Let's not mince words for anyone following the New York Times' recent series on Rupert Murdoch: The whole thing has been convoluted. What was originally supposed to be a one part exposé in the Sunday edition wound up getting delayed until Monday. Then on Monday, an abridged article was released and the Times used the Observer to leak the news that they were delaying a second piece on Murdoch's Chinese dealings until Tuesday. Now that article, by Times Beijing correspondent Joseph Kahn, is ready for public consumption.

And it's ... pretty good. Although there's nothing earth-shaking here, Kahn's piece is a healthy rundown of every interesting tidbit to filter through LexisNexis over the past few years. It turns out that Rupe plays footsie in a whole lot of ways with the Chinese government, that wife Wendi Deng has done much to smooth over News Corp.'s dealings with China and that Murdoch isn't making nearly as much money as he would like in the Chinese market. But what is especially interesting is a statement News Corp. offered on Monday:

"News Corp. has consistently cooperated with The New York Times in its coverage of the company. However, the agenda for this unprecedented series is so blatantly designed to further the Times's commercial self interests — by undermining a direct competitor poised to become an even more formidable competitor — that it would be reckless of us to participate in their malicious assault. Ironically, The Times, by using its news pages to advance its own corporate business agenda, is doing the precise thing they accuse us of doing without any evidence."

Media companies with their own agenda? You don't say.

EARLIER: