'The Sun' Doesn't Shine For Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, the man in whose soft pillow hands the world's largest media empire rests, is none too pleased with one of his minions, the British tabloid The Sun. According to The Guardian's Owen Gibson, the crinkle-faced mogul is "'dismayed' at the volume of the paper's showbiz coverage and the acres of space regularly given over to reality TV stars." Today for instance, headlines read: "Eddie: I'm Not Weddie", "Ronson a Brit Dodgy" and "Jordan Wins Boobie Prize." But, according to Rebekah Wade, Sun EIC, Rupert does enjoy Pop Idol (UK's version of American Idol, see they don't have American Idol here because well, obviously). Also, like my boss, Rupert Murdoch calls his underlings at 1:30am to criticize/advise/criticize! Quotes after jump.

Wade said she spoke to Murdoch on a regular basis and hugely valued his "exemplary" advice, revealing how he had called at 1.30am on the day of the New Hampshire primaries to warn her that the exit polls were wrong and to discuss the US election. "Like any editor, you get praise and criticism from your proprietor," she said. But she denied that he explicitly influenced her day-to-day decisions. "I can't remember one occasion when we have discussed tomorrow's newspaper in the censorious sense that you keep telling me exists and I say doesn't," she told the committee, chaired by Lord Fowler. When the committee travelled to the US last September to talk to Murdoch and other moguls the minutes recorded that the mogul saw himself as a "traditional proprietor" of his UK tabloids. "He exercises editorial control on major issues, like which party to back in a general election or policy on Europe," the minutes said.

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