Les Hinton: ‘What’s Murdoch like? I’m very fond of him’

Hinton was Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man at the height of the phone-hacking scandal. He resigned over it and feels he was made a scapegoat, but remains an admirer of the tycoonLes Hinton used to insist he would never write a memoir. The idea of adding his own title to volumes already devoted to his former boss, Rupert Murdoch, filled him with, if not foreboding exactly, then a certain feeling of futility. “I knew a lot of any such book would have to be about Rupert,” says the man who was for a long time known as Murdoch’s henchman. “But if you’re not joining the chorus of disapproval, how do you write about him in a way that doesn’t sound sycophantic? Who wants to sound like they’re the victim of a personality cult?” He runs a hand over his beard. “He deserves a lot of the criticism, by the way. There are no men who have achieved the kind of success he has who have not bruised a lot of people. He earned a lot of his enemies. But he’s also misunderstood. If I was going to write about him, I wanted to try and do it straight down the middle and for a long time I couldn’t really see how to do that.”But perhaps there was another way. What if the Murdoch years – he worked for the Australian-born tycoon for the vast majority of his 50-year career – were only a part of his book? What if Hinton began instead by describing his childhood in postwar Bootle, on Merseyside? This idea began to take hold even before his traumatic departure as chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2018-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]

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In New Book, Google's Schmidt and Cohen Tackle Digital Challenges

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, will address the promises and pitfalls of a digitally connected world in a book titled “The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business,” due out on April 23 from Knopf. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. shuts down The Daily

News Corp. said on Monday that it is shutting down The Daily, its ambitious but expensive attempt to create an iPad newspaper, on Dec. 15. The decision follows a 22-month effort that delivered both some significant achievements—developing the iPad as a publishing platform, for example, and... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Maxim Cuts Circulation 20%

Maxim magazine is cutting the paid circulation it guarantees advertisers from 2.5 million to 2 million next year, a 20% drop, and reducing its publishing frequency to 10 issues next year from 11 this year. Last year Maxim published 12 issues. Maxim President Ben Madden said the magazine... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SmartMoney Chops Its Dead-Tree Version

After 20 years on the newsstand, SmartMoney will end print publication with its September issue and go all digital. Dow Jones, which owns the site (and this one as well), said the print publishing schedule just couldn't keep up with volatile market news. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dow Jones President Todd Larsen Resigns

The president of Dow Jones & Co., Todd Larsen, resigned Tuesday after more than two years on the job and 13 years at the company. Dow Jones is the unit of News Corp. that publishes The Wall Street Journal. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Murdoch Resigns as Exec Chair

Rupert Murdoch’s son, James Murdoch, has stepped down from his position as executive chairman of News International, News Corporation’s UK publishing unit that has been rocked by a phone hacking scandal and police investigation. James Murdoch will focus on expanding News Corp.’s international... Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Murdoch Leaves News Corp. Publishing Unit

More fallout from PhoneGate: News Corp. executive James Murdoch has "relinquished his position" as executive chairman head of News International, the conglomerate's British newspaper unit. News Corp., which also owns this Web site, says News International chief executive Tom Mockridge will stay... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Dow Jones Digital Boss Gordon McLeod Lands at Krux

Gordon McLeod, the former head of Dow Jones's digital publications, has a new job, at an ad tech start-up. He's now president at Krux, a two-year-old "data management platform" that helps publishers control "cookie" data that tracks Web surfers' movements. Last fall, Krux raised $11 million in a... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomberg Executive Is Said to Be in Talks to Lead Dow Jones

News Corporation is said to be in advanced talks to hire Lex Fenwick as the chief executive of Dow Jones, filling a six-month vacancy created when the publisher’s top executive resigned amid the phone-hacking scandal in Britain. Mr. Fenwick ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trend Report: Are paywalls the only way forward for online publishers?

It's been 18 months since News Corp erected paywalls around The Sunday Times and The Times. Mike Fletcher assesses whether the paywall model is the future for online publishing and talks exclusively with News International to discover a shift in strategic thinking. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Murdoch Resigns From British Newspaper Boards

James Murdoch stepped down as director of two subsidiaries that publish Murdoch-owned newspapers, a move that could possibly presage News Corporation’s eventual exit from British newspapers. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Conroy Scott m.d. at Charles Pick

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 12:11 Kevin Conroy Scott has been appointed m.d. of the Charles Pick Consultancy. CPC's owner Martin Pick continues to be Wilbur Smith's agent and also to be executive chairman of the agency. Meanwhile Pick becomes chairman of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Content Aggregator Zite Comes Under Fire From Publishers

Zite, the app that gathers content according to a user’s interests and behaviors to form a personalized web magazine, has run into legal issues abound from major publishers such as Washington Post, Associated Press, Getty Images, Time and Dow Jones. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Sun and Times to include WBD vouchers

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 16/02/2011 - 15:40 World Book Day will be supported by News International for the second year running, with £1 WBD book tokens to be printed in both the Times and the Sun. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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