Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs on Time 100 List

NEW YORK, May 1: News
Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch and Apple’s Steve Jobs are among those included in
Time magazine’s fifth-annual
list of 100 of “The World’s Most Influential People,” which was released today.

The entry on Murdoch,
penned by Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of the Wall Street
Journal and today the editor-in-chief of ProPublica, declares him to be “the world's most influential
newspaper publisher. He is also much more than that: his $29 billion (revenue)
News Corp. churns out films, video news and entertainment, books and web
content galore.”

“Murdoch likes to place
big bets and usually wins,” Steiger says, citing the breadth of News Corp.’s
operations. “A return to his roots and a victory lap of sorts, acquiring the Journal poses for Murdoch perhaps his greatest test as a
publisher. He aspires to make money and extend the paper's reach while
maintaining its prestige—a tall order, even for him.”

The entry on Apple chief
Steve Jobs says that he is “great at playing the countercultural icon. He's a
college dropout who once backpacked around India looking for spiritual
enlightenment, and he takes only $1 a year in salary. There are righteous
battles to fight, and with Macs and iTunes and iPhones, Jobs fights them,
taking on the entrenched megaliths that try to dictate our tastes in computers
and music and mobile phones. But don't let the black mock turtleneck and denim
trousers fool you. More than anything else, Jobs is a canny CEO who knows how
to sell product. … Jobs gets called mercurial, egomaniacal, a micromanager. If
that sounds a little like a CEO doing his job, maybe that's because he is—and
a mighty fine one.”

Entrepreneur turned
politician Michael Bloomberg is also listed, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noting
that the New York City mayor “has not only worked to make his city livable but
has also promised to make it a global model of sustainability. Mayor Bloomberg
realizes that a better future for New York will not be constructed on jobs or
housing alone. It must also include cleaner air, safer drinking water, more
green spaces and a healthy, accessible Hudson River.… Mayor Bloomberg has stepped
into the breach left by a Federal Government that has abdicated all leadership
on global warming. With his pragmatism and boundless energy, he has shown that
a city can be both great and green. If that idea can make it here, it can make
it anywhere.”

Mexican tycoon Carlos
Slim, says author Alvin Toffler, “has been harshly criticized for his wealth,”
and “belies simplistic characterization. Even a superbillionaire can love and
honor his spouse, treat women with respect, pursue wide-ranging intellectual
interests and, in his own quiet way, support social reform.”

The 23-year-old Facebook
creator Mark Zuckerberg was also included. Writing about the young online
maven, Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist said, “Zuckerberg has remained
true to his vision, focusing on building a community rather than on a mere exit
strategy… Facebook, however, just keeps growing, with more than 70 million
active users so far. That's a lot of people connecting via Zuckerberg's
vision—which is just what that vision was always about.”

30 Rock’s Tina Fey wrote the entry for Saturday Night
Live creator Lorne Michaels,
noting: “SNL has bombarded us
with jokes and ideas that have permeated culture so deeply, you forget where
they came from.” Fey continues: “SNL is most influential during an election year. Lorne would tell you
that the show's job is to attack whoever is in power. But the show's portrayals
of politicians actually seem to generate affection for them, regardless of
their politics. Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford was adorably clumsy. Dana Carvey's
Bush Senior was wiggly and goofy. Darrell Hammond's Bill Clinton may have been
more charming than the real thing, and Will Ferrell turned George W. into a
harmless, hapless "brocephus." This blend of news and silliness comes
from Lorne, the master of high/low.”

Other figures on the list
from the entertainment arena include Hannah Montana’s Miley Cyrus, George Clooney and Joel and Ethan
Coen.

—By Mansha Daswani