Murdoch

by William Shawcross

A biography of the international media baron traces his rise from Australia, to London, to New York and Hollywood, emphasizing his business instincts and significance in and to international business

Genres: Biography, Business, History

496 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 1994

About the author

William Shawcross is a widely renowned writer and broadcaster.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murdoch started out as a left-wing person with a lot of dreams. However, his success slowly leads him to turn more to the acquisition of power. He's a successful man, but not necessarily a good person. All the same, I think his story is very useful to learn, and foreshadows a lot of recent changes in the media landscape even though he started decades earlier.

[Anthony Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written and diligently researched biography of a man who is probably the most powerful figure in world media. Murdoch comes across as an admirably forthright man who has made a lot of brave calls and decisions in his business career.

He is also shown to be a ruthless businessman with an ideology which to put it mildly, is polarising. Murdoch doesn't appear to be a very nice person but to his credit, he doesn't try and portray himself as such (unlike some of his peers and contemporaries)

[Mark Schomburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a play by play detailed description of Murdoch's rise from Australian papers through Fleet Street in the UK and beyond, including many tactical business operations.

[Frank Palardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good review of his background.

[Andrew Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This inspires both admiration, & a sense that "this man has to be stopped". I wrote that sentence in 1996 when I read the book. As it happens, we didn’t stop him; his influence has been malign and worsening for 30 years after I read this, culminating in his stewardship of the disgraceful Fox News which simply doesn’t report any actual news that troubles its viewers' world view, and offers unwavering support for Trump, a man Murdoch described as a moron.

Murdoch's father nearly remained a bachelor his whole life, a case of 'if only'. In 1990, the relatively small Pittsburgh Bank nearly ordered News' liquidation, but was leaned on heavily by Reagan’s people (whom Murdoch had vociferously supported in his papers; see how he works?) to let him live. The world has created a monster that no-1 in power can afford to kill. His level of debt ensures his survival. His take-over tactics have been fairly uniform; assure shareholders, regulatory authorities, & owners that he won't sack the incumbent management; won't take the publication down-mkt; & won't expand any further; then do all those things immediately after the green light. It is now too late to learn the lesson that he's lying, so don't believe him, & don't do business with him. He has invariably blamed the establishment for ganging up on him. There may be some truth in that early on, but at least in their pompous way, they care for truth & decency, which to Murdoch comes a distant 2nd to profit.

Informative & readable book, if a little tedious, about a man who has so much (malign?) influence over our lives that we should all know more about him.