Murdoch Relies More on Impulse Than Vision

Rupert Murdoch may be a titan of the media world, but don't look too deeply to figure out what motivates him. In fact, the "most radical idea" in a new biography of Murdoch by Newser founder Michael Wolff is "that there was never a vision or a broad strategy in the creation of the giant News Corporation," writes Ian Munro in the Australian Age. Instead, Murdoch is very much a man of impulse.

In the world of News Corp., "nothing is over-thought," says Wolff, author of The Man Who Owns the News. "It's this company that acts in a hungry, animal fashion. That impulse is not modulated in any way. It's raw. It's real." Murdoch himself eschews self-analysis. "He is skin deep," says Wolff. "You can just see him looking around. When you speak to him you cannot get him to analyze his motivations, because he can't." (More Rupert Murdoch stories.)