END OF THE MURDOCH ERA?

Veteran media critic Ken Auletta has predicted the downfall of the Rupert Murdoch dynasty. In his New Yorker column this week, Auletta observes that on the wall of his office, Murdoch displays the front pages of all his newspapers, and those of the News of the World, featuring stories derived from hacked voicemail, once hung there as well — before the newspaper was shuttered following the scandal that subsequently erupted. Auletta finds it difficult to believe that Murdoch never inquired about “those juicy quotes.” By failing to deal with the illegal activity by the newspaper, Murdoch now has to deal with “restive” shareholders, Auletta notes, concluding: “With the continuing drip-drip of new revelations, with a board shamed by accusations that it is a mere rubber stamp, it’s almost a certainty that Rupert Murdoch’s dream of keeping News Corp. a family-run enterprise is dead.”