Reporters on 112th

Yesterday, while walking down Broadway, Bwog noticed a big group of people with cameras and Public Safety officers near Book Culture. Turns out a bunch of newspaper and television reporters were staking out an apartment where IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was supposed to be staying. DSK, as he is affectionately known by the French media, was accused earlier this week of sexually assaulting a hotel maid and yanked back his flight back to Paris while the plane was heading out to the runway. He was rotting in Rikers until yesterday, when he was finally granted a $1 million bail. The reporters gathered on 112th street told Bwog they expected him to crash with his daughter, a Columbia grad student residing in an apartment across the street from Book Culture.

While waiting, the journalists debated the facts of the case, discussed whether they could get into Rikers to see Strauss-Kahn, and harshly criticized the American press. Papers in the US have a proud tradition of publishing perp walk photos (often on their front pages), but those in France and Austria practice more discretion, withholding suspects’ last names and refusing to publish pictures of them in handcuffs. Unfortunately for the diligent newshounds, Strauss-Kahn never turned up in Morningside Heights and probably never will. Once he posts bail, he will be confined to his wife’s newly purchased Manhattan apartment. Of course, while the latest Morningside media mob may be over, we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of Columbia’s media coverage!

Update, 9:30 pm: Maybe there’s hope yet. Once the Upper East Side building where Strauss-Kahn’s wife purchased an apartment realized who their potential tenant was (and that they would be required to post armed guards outside their entrance), they yanked his lease! He found another place downtown, but it’s probably not permanent.