Michael Wolff: Murdoch Doesn't Understand Web News
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch isn't very new-media savvy, according to biographer Michael Wolff. He "doesn't use a computer, doesn't get email." Still, News Corp. will have to be "reinvented" when he dies.

I Want Media, 12/19/08

Michael Wolff, the Vanity Fair media columnist and founder of the online news service Newser, has answered select questions from the readers of I Want Media about "The Man Who Owns the News" (Broadway Books), his new biography of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Readers of I Want Media were asked in November to submit questions to ask Wolff about his new book. The 10 readers whose questions were chosen will receive a free autographed copy.

Q. What did you learn about Murdoch while working on your book that surprised you the most? — Tom Campo, New York, N.Y.

Michael Wolff: He's not a control-freak, synergistic, global media overlord. He's an old-fashioned newspaper man.

Q. What will be the legacy Murdoch leaves on his premier acquisition, the Wall Street Journal? Will he make it a better newspaper? — Allison Adams, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Wolff: He'll make it less of a financial newspaper and more of a national newspaper — the old Wall Street Journal will be subsumed into his vision of a coast-to-coast quality daily, something the U.S. had never had before. Sort of USA Today for smart people, or the New York Times without New York.

Q. Do you think Murdoch has a clear (and realistic) vision of the media landscape in 10 years' time? Do you see him as a media visionary? — Anita Pyke, Cape Town, South Africa

Wolff: Mr. Murdoch neither cares about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. To a strange, perhaps wonderful, perhaps pathological degree, he lives in the moment.

Q. Some publishers, including Conrad Black and onetime Murdoch arch rival Robert Maxwell, built their empires by breaking the law. How has Murdoch succeeded without stepping over that line? — Barry Lee, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Wolff: He steps over the line all the time, except he's not a crook. Black and Maxwell were delusional; Murdoch is canny, practical, focused and has a great sense of self-preservation.

Q. What do you know about Murdoch's business plans for the rapidly growing but highly regulated market of China? Has he lost patience with the Chinese government? — Tracy Zhang, New York, N.Y.

Wolff: After losing billions in China, Murdoch has concluded that the market there is, and will continue to be, stacked in the favor of businesses owned by the Chinese government. Other than a series of strategic partnerships, he's pretty much given up on a big China play for News Corp.

Q. Why is Murdoch almost unique in his embrace of technology when nearly all of his peers in the news industry seem to resist it? — Nigel Eccles, Edinburgh, Scotland

Wolff: He has an unfailing competitive instinct, causing him to grab anything he thinks one of his competitors might grab. But beyond that, Murdoch doesn't use a computer, doesn't get email, can't get his cell phone to work.

Q. With the rise of the Huffington Post and the 24/7 blog news cycle, does Murdoch really believe that his New York Post can compete with, say, Drudge Report? — Drew Grant, New York, N.Y.

Wolff: Honestly, I'm not sure Murdoch could find the HuffPo or Drudge.

Q. Why isn't Murdoch buying more Internet sites like MySpace instead of old media like the Wall Street Journal? — Renee Malpeli, Long Island, N.Y.

Wolff: Newspapers are his medium. He's the last newspaper man.

Q. Why hasn't Murdoch launched or acquired a news aggregation site like Huffington Post, Drudge Report or Newser? — Don Robinson, New York, N.Y.

Wolff: He doesn't believe in Web news, doesn't understand Web news, couldn't care less about Web news.

Q. How will News Corp. be different after Rupert Murdoch steps down or passes away? — Louis Edward, Monterey, Calif.

Wolff: Well, it will no longer be run by Rupert Murdoch. Hence, no one will know what to do, or what to think, or in which direction to pray. The entire company will have to be reinvented, or, more likely, competing ideas and interests and power centers will begin to war for the soul of this once hegemonic nation state.

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