????《波士頓環(huán)球報》的編輯湯姆斯?溫希普對默多克也是既仰慕又蔑視：“他確實為報紙注入了活力，使報紙更具娛樂性和可讀性。但與他競爭的感覺，與其說是感到威脅，不如說是沮喪。他們所做的并不是新聞，而是全然不同的另外一種藝術門類。”

????在紐約，默多克寄望于論壇報業(yè)集團（Tribune Co.）終將厭倦發(fā)行量之爭，最終關閉旗下的小報——《每日新聞報》（Daily News）。盡管1982年，《每日新聞報》虧損了1，500萬美元，但去年，該報紙卻宣布當年利潤達到驚人的1，500萬美元。報社之所以能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)扭虧為盈，主要歸功于煞費苦心的成本削減方案。默多克依然認為自己是最犀利的成本削減專家，他吹噓道：“他們只是在茍延殘喘而已。在進行類似的消耗戰(zhàn)時，只有低成本運營商才能笑到最后。”但其他人卻并不贊同他的說法。經(jīng)紀公司Paine Webber Mitchell Hutchins的出版業(yè)分析師J?肯德里克?諾貝爾便把賭注押在了《每日新聞報》身上。

????上個月，默多克從Field Enterprises收購《芝加哥太陽報》后，便開始施展自己的影響力。他為這份報紙投入了9，650萬美元，擊敗了試圖阻止他的當?shù)厣倘恕！吨ゼ痈缣枅蟆肥冀K保持了盈利（1983年，收入約為600萬美元），但默多克認為他能獲得更高的回報。

????來自紐約和倫敦的一組編輯對報紙的標題進行了潤色， 重新定位了新聞報道的角度，將原先相對自由的編輯立場轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榉从衬嗫说恼卫砟睿簿褪撬^的激進保守主義。默多克說：“我們將使報紙更多地回歸中間路線，而不是偏執(zhí)和狹隘——我們將更多關注小企業(yè)和小人物。”

????默多克的改革引發(fā)的怒火則為芝加哥的報紙讀者帶來了一整年的娛樂素材。《芝加哥太陽報》的專欄作家麥克?羅伊克言辭尖銳，頗受讀者歡迎。他公開表示，“有自尊的人都不會樂意出現(xiàn)” 在默多克的報紙中。羅伊克從《芝加哥太陽報》辭職后，去了競爭對手《論壇報》（Tribune）。而作為反擊，《芝加哥太陽報》引用了一家亞利桑那州報紙關于羅伊克的評論專欄文章，文章的標題是：思雷斯判決：背叛者羅伊克，令人不齒的諂媚者。（SLATS' VERDICT: TURNCOAT ROYKO DISGUSTING CREEP）。（“思雷斯”是指思雷斯?格羅布尼克，是羅伊克虛構的人物。）此外，《芝加哥太陽報》還轉(zhuǎn)載了《福布斯》（Forbes）雜志刊登的默多克的一篇人物專訪，筆調(diào)頗多奉承。

????默多克憑借《芝加哥太陽報》一飛沖天，他為處理這家報紙引發(fā)的怒火采取了赤裸裸的手段，這正折射了他在生意場上的冷血性格，一些競爭對手甚至認為這種冷靜近于冷酷。默多克安坐位于下曼哈頓區(qū)的《紐約郵報》，從六樓寬敞、舒適的辦公室中指揮他的公司。他的主要管理工具是每一項業(yè)務詳細的周利潤報告。每一項重大的決策都需要獲得他的首肯。

????雖然默多克魅力十足，但他卻沒有幾個朋友和知己。他極少動情，甚至有些冷酷，但對待家人卻是例外。他的妻子安娜（1999年，默多克與第二任妻子安娜離婚，同年與鄧文迪結(jié)婚——譯注）曾經(jīng)是他旗下悉尼一家小報的記者，兩人有四個孩子，其中一個是與前妻所生。他們住在曼哈頓東區(qū)的一棟兩層公寓，而周末則前往位于伯克希爾山的豪華別墅。如果默多克在辦公室熬夜時間過長，他會變得暴躁易怒，但毫無疑問，他總是能縱情工作，并用驚人的熱情實現(xiàn)自己的目標。

????盡管默多克依然渴望擁有大城市的報紙，但他深信，新聞集團的更大發(fā)展必須依賴廣播、電影制作和衛(wèi)星通信。但到目前為止，他在這些領域并無建樹。三年前，他與澳大利亞人羅伯特?史提格伍德合作出品了一部廣受好評的電影——《加里波利》（Gallipoli），該影片描寫了澳大利亞士兵在一戰(zhàn)中的經(jīng)歷。他的兩個澳大利亞電視臺每周有四個小時播出非熱門戲劇節(jié)目。去年六月，他收購了由廣告商支持的倫敦有線電視網(wǎng)絡——衛(wèi)星電視臺（Satellite Television）69%的股份。之后，他引進了大量節(jié)目，每晚五個小時在電視臺重播美國節(jié)目，并為英國和歐洲大陸的有線網(wǎng)絡帶來了其他收入。（更多信息，請閱讀下列內(nèi)容。）

