Ronald W. Burkle, the behind-the-scenes part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, prefers to stay out of the headlines. But he apparently isn't prepared to pay thousands of dollars to do so.

That's why the reclusive Mr. Burkle now finds himself in an odd legal tussle with a New York City gossip columnist, and is accusing the columnist of trying to extort money in exchange for favorable coverage in the New York Post's Page Six column.

Mr. Burkle is one part Kevin McClatchy, in that he's a California investor in a local sports franchise, and one part G. Ogden Nutting, the interview-shy media baron whose family now owns a quarter stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates. The strange extortion accusations stem from Mr. Burkle's frustration over years of -- in his eyes -- unfair or inaccurate treatment in the tabloids.

Mr. Burkle's associates have shown the New York Times and federal investigators a hidden-camera recording of a meeting with Jared Paul Stern, the columnist accused of the shakedown.

But Mr. Stern, according to the Times, says the hours of video, if shown in their entirety, would demonstrate that he was mainly seeking investment capital for his new fashion line, and not trying to extort from Mr. Burkle.

Mr. Burkle came on board with the Pittsburgh Penguins with a $15 million stake in 1999, as Mario Lemieux and the team's previous ownership group were negotiating a complicated franchise sale and bankruptcy reorganization. He came to the ownership through Tom Reich, who was Mr. Lemieux's agent.

The Californian is annually ranked as one of the world's richest people by Forbes magazine, having built his fortune buying and selling supermarket chains, and setting up his own investment firm, Yucaipa Cos. As is the case with most billionaires, Mr. Burkle is an active political donor, mostly to Democrats but also to select Republicans, and in 2002 he gave $10,000 to Ed Rendell's gubernatorial campaign.

For someone who likes to stay out of the news, Mr. Burkle has made a lot of it lately. Last month, he was identified as one of the potential buyers for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the 11 other Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers that are now up for sale. He may be willing to invest more than $2.2 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. If the bid were successful, Mr. Burkle would own the Inquirer, Philadelphia's Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and several smaller papers being peddled by McClatchy Co.

In January, a California appeals court overturned a 2-year-old state law that allowed divorce records to be sealed, in effect ruling that Mr. Burkle must open the details of his bitter divorce case to the public. Some members of the state's Legislature are now trying to craft a new divorce privacy bill, but critics say a new law is a favor to Mr. Burkle and little else.

Last year, he sued former business partner and Walt Disney executive Mike Ovitz over the more than $30 million that Mr. Burkle says he lost in Mr. Ovitz's Internet business ventures. Mr. Burkle has also invested $100 million in the "Sean Jean" fashion line, named after the rap star.

And now, the extortion video.

Mr. Burkle and investigators he hired set up the hidden camera in a Lower Manhattan loft, then invited Mr. Stern to the loft two times in March.

The Times gives this account of the heavily redacted version of the video: Mr. Burkle and Mr. Stern are sitting at a table, discussing how the billionaire could "protect himself" from bad coverage in the Post's gossip page.

"How much -- how much do you want?" Mr. Burkle asks.

Mr. Stern paused for a moment, then answered: "Ah, I think, like, you know -- a hundred thousand to get going, and then we can do something like, month to month, like say, ten thousand."

The Washington Post reported that the meetings were arranged only after Mr. Stern sent an e-mail to one of Mr. Burkle's employees, saying: "I understand Ron is upset about the press he is getting. If he's really concerned, he needs a strategy for dealing with it and regulating it. It's not easy to accomplish, but he certainly has the means to do so."

Mr. Burkle had been complaining to Page Six's writers and editors about coverage, saying the items about him were unfair and inaccurate. He even wrote to Rupert Murdoch, owner of New York Post parent News Corp., because "he got so frustrated," said a spokesman for Mr. Burkle.

The Post calls him "party-boy billionaire Ron Burkle," and publishes gossip about his divorce, his real estate transactions, his appearances at music and film awards shows, and the Hollywood friends who use his private jet.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, through a spokesman, had no comment on the extortion news.