Rupert Murdoch (Melbourne, 1931) is the owner of News Corporation, a business valued at 70,000 million dollars and, at degree scroll individual, the most important media mogul in the world. In 2007 he bought the most widely circulated newspaper in the United States, the prestigious Wall Street Journal. The scale of his accomplishments and his cultural and political power have often overshadowed the character's knowledge and some context and perspective may be helpful.

It would be easy now to make wood from the fallen tree. But Murdoch's achievements were impressive, from his origins as a newspaper entrepreneur in Australia to the launch of the Sun and BSkyB in the U.K., the purchase of 20th Century Fox and the creation of Fox and Fox News. Murdoch, despite having a multimedia empire, has only one true passion: newspapers. That's why this case must be particularly painful for him.

In recent weeks, he has been involved in a lethal news cycle, which neither the closure of News of the World (July 10), nor the withdrawal of his bid for BSkyB (July 13), nor the resignation of Rebekah Brooks (July 14) have been able to stop. He has had to apologize with advertisements published in the press. She has appeared in the House of Commons. The eavesdropping crisis has become a global problem affecting all his properties, and there is talk of investigations also in the United States and Australia, where Murdoch's companies abound. As it usually happens in companies when a crisis breaks out, disloyalties, dissensions and other internal fractures begin to appear.

In the last hours, there is also talk of splitting business. In reality, there are already two companies: the television and film business, led by James Murdoch and executives such as Chase Carey, which is solid and profitable. And the press business, run directly by Rupert Murdoch, the foundation of his political influence in the United Kingdom. The former has a chance for the future, although it may have to relinquish majority control of BSkyB (it now holds 39% of its shares). The latter's survival is seriously compromised.

The pressure against it is strong: Murdoch based the growth of his media empire on aggression, so now his competitors react with virulence, and he lacks allies. Murdoch was always on the attack and skill had to be destroyed. As The Economist said on July 14, "its executives sometimes seem to be inspired by Machiavelli or Richard III". To understand the level of animosity against him among his British competitors it is enough to recall that in October 2010 the BBC and the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror and Guardian newspapers signed a joint petition to prevent him from taking control of BSkyB. Politicians, who in the past supported him, are now abandoning him. The damage done to the business is irreparable and - especially his children - will have to think about the future of News Corporation.

Murdoch, feared by politicians of all colors, has made management relevant mistakes, such as trusting Rebekah Brooks, a directive who now acknowledges that the business knew about the illegal eavesdropping since 2010. The Guardian's first story on the matter dates back to July 2009. Murdoch has been, to say the least, slow on the uptake. Another of his recent mistakes is the purchase and subsequent sale to leave of the social network MySpace (he bought it in 2005 for 580 million dollars and had to sell it last year for 35 million).

The "News of the World" case will accelerate the decline of the most sensationalist press, which was already losing readers. Newspapers with sensationalist content have proven to be more easily replaceable than those that publish quality content, because they are more imitable. The most difficult thing for a newspaper is to get its own voice and to bet on contents that allow it to be source of context and interpretation of reality and reference letter for its readers. There may be few newspapers like this. But they are certainly not the tabloids.

The Murdoch case is paradigmatic: it proves once again that the greatest "systemic risk" of a business in the media is the lack of credibility. Murdoch has demonstrated in his degree program as a manager the ability to adapt, but it is clear that not everything goes. It is confirmed that degrading content has no future. They arouse interest for some time, but they cannot build a reputation. It is also interesting to see that the biggest enemy for the future of the press is not the digital transition or the Internet, but the lack of responsibility. Another interesting lesson is that in the markets it is convenient to have friends and allies, and not just "destroy" competitors.

The "News of the World" case includes illegal eavesdropping, corruption and cover-up: what has happened is not good news for anyone. But it shows that not even big tycoons like Murdoch (or Berlusconi before him) are above good and evil.