News Media Mogul - Rupert Murdoch

Born on March 11, 1931, Rupert Murdoch’s media career was greatly influenced by his father, Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch, who was a prominent newspaper proprietor in Australia. A year after his father’s death in 1952, Murdoch went back from Britain to Australia and worked as a managing director for News Limited. With Rupert Murdoch at the company’s helm, News Limited expanded and acquired The Sunday Times. Three years later, Murdoch ventured into television with TV Week, Australia’s first and most successful weekly magazine show. From there, success followed Murdoch as he began to stack his media empire, beginning in Britain in 1968.

Murdoch was successful in Britain. He was able to acquire several newspapers, including The News of the World, The Times, and The Sun. As a newspaper proprietor, he was heavily involved in controversies, especially in the political scene. After several disputes with labor unions regarding his move to reduce the number of employees in the face of modern printing technology, he succeeded and his method of production was widely copied by newspaper companies around the world.

Murdoch’s expansion to the United States greatly established his prominence in the media industry. News Corporation, the holding company of Australia’s News Limited, acquired The San Antonio Express News (1973) and The New York Post (1976). In 1986, News Corporation launched the Fox Broadcasting Company. From Fox, Rupert Murdoch further extended his empire by acquiring several media companies, earning him the ire of consumer welfare advocates up to the present.

Though critics have attacked him left and right regarding media policies and legalities, Murdoch remains one of the media industry’s most influential and controversial figures in our time.

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