Gay Talese Has O.J.'s Back

LET THE JUICE LOOSE! Gay Talese, Simpson (inset) Rupert Murdoch's decision to call off publication of O.J. Simpson's conditional mea culpa doesn't seem to have disappointed too many people. (Well, too many sane people.) But it has drawn a stern rebuke from famed journalist and author Gay Talese. Holding court at a book party he and wife Nan threw for author Jim Crace at their Upper East Side townhouse last night, the Godfather of New Journalism reminded guests that "trash has to be protected. Pornography has to be protected. Depravity has to be protected."

While his wife (known to most Americans as "the woman who fed James Frey piece-by-piece to a ravenous Oprah") worked the room, Talese asked the youngsters to explain the impact of blogs in general and New York Times coverboy Brian "TVNewser" Stelter in particular.

Talese hypothesized that the Web was on the verge of finishing the job begun, in his mind, by tape recorders, which he blamed for making journalists lazy. After some reassuring debate on this point, he said, "You've given me hope!"