Sixty years after the 81-year-old News Corp chief started out in newspapers, he was found ultimately responsible for the illegal practice that has corroded his global empire and damaged the political establishment.
The scathing criticism, by the cross-party Commons Culture Committee, hit Australian-born Murdoch hard. On the receiving end of relentless screaming headlines, Murdoch’s company attempted to defend him, calling the findings “unjustified and highly partisan”.
But in a telling email to News International staff, Murdoch confessed: “I recognise for all of us – myself in particular – it is difficult to read many of the report’s findings.
‘’But we have done the most difficult part, which has been to take a long, hard and honest look at our past mistakes.
‘’There is no easy way around this, but I am proud to say that we have been working hard to put things right.’’
Understanding the significance of the report, the boss of BSkyB was quick to distance the company from Murdoch, despite News Corp owning 39 per cent of the British firm, and wanting control. “I would emphasise that it’s important to remember that Sky and News Corporation are separate companies,” Jeremy Darroch said.
Now in tatters, Murdoch’s reputation has nosedived since the revelations that his journalists hacked into murdered teen Milly Dowler’s mobile and deleted messages came to light in July 2011. The scandal had been bubbling away in the background for years, but it was this that made the public take note, leading to the Leveson Inquiry and subsequent arrests of not only Murdoch’s staff, but senior Met Police.
“Rupert Murdoch’s reputation is at rock bottom,” says Charlie Beckett, director of the London School of Economics’ journalism thinktank. “He’s now tarred with all of this, even though he denies knowing about it. He’s made huge mistakes, News Corp has made huge mistakes all along the line [at the inquiry], and that’s because they were banged to rights; they did allow this to happen.”
How did they it go wrong? How was it the man described as inventing the modern tabloid, with a net worth of $8.3bn, who’s been listed three times in Time 100 as among the most influential people in the world, could fall so spectacularly?
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The old man we see today is a far cry from the power-hungry Murdoch who inherited the family business in 1952, turning its newspaper, Adelaide News, into a roaring success.
He went on to buy more publications in Australia and New Zealand before heading to the UK, scooping up The Sun and News Of The World in the late Sixties, and The Times and The Sunday Times in the early Eighties. In 1989, he launched Sky News and the rest of the Sky TV network. In America, he bought the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Then he purchased 20th Century Fox, and set up the Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox News Channel.
His control was immense, his influence unquestionable, but for many, it was overbearing. He was too powerful, with politicians eating out of his ink-smudged hands to win the support of his media.
“I can understand why people hate Rupert Murdoch,” Beckett confesses. “Especially people who have suffered at his hand politically or from investment or from his competition. There are a lot of media organisations, and one of the reasons why they hate Rupert Murdoch is because he’s such a tough competitor who will stop at nothing.”
Murdoch fell so hard, because he had further to fall, having built up his empire so high.
Beckett says: “Rupert Murdoch is different [to other newspaper proprietors]: he has a much stronger market share, he’s much more important, and he’s the only one that has that interest in politics in general.”
But the phone-hacking saga hasn’t just cost Murdoch his reputation, there have also been falling share prices and he was forced to back out of his bid for the remaining 61 per cent of BSkyB last July. But, crucially, his son, James, is being pulled down with him.
Last week’s report said the 39-year-old – tipped to be the heir to his father’s global concerns – appeared incompetent after James gave evidence at Leveson, denying knowledge that phone-hacking at his publications was wide-spread.
As the Murdoch kingdom crumbled, in April, James quit his chairmanship of BSkyB having stepped down as chairman of News International earlier this year.
“Things have gone wrong for Rupert Murdoch before, but what’s different about this is it’s embroiled with a succession struggle,” Beckett explains. “The reason it matters is because he is looking for someone to take over from him and James Murdoch’s chances of doing that have been badly damaged.”
And that’s the real blow to Murdoch – who at the Leveson Inquiry last week admitted he’d “failed” – that it’s now less likely his legacy, his 60 years of hard work, will fall into James’s hands. As for the man himself, it’s not expected Murdoch’s personal reputation will remain dented for long.
“Rupert Murdoch is obviously someone who divides people. People who work with him may fear him, but there’s a lot of respect for what he’s done,” Beckett adds. “One can’t help admire his resilience and defiance.” A case of down, not out. But how long he remains down for, remains to be seen.
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