Media watchers have been tracking the post-election New York Post with particular interest: Instead of being dyspeptic over the Democratic presidential win, Rupert Murdoch's gleefully right-wing tabloid has treated Barack Obama to coverage ranging, as the New York Times puts it, "from warm and fuzzy to downright heroic." Which fuels speculation, first raised by biographer Michael Wolff in a book excerpt in Vanity Fair, that the 77-year-old media magnate (and owner of Fox News) is veering leftward.
While some say Murdoch simply tends to support whoever’s on top, Wolff says Murdoch wants his paper to be “attuned to what the readers want and to the zeitgeist.” A News Corp. VP says Murdoch, who met with Obama, was very impressed: "I think he’s been very taken by his intellect, by his ability to inspire and by the opportunity that he has to truly take America in a positive direction on education issues, social issues, and others.”
(More Rupert Murdoch stories.)