Rupert Murdoch did not have a good start to the week. On Monday morning, an unflattering article in the New York Times argued that the News Corp chairman’s “soft spot” for newspapers had become a drag on his company’s fortunes.

That afternoon, news leaked out that Peter Chernin was leaving after 12 years as Mr Murdoch’s right-hand man, and as the New York Post went to press that night its pages carried an unusual apology from its chairman for the offence caused by one of its cartoons.