Book of the day: Rupert Murdoch by David McKnight
I think what people don’t understand about me is that I’m not just a businessman working in a very interesting industry. I am someone who’s interested in ideas.
— Rupert Murdoch, 1995
For better or worse [my company] is a reflection of my thinking, my character, my values.
— Rupert Murdoch, 1996
The 2004 convention of the Republican Party, held in New York’s Madison Square Garden, was a triumph for President George W. Bush. Still lauded by many at the time as the hero of the Iraq war, Bush defeated John Kerry for the presidency later that year. At the end of the convention, as most delegates were leaving their seats, a revealing incident occurred. At CNN’s floor set, where hosts Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer were conducting interviews, some delegates began chanting, ‘Watch Fox News! Watch Fox News!’ They saw Fox News as their friend and CNN as the enemy in their midst.
CNN once infuriated Rupert Murdoch. During his daily ride on his exercise bike, he used to frown at the successful news network and dream of building a television news operation to rival what he called the ‘liberal’ and ‘left-leaning’ CNN. Today, CNN’s rival flourishes and consistently beats it in the ratings war. Murdoch’s Fox News is a powerful persuader in US politics, credited not only with influencing its loyal audience but with affecting the tone of all US television, an influence summed up by the term ‘the Fox News effect’. Its shouting heads broadcast a nightly mantra of fear-filled messages to their three million viewers. Its swirling graphics and dramatic music intensify its ‘Fox News Alerts’ about the latest threat from terrorists, liberals, gays—and Democrats.
‘A study of dangerous media abuse of power and of abject government weakness in regard to it. This is a disturbing book.’ - From the foreword by Robert Manne
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is the most powerful media organisation in the world. Murdoch’s commercial success is obvious, but less well understood is his successful pursuit of political goals, using News Corporation as his vehicle.
David McKnight tracks Murdoch’s influence, from his support for Reagan and Thatcher, to his attacks on Barack Obama and the Rudd and Gillard governments. He examines the secretive corporate culture of News Corporation: its private political seminars for editors, its sponsorship of think tanks and its recurring editorial campaigns around the world. Its success is reflected in the fact that the campaigns are familiar to us all: small government and market deregulation, skepticism on climate change, support for neo-conservative adventures such as Iraq and criticism of all things ‘liberal’.
While the phone hacking crisis has tarnished his reputation, Rupert Murdoch’s influence is far from finished.
