If a list were to ever be made of the single most influential players in the global media arena, Australian-born Keith Rupert Murdoch would be among the most recognised on it, as well as one of the most feared. With a media network spanning over three countries – his native Australia, the UK, and the US – Rupert Murdoch is well known for his ability to influence the most important elections in the countries where his influence extends. However, some would argue that his star is well on its way to a heat death. According to Forbes magazine, Murdoch is the 31st richest in the US, to his supporters, his brand of journalism is the source of much entertainment and a whole lot of dollars and to his opponents, he is the devil incarnate who cast news media into the depths of hell. Divisive as he is, he is undeniable.
Murdoch’s media umbrella
Even as Murdoch steps down as the decisive hand behind his media investments after close to seven decades in the business, the public may never know the exact extent of his reach. Murdoch had taken over his father’s sole functioning news outlet in 1952 after his passing, and at the point of Murdoch’s own retirement in November later this year, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international news media outlets from all over the world through his parent company News Corp. The most notable of these are The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Australian in Australia, The Sun and The Times in the UK, as well as The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in print media in the USA. Other notable media entities in his personal portfolio include Sky News Australia, Fox News (US), and book publisher HarperCollins.
The increase of Murdoch’s stake in media both national and international is characterised by a number of strategic acquisitions throughout his career. Acquisition of the News of the World and The Sun in the UK wasn’t Murdoch’s first foray overseas, having first padded out his own experience through his acquisitions in New Zealand. His commitment towards expansion was sealed with his assumption of American citizenship in the later part of the 20th century. Murdoch’s success is marked by both commercial success and political scandals from all over the world. The controversies that Murdoch faced at the helm of such prominent institutions as the media outlets he owns would have put the career of a lesser mortal in its grave. Instead at 92, Murdoch is retiring of his own choice.
While Murdoch’s ability to make and unmake governments across the waters has for decades managed to escape comment with little more than a few raised eyebrows, there are two noteworthy instances that stand out in his eventful career.
The rise and subsequent fall of News of the World
News of the World was at one point the English newspaper with the highest sales in the world and at one point, it also belonged to Rupert Murdoch. Under his leadership, the newspaper began to become mired in a phone hacking scandal that would ultimately close down the paper completely. This was brought to the surface through the investigations of newspaper rival The Guardian, which uncovered that the publication routinely hacked the phones of celebrities, notable personalities, and other persons of interest in the pursuit of the next scoop, even when the person in question was under police investigation. In 2006, the newspaper was found to be hacking into the mobile phone of none other than Prince William himself, leading to the subsequent imprisonment of the paper’s royal editor as well as a private investigator in the paper’s employ. News of the World had used a simple override function to listen to voicemails, which was then used to form news stories.
The Guardian went on to reveal that the hacking plot ran even deeper than the royal family, revealing that Murdoch had reached multimillion-pound settlements with several celebrities to keep their nefarious activities hidden from the public eye. The revelation that the newspaper had actually hacked into the phone of a missing schoolgirl who was subsequently found murdered caused enough public outrage that Murdoch was forced to shut down News of the World operations rather than attempt to mitigate the situation. The shutting down of the publication was expected to smooth over public opinion enough that Murdoch could then go about acquiring Sky, a prominent UK Telemedia network. Unfortunately for him at least, the attempt failed.
The publication also eventually paid out a total of one billion pounds as compensation to those affected. The incident helped escort deputy editor Andy Coulson to prison, if only for a little over eight months. Rebekah Brooks who was the editor for the publication at the time, however, is now the CEO of News UK, another Murdoch enterprise. Murdoch is still not done with the UK’s tabloid market either – The Sun remains a very lucrative piece of that particular pie.
US -gate
Throughout his career, Murdoch has been most known for his right-wing political endorsements, except perhaps for a few circumstances. The Fox News Channel, which was Murdoch’s entry to the cable news market in the US, was particularly heavy-handed in expressing his political leanings. This support was nowhere more apparent than in Murdoch’s endorsement of the controversial US president, Donald Trump. It is generally assumed that Fox News was particularly instrumental in bringing the business tycoon and media personality into office. Commercial success notwithstanding, Fox News was not fated to be Murdoch’s easiest pet to keep.
Murdoch founded Fox News with his close friend and ally, former Nixon advisor Roger Ailes. This same Ailes was ousted from the company in 2016 following sexual misconduct against the organisation’s female employees. About 20 women led the charge against Ailes for his sexual harassment in the workplace and in the litigation that followed, which led to the exposure of many toxic rules and traditions at The Fox that made it a dangerous place to work at. Key among these was the weaponized use of NDAs that silenced victims and unquestioned service extension of those whose misconducts the channel had had to compensate for outside of court. Other than the crimes within the workplace, The Fox is also often criticised for its extremely polarising stance on issues such as the climate crisis, racial tension, and other social issues that distinguish the American right from the left.
Another stain on The Fox’s career that was subsequently to tarnish Murdoch’s (or perhaps vice versa) was his close alliance with Donald Trump. The channel platformed Trump even before his candidacy was ever announced to the public, and the two came to form what appeared to be a close friendship in the public eye. It was said in 2017 that the two powerful men communicated almost daily. Trump’s politics cost him a reelection, a loss in which Fox very heavily defended his accusations of a rigged election. The former president levelled increasingly outrageous accusations in defence of his stolen victory, and subsequent litigation against the media outlet established that the channel had propagated these same accusations despite knowing full well that they were highly improbable at best. The channel had to settle a sum of $787.5 million to compensate for the reputational damage that it had caused to various stakeholders in the electoral process.
Only time will tell whether Murdoch’s step down from media was timely or long overdue in the face of such damning scandals in an industry meant to be based on free and fair journalism. In the meanwhile, Murdoch’s retirement means that his influence on global politics is coming to an end, long anticipated by many.
(Theruni Liyanage)