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."