Rupert Murdoch is probably the most remarkable media executive the world has even seen. He built his empire from his father’s newspapers in Australia to being one of the biggest in the world. His foresight, and strength of character, has led to revolutions in the production of newspapers, in Britain, and an immensely successful satellite television network. He did this through being a risk-taking entrepreneur who ruthlessly pursued his own...

When presented with the failings of their initial investigation the two top policemen in the Met didn’t resign immediately. However, it then came to light that an ex-NOTW deputy editor, Neil Wallis, had been hired by the police force as a PR-adviser whilst it was investigating the phone hacking. This embarrassing revelation (though they denied that Wallis had had anything to do with the investigation) led to their resignations.

Andy Hayman...

After the revelations that Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked in 2002, it became public knowledge that phone hacking, at NOTW, had been going on for many years before 2006, when its royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and the private detective he’d used, Glenn Mulcaire, were arrested and sent to jail for hacking phones belonging to the royal family. Andy Coulson, the editor, had resigned in 2007, though he said that he was unaware of the...

Definition: Media Plurality

In a democracy it is important that people have access to a range of viewpoints in order to make informed decisions. This range (plurality) is a number of media organisations supplying news from different perspectives (see The Guardian’s editorial on the danger to media plurality if News Corporation had been able to own BSkyB outright:...

Definition: Convergence

Where a device can be used to access a variety of media texts. Because new media technologies (a phrase that is becoming old fashioned) are all digitally based, the medium of a text is irrelevant so, for example, an iPad can show films and television programmes; allow you to read books, magazines and newspapers; listen to podcasts and music and so on. Old media technologies would have required a film projector and a...

Fox News was launched in 1996 and is now the most-watched cable news channel in America eclipsing CNN, which pioneered the 24-hour rolling news format. In Britain broadcasters have to present the news in an unbiased fashion. In effect, this means anchors read the news in a more-or-less neutral fashion and contentious stories are presented as having at least two points of view. In America there is no such requirement.

Fox uses a different...

As a free market capitalist, Rupert Murdoch often eulogises the way competition between companies stimulates innovation and profitability (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PybFaMCn2qM). In 1989 he gave the keynote MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, where he argued for ‘freedom and choice, rather than regulation and scarcity’ (quoted in Keane 1991: 53). He insisted:

that market competition is the key...

The link between politicians and Murdoch was emphasised in 1995 when the new leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair, flew to Australia to address executives of News Corporation. By the General Election, two years later, the Murdoch newspapers had switched their support from the Conservatives to Labour. However, it’s quite possible that the newspapers would have supported Labour without Blair courting them, as it was highly likely that Labour...

As noted above, the Press has an important function, as the fourth estate, in holding politicians, in particular, to account. Businesses, too, can find their conduct investigated, such as the famous Sunday Times investigation, in the 1970s, into Thalidomide, a tranquilliser drug that was found to cause birth defects. However, not all investigative journalism is in the public interest.

Under Murdoch’s influence the tabloid press had...

It is a measure of Murdoch’s foresight that he had purchased a satellite television station in 1983. This enabled his company to beat the British Satellite Broadcasting, a consortium consisting of established British media companies (Granada Television, Pearson, Virgin and Anglia Television) in launching the first non-terrestrial station in Britain. Murdoch has always enjoyed taking on the Establishment, whose vested interests always opposed...

London’s Fleet Street has long been synonymous with the national press because many newspapers were based in its locality. In 1986 Murdoch moved the printing of his newspapers, virtually overnight, from the centre of London to Wapping, in the East End. In doing so he circumvented the power of the print unions who had resisted technological change:

It is rare in history to be able to identify the precise date of a turning point. In the case...

Definition: Synergy

The concept that businesses in a corporation can be integrated in such a way that they are more than the sum of their parts; this can be achieved through exploiting properties in different media and cross-promotion. For example, Viacom’s popular Rugrats (1991-2004) cartoon ran on its Nickleodeon television channel and its Paramount Pictures produced the film versions (1998, 2000 and 2003), which could be advertised on its...

In a democracy it is recognised that those who represent the people must be held to account. The 18th century Parliamentarian, Edmund Burke, called newspapers the ‘Fourth Estate’ (after the Courts, Religion and Parliament) and they had a crucial role in ensuring that those in power didn’t abuse it. It is also recognised that the owners of news media may also gain too much influence so:

American and European policymakers and legislators...

Rupert Murdoch, who owned newspapers in Australia, took control of NOTW in 1969 after a battle with Robert Maxwell, who was also trying to buy the newspaper. William Shawcross, in his biography of Murdoch, summarised the conclusion of the deal:

It was a bruising battle in which almost everyone had lost something… Only Murdoch had won – he now had a beachhead in one of the most important publishing centres of the world. For him it was a...

The Rise (and Fall?) of Rupert Murdoch

‘I’ve been telling students for the past 20 years that concentration of ownership in the media is a bad thing, but then who gives any credibility to a Mickey Mouse subject like media studies?’ Patrick Russell (letter to The Guardian, 20 July 2011)

You may have seen on the news, in July 2011, a wizened 80-year old being attacked with a paper plate full of shaving foam at a Parliamentary hearing; if...

The Rise (and Fall?) of Rupert Murdoch

‘I’ve been telling students for the past 20 years that concentration of ownership in the media is a bad thing, but then who gives any credibility to a Mickey Mouse subject like media studies?’ Patrick Russell (letter to The Guardian, 20 July 2011)

1. Introduction

2. Murdoch Enters the British Newspaper Market

3. Murdoch Buys Times Newspapers: The Failure of Regulation?

4. Murdoch Goes to...

Vertical Integration

Commercial institutions try to combat the power of the BBC by becoming larger and creating vertical integration. This is where an institution has shares or owns each part of the production and distribution process. For example: Warner Bros Entertainment calls itself a fully integrated broad based entertainment company which owns film studios and the means to distribute the films as well as some of the cinemas in which they...

Rupert Murdoch, the man we love to hate, is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of the global media empire News Corporation often known as News Corp. It is the world’s third-largest media conglomerate behind The Walt Disney Company and Time Warner. 

News Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the US NASDAQ, with secondary listings on the Australian Securities Exchange.  At present, News Corporation is headquartered at 1211...

Newspapers are commercial enterprises owned by commercial institutions. The Times for example is owned by the global company News Corporation which also owns Sky television. Most companies who own newspapers are also present in other media fields.

Newspapers are less regulated than broadcasters are, but must still obey the laws of the land such as libel (they cannot tell destructive lies about a person), and contempt of court (they cannot...