Why are most media moguls such cussed beings?

Why is media such an owner-driven, personality-centric business?

Globally, almost every major media company is owner-driven.

Think News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch), Viacom (Sumner Redstone), Liberty Media (John Malone), Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey... the list goes on.

While there is no ready analysis, roughly half of the world's top 100 media companies are tightly owned and controlled usually by one man or a family.

Many of these may be listed, like News Corporation.

It is, however, for all practical purposes a Rupert Murdoch show.

Text: Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, Business Standard

Image: Rupert Murdoch, centre, poses with daughter Kathryn, left, and his wife Wendi Deng at the Broadway opening night of 'A Steady Rain' in this 2009 file photo

AP Images