• Vanity Fair, Wednesday, September 3, 2008 9:15 AM

In a revealing profile of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, we see how the man thinks and what new endeavors have captured his attention. Murdoch's latest passion appears to be buying The New York Times.

Everyone tells him it would be impossible. "But The New York Times is obviously irresistible to him. I've watched him go through the numbers and fantasize about the staff's quitting as soon as he entered the sacred temple. It would be the realization of his destiny: because the Times represents the ultimate in newspaper proprietorship."

Murdoch loves newspapers. "He may be the last person to love newspapers. And he thinks the Times, with its soft stories and newsless front page and talk of being a news brand instead of a newspaper, has forsaken what a newspaper is. It may be the ultimate fantasy, Murdoch's continuing, contrary belief in newspapers."

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