Whereas News Corp. gifted its publishing division with $1.8 billion in cash upon separation last year, Time Warner saddled Time Inc. with $1.3 billion in debt. And a week before Ripp rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 9, its first day of trade, executives ordered editors to slash 25 percent in editorial costs in a move that will include layoffs.

Its separation from Time Warner has allowed it to reinvest its cash flow, Ripp said.

He said overall, the print magazine business could likely last at least another 25 years. He stopped short of forecasting when Time Inc.’s business would turn around but was confident that it shall some day. “This company has an opportunity to grow by saying we’re not just in print,” he said.

The single best metric to gauge its progress will be its stock price, Ripp said. “Check back in six months to see how we’re doing.”

Time Inc. stock is trading at $23.50 on Thursday.

Update: Added additional quotes and details from the interview.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.