As Prince Metternich mused, on hearing of the death of Talleyrand: “What did he mean by that?” Every move by Rupert Murdoch in response to the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked News Corp is treated to an intense form of Kremlinology. Yesterday’s announcement that James Murdoch had stepped down as executive chairman of News International leaves the UK newspaper business without a Murdoch at the helm for the first time. That obviously means something. But what, exactly?

Look to the components of News Corp’s revenue for clues and bear in mind that power lies where the money is. News Corp had $17bn of revenues in the six months to the end of December; 25 per cent of that was generated by the bit of the business – publishing – that houses News International. That looks like a lot of money. But News Corp is primarily a television and film business, with 75 per cent of revenues and almost 100 per cent of operating profit in that period. The 11 per cent share of operating profit contributed by the publishing division was devoured by the cost of the phone-hacking crisis.

The Murdochs are putting clear blue water between James Murdoch and the hacking scandal. But that is hardly going to jeopardise his place in the family business. He will concentrate from New York on pay-TV and international businesses – moving from the periphery to the centre. That leaves Rupert Murdoch as virtually the lone defender of the UK newspapers in the empire. It is another cost of the hacking scandal, alongside the failure to buy control of British Sky Broadcasting, the closure of the News of the World, and the roughly $200m of legal and other expenses so far. The elder Mr Murdoch loves old-fashioned newspapers. But News International looks farther away from News Corp’s core than ever before.