Who

Gary Ginsberg is the executive VP of global marketing and corporate affairs at News Corp. He's the mouthpiece, fixer, and chief spinmeister of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Backstory

A Columbia Law grad, Ginsberg started his career as an attorney at the white-shoe law firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, before heading to Washington to serve as an assistant counsel to Bill Clinton and as a lawyer at the Justice Department. In 1995, Ginsberg traded politics for publishing when he took a senior editor position at George magazine; a year later he left for a strategic consulting gig at the public relations firm Clark & Weinstock.

In 1999, Ginsberg joined News Corp., where he headed up the communications department and later joined Murdoch's inner circle as a member of the executive committee. Ginsberg was promoted to global marketing chief in 2007 and now has oversight over media and investor relations as well as worldwide marketing efforts.

Of note

Ginsberg is responsible for tending to the media giant's public image and defending Rupert Murdoch from his many detractors. In other words, Ginsberg is the lucky fellow who has to stand up for his boss amid the daily accusations that Murdoch is in cahoots with the Bush administration and is an apologist for the Chinese government. It's been a busy couple of years for the former Clinton advisor: Ginsberg had to deal with the fallout of News Corp.'s decision to publish O.J. Simpson's If I Did It, and speak out on Murdoch's behalf after he canned controversial publisher Judith Regan, who was charged with making anti-Semitic remarks. Most recently, Ginsberg had the unenviable task of reassuring the press of Murdoch's honorable intentions when he offered to buy Dow Jones for $5 billion.

Ginsberg doesn't just manage the PR crises that regularly come Murdoch's way: He's also emerged as one of the Australian billionaire's primary liaisons to politicians in Washington and beyond. As Murdoch's self-described "ambassador to the Clinton Administration," it was Ginsberg who brokered meetings between Murdoch and Bill and Hillary, which led to the Post's endorsement of Hillary in the last Senatorial election. Other than Murdoch himself, News Corp. colleagues with whom Ginsberg works closely include chief operating officer Peter Chernin, CFO David DeVoe, general counsel Lon Jacobs, and Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

Board game

Ginsberg serves on the board of Baby Buggy, the non-profit founded by Jessica Seinfeld, Andrew Plepler's Urban Alliance Foundation, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, headed by Caroline Kennedy.

Personal

Ginsberg and his wife, TV producer Susanna Aaron, live in the West Village.