The Skimmer

The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch By Michael Wolff Broadway; 446 pages

Why did media tycoon Murdoch suddenly agree to grant Vanity Fair columnist Wolff unprecedented access to himself (nearly 50 hours of interviews), his family and his business associates? No one is really sure, least of all Wolff. The hard-charging 77-year-old mogul must be aware that for many journalists, "hatred of Murdoch had come to define the profession." But he and his feuding family--including four adult children, a scorned former wife and his current spouse, 39-year-old ex--News Corp. executive Wendi Deng--nonetheless opened themselves up to biographer Wolff's relentless questioning. The result is an inside account of the billionaire newsman's hard-fought, obsessive battle to acquire the Wall Street Journal. But as in Murdoch's more lowbrow publications, the real attraction here is the scandal: Wolff delves into the family's succession melodrama ("a bloody mess," says Wolff) and calls Murdoch's decision to leave his wife for Deng "perhaps the most confounding and dramatic moment in the history of News Corp."

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