Jeff Zucker is the last highflyer in the American media business. He may be the last person totally in love with media — a mass market showman, a publicity seeker, a man comfortable with, perhaps addicted to, the deadly politics of media organisations. He has been killed off several times and yet come back for more. He is seeking to return now from his most recent death, though in a different and somewhat puzzling role — , the new owner of the Telegraph and the Spectator magazine.
His high-flying career — he was known as much for his soaring status as the youngest, toughest guy on the block as for his accomplishments — was first killed off in 2010 shortly after Comcast bought NBC from the General Electric Company, where he had been one of the protégés of Jack Welch, GE’s chief and an icon of another business era. Zucker stormed back in 2013 as CNN’s new boss, riding the Trump bandwagon to what will likely be CNN’s last hurrah of relevance. His historical footnote will include as well that as head of NBC he greenlit the Apprentice which launched the Trump phenomenon.
