A reader sent this great profile on Rupert Murdoch from the Economist, detailing how he couldn't quite bring himself to remain penitent and remorseful amid jeers and other provocations directed at his ego:
"THIS is the most humble day of my life," Rupert Murdoch told members of the House of Commons, after the media, culture and sports select committee summoned the global media tycoon before them to explain the phone-hacking, police-bribing, politician-bullying ways of his British press titles. Having established his humility, Mr Murdoch then spent more than two hours telling the MPs that he was—in essence—much too important and busy to have known what his feckless underlings were up to.And during questioning by MP Louise Mensch:
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Some have written that Rupert Murdoch came across as a frail, diminished figure, comparing his appearance to the final moments of the Wizard of Oz. I disagree. Thumping the table with the palm of his hand for emphasis (despite nervous signals from his wife to stop) Mr Murdoch showed flashes of something I can only describe as raw power, notably when any MP seemed about to patronise him.
Thus when an MP suggested employees had kept Mr Murdoch in the dark about the phone-hacking scandal, Mr Murdoch came to life, growling:
Nobody kept me in the dark, I may have been lax in not asking, but [the News of the World] was such a tiny part of our business.
Mrs Mensch, looking and sounding like a clever young prosecution barrister, reminded Mr Murdoch that he had said Les Hinton, a former chief executive of News International (News Corp's British newspaper subsidiary), had resigned because he was the "captain of the ship" when wrongdoing took place. Is it not the case, sir, that you are the captain of the ship, she asked the elder Mr Murdoch? The magnate's pride seemed piqued, and he rose to the bait. "Of a much bigger ship," he rumbled.To me, this is classic narcissist. He hates that anyone, even the highest levels of government or law enforcement, would dare impugn his moral character and his infinite wisdom about how the world should be run. If you're a narcissist, the saddest part about being surrounded by idiots is that they don't realize how much stupider they are than you. I can almost guarantee that he feels absolutely no remorse, not even that he was caught. Probably the only thing he regrets is that he lives in a world in which morons elect imbeciles, who then try to keep the real movers and shakers from getting on with important business.
Mrs Mensch did not blench. "It is a much bigger ship, but you are in charge of it. And as you said in earlier questions, you do not regard yourself as a hands-off chief executive, you work ten to 12 hours a day. This terrible thing happened on your watch. Mr Murdoch, have you considered resigning?"
"No," said Mr Murdoch.
"Why not?" said Mrs Mensch.
"Because," Mr Murdoch replied. "I feel that people I trusted, I'm not saying who, I don't know what level, have let me down. I think they behaved disgracefully and betrayed the company, and me. It's for them to pay. I think that, frankly, I'm the best person to clear this up."