????為進入電子通信行業(yè)，默多克采取的最大膽的冒險行為是，草率推出了一個全國付費電視網(wǎng)絡計劃，該計劃通過衛(wèi)星向美國家庭直接發(fā)送節(jié)目，而不是通過電纜。用戶可以通過天花板或院子中的四英尺碟形天線收看節(jié)目。

????默多克的點子來源于去年的一項計劃。當時，加利福尼亞州的許多企業(yè)家計劃銷售標準有線節(jié)目，包括一些與商業(yè)相關的數(shù)據(jù)，比如向農(nóng)民提供糧食價格期貨信息。（包括農(nóng)業(yè)信息，農(nóng)民可以把服務價格作為商業(yè)開支進行勾銷。）默多克與他的下屬很快就得出結(jié)論，這個點子非常有潛力。通過提供五個頻道的編制節(jié)目，并以城市和郊區(qū)觀眾為目標，他們希望能建立美國第一個衛(wèi)星-家庭網(wǎng)絡。他把這一網(wǎng)絡稱為Skyband。

????Editor Thomas Winship of the Globe is equally admiring -- and disdainful -- of Murdoch: "He does put energy into a paper and make it more entertaining to read. But competing? with him is more depressing than threatening. What he does just isn't journalism – it's a different art form."

????In New York, Murdoch is hoping the Tribune Co. will weary of circulation wars and simply close its tabloid, the Daily News. But the News, which lost some $15 million in 1982, is about to report a surprising profit of more than $15 million for last year. The turnaround is the reward of some painful cost-cutting. Blusters Murdoch, who still considers himself the sharpest cost-cutter: "They bought some time on their decline. When you get in a war of attrition like this one, the low-cost operator wins in the end." Others aren't so sure. J. Kendrick Noble, a publishing analyst at the brokerage firm of Paine Webber Mitchell Hutchins, has switched his bet to the News.

????Murdoch began applying his same brighteners to the Chicago Sun-Times as soon as he took possession of it from Field Enterprises last month. He paid $96.5 million for the paper, beating out local businessmen who wanted to keep it from his grasp. The Sun Times has been profitable (it earned about $6 million in 1983), but Murdoch thinks he can push returns higher.

????A team of editors from New York and London has spiced the headlines, redirected the news coverage, and is turning the editorial voice from moderately liberal to reflect Murdoch's politics, which he calls radical conservatism. "We'll bring it back more to center," says Murdoch. "It won't be totally illiberal -- we'll be very much for small business and the small man."

????The furor over Murdoch's changes has already provided a year's worth of entertainment for Chicago readers. Mike Royko, a popular, acerbic columnist at the Sun-Times, announced that "no self-respecting fish would be wrapped" in a Murdoch newspaper. Royko resigned and went over to the competing Tribune. The Sun-Times retaliated by reprinting a critical column about Royko from an Arizona paper under the headline: SLATS' VERDICT: TURNCOAT ROYKO DISGUSTING CREEP. ("Slats" refers to Slats Grobnik, a mythical Royko character.) The Sun-Times also reprinted a fawning profile of Murdoch that appeared in Forbes magazine.

????Murdoch's bare-fisted handling of the furor over his ascension at the Sun-Times reflects a coldness in his approach to business that some competitors say borders on ruthlessness. Murdoch commands his company from a large, comfortable office on the sixth floor of the New York Post building in lower Manhattan. His principal management tool is a detailed, weekly profit report on every operation. Any decision of consequence requires his imprimatur.

????Though he can be charming at will, Murdoch has few friends and no cronies. He is entirely unsentimental, even cold, except about his family. He and his wife, Anna, a former reporter on one of his Sydney tabloids, have four children, one from his previous marriage, which ended in divorce. They live in an East Side Manhattan duplex and weekend at a spacious house in the Berkshire Mountains. Murdoch can turn irritable when he is stuck late at the office, but there is no doubt that he revels in work and seeks his goals with ferocious zeal.

????While still hungry for big-city papers, he has become convinced that more and more of News Corp.'s growth must come from broadcasting, movie production, and satellite communications. He has only trifled in these areas so far. He co-produced Gallipoli, a highly regarded film about Australian soldiers in World War I, with fellow Aussie Robert Stigwood three years ago. His two Australian TV stations turn out four hours a week of undistinguished dramas. Since acquiring a 69% interest in Satellite Television, a London advertiser-supported cable network, last June, he's bought enough programming to beam five hours a night of American reruns and other fare to cable systems in Britain and on the continent. (For more on that undertaking, see following story.)

????Murdoch's most serious venture into the world of electronic communications was a slapdash plan for a nationwide pay TV network beamed directly from satellites to U.S. households that aren't served by cable. Subscribers were to pick up the signal with four-foot dish antennas on their roofs or in their yards.

????Murdoch's version of the idea evolved last year from a scheme of a California entrepreneur to sell standard cable fare, along with a smattering of business-related data, such as grain price futures to farmers. (Including farm information would allow farmers to write off the price of the service as a business expense.) Murdoch and his men quickly concluded the idea had bigger potential. By offering five channels of programming and going after urban as well as rural viewers, they hoped to build the first national satellite-to-home network. He called it Skyband.