The writer who allegedly tried to extort at least $200,000 from billionaire Ron Burkle came out swinging yesterday, claiming that he was “set up” as part of a plot by Mr. Burkle to destroy the New York Post’s gossip column, Page Six.

Jared Paul Stern told The New York Sun that Mr. Burkle used the Post’s rival, the Daily News, to broadcast a highly edited and misleading account of his business dealings with Mr. Burkle.

He said the transcripts released to the Daily News and published yesterday were intentionally edited by Mr. Burkle to portray him as extorting the billionaire, when in fact the meeting and tapes were part of a larger campaign by Mr. Burkle to smear the Post and its gossip section.

About three hours of conversation from two separate meetings, videotaped by a company paid by Mr. Burkle, were edited down to about six minutes of conversation and shown to the Daily News and the New York Times.

Mr. Stern, who was suspended by the Post but has not been arrested, charged with a crime, or approached by authorities, said he questioned Mr. Burkle’s “motives” and the “Daily News’ role in the proceedings.”

The reporter’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said in a statement: “Mr. Stern has been the victim of a smear campaign, and expects to be fully exonerated and re-instated in his position.”

According to Mr. Stern, he was first introduced to Mr. Burkle in the summer of 2005 through a friend, allegedly to discuss the billionaire investing in Mr. Stern’s clothing company, Skull & Bones.

Via e-mail, through a middleman, and in person, Mr. Stern alleges that the two men discussed a $100,000 investment in Mr. Stern’s clothing line and a $10,000 a month stipend to retain him as a consultant to improve Mr. Burkle’s public image. The discussions captured on videotape, he said, are part of those negotiations.

In the transcripts published by the Daily News, Mr. Stern tells Mr. Burkle that he could improve his depiction in the Post by hiring him.

The transcript said, “I am saying you’re not on the good list and the way you’re headed you’re even further down the bad list, so if you don’t do anything about it, then there’s no reason to think that it will change.”

In the New York Times account of the videotapes, Mr. Stern advises Mr. Burkle to “be in business somehow” with the Post to improve coverage. Mr. Stern notes that the editor of Page Six, Richard Johnson, had been retained by a famous Hollywood producer to write a screenplay, and his wife has been hired by another business executive.

Mr. Burkle, a California-based supermarket magnate whose personal connections include members of the Hollywood and Washington elite, is the founder of Yucaipa Companies, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. President Clinton, in his memoirs, described Mr. Burkle as one of his best friends.

Reports of Mr. Burkle’s messy divorce and his interactions with A-list Hollywood celebrities have made it into the gossip columns of the Post, the Daily News, and other press outlets.

Mr. Stern’s claim that Mr. Burkle is trying to shut down or disgrace a press outlet that he does not like may have a precursor. In December, the Post reported that Mr. Burkle may have had a hand in pressuring the publisher of the Daily News, Mortimer Zuckerman, to shut down Radar Magazine, which had published a report of Mr. Burkle’s friendship with singer Michael Jackson.

A spokesman for Mr. Burkle, David Sitrick, released a statement yesterday, published on the ABC News Web site, disputing Mr. Stern’s characterization of his relationship and interactions with Mr. Burkle.

The statement said that in videotaped meetings, Mr. Burkle’s questions and responses were being directed by his personal attorneys, an FBI agent, and an assistant U.S. attorney. The statement said the tapes show that Mr. Burkle had no interest in Mr. Stern’s clothing company, or in hiring him as a consultant.

The statement said the FBI and the Department of Justice have viewed the tapes and e-mail correspondence in their entirety, and have requested that the Post cooperate in their probe of the incident.

“We believe these actions speak for themselves,” the statement said.

A spokeswoman for the Daily News, Donna Dees, said the newspaper has been “backed” by other press outlets regarding the transcripts and the tape. She denied that the newspaper’s rivalry with the Post is a part of a plot by Mr. Burkle.

“An FBI sting operation for an extortion plot is bigger than the Daily News,” she said.