Last week we had Gawker deliver an elegy for Rupert Murdoch. There was a solemn salute to the end of his kind of power, influence, and business model. This week we have the Gabriel Sherman analysis in NEW YORK Magazine we have been waiting for. It presents a different picture of the print tycoon.
In the Sherman article Murdoch comes across as an Ahab character determined to destroy THE NEW YORK TIMES and all it represents, e.g. the elite class, smug journalism, and poor management. For this he will blow a lot of money. He has that money to blow, so who cares. Probably the only ones who should care are the journalists and editors at THE NEW YORK TIMES who probably won't get comparable jobs if Murdoch wins.
Aside from the Ahab trait, Murdoch is just a guy could can afford to plow his fortune into his hobby which is print newspapers. Other men do that with wines or antique cars. So, who's to judge Murdoch for his crusade for print. His family seems no more odd or dysfunctional than any other offspring of wealth and power. And he's not alone is not seeing Google the way most of the rest of revere the company.
Perhaps Gawker's elegy was premature. Murdoch probably has a lot more moving and shaking to do in the print world. Not that most of us care since we have given up on that whole enchilada. We are digitals and, unlike Murdoch, we have to make in digital if we are going to survive in the media industry.
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