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News Corp. overlord Rupert Murdoch may be getting a bit slow in his dotage, but he still knows a good story. Is it a coincidence that three arms of his media empire — the Times of London, Fox News, and the New York Post — have belatedly picked up on Jimmy Wales's bizarre breakup with Rachel Marsden? Marsden was, until last fall, a Fox News commentator, which can only make the tale more delicious for Murdoch: The prodigal daughter welcomed back as grist for the gossip mill. Beyond that, why the onslaught?

It's tempting to cast this as the Murdochians defending a fellow right-winger against a California granola-cruncher. But Wales is no limousine liberal. A limo libertine, perhaps, and a limo libertarian, for sure. No, this is simply an irresistibly good story, the kind you can't make up. And one that draws readers. Above all, Murdoch believes in the politics of pageviews.