For news junkies who can’t get enough news about newsmakers and the newsmakers who make them, we give you The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch by Michael Wolff.
No stranger to the news himself, Wolff – a Vanity Fair columnist and co-founder of news aggregator Newser – “attacks his subject with casual delight,” in the words of New York Times writer David Carr.
Murdoch-haters will love it.
Wolff focuses on Murdoch’s recent pursuit and purchase of The Wall Street Journal, the prospect of which made much of the journalism and business world shudder.
“Murdoch would clearly like his legacy to be cleansed by his acquisition of The Journal. That story, told with a mixture of contempt and awe, is rendered through the prism of family fecklessness and brute business tactics. It makes Murdoch’s globe-trotting history of buying tabloids and collecting politicians with equal facility seem a little beside the point, which might have been the gesture to begin with.

“Characters in the Journal saga are quickly introduced and put in a riveting, ­present-tense motion. Richard Zannino, then the chief executive of Dow Jones & Company, decides to put a toe in the water next to Murdoch and soon finds himself soaked from head to foot. Andy Steginsky, a money manager and ‘a Rupert Murdoch groupie,’ is the Zelig-like figure putting an arm on the Bancrofts, who are played like patsies from the jump. ‘They seemed like fools even to themselves,’ Wolff writes.”

Even Carr finds himself being skewered: “A lot of people come off as fools and flunkies, including me: ‘New York Times media writer David Carr censoriously opined during the takeover that Murdoch “has demonstrated a habit over time of using his media properties to advance the business interests of his organization.” Then, with the takeover completed, Carr pronounced him one of the most admired figures of the new media class precisely because he integrated all his business interests.’ It’s much more complicated than that, but subtext is always missed when you’re the one being gored, no?”

To learn more, CLICK HERE.

Well, the House just passed its version of the Wall Street rescue bill on the second try, days after the Senate passed its sweetened bill (Who knew pork was so sweet???). This time the bill passed pretty easily. I just felt my wallet get a little thinner. Ouch.

I guess I’m like a lot of other people: Not really sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, given the dismal performance of government when it comes to minding the hen house. I can’t help suspect that some sorry SOB is going to get rich(er) off this, and that really irks me.

We shall see.

Our Daily Red is a blog by DelMio’s Grand Poobah of editorial content, Dave Wilson. Dave moonlights as chief cook and bottle washer and captain of the mop brigade. He can be reached at Dave.Wilson@delmio.com. Or you can post a reply to this posting.