The Murdoch Method: Notes on Running a Media Empire

283 Pages·2018·3.73 MB·English

by  Irwin Stelzer

THE
MURDOCH
METHOD
Irwin Stelzer is a consultant on market strategy for US and UK industries. He
worked closely with Rupert Murdoch for thirty-five years. He has a regular
column in the Sunday Times and is an occasional contributor to The Guardian,
The Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman. He has received the ICAP
Comment Award for Economics Commentator of the Year and has a doctorate in
Economics from Cornell University. He has held positions at Harvard
University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cornell University and
New York University, and been a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford
University.

Published in hardback and trade paperback in Great Britain in 2018 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of
Atlantic Books Ltd.
Copyright © Irwin Stelzer, 2018
The moral right of Irwin Stelzer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Hardback ISBN: 978 1 78649 575 4
Trade paperback ISBN: 978 1 78649 400 9
E-book ISBN: 978 1 78649 402 3
Printed in Great Britain.
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For Cita
Who has made this book and much else possible
‘I’m a strange mixture of my mother’s curiosity; my father, who grew up the son
of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had a tremendous sense of duty and
responsibility; and my mother’s father, who was always in trouble with
gambling debts’
Rupert Murdoch, 20081
‘I would hope they [my children] would lead useful, happy and concerned lives
with a very responsible view of what they should and are able to do according to
their circumstances’
Elisabeth Murdoch, circa 19892
‘I am a curious person who is interested in the great issues of the day and I am
not good at holding my tongue’
Rupert Murdoch, 20123
CONTENTS
Timeline
Introduction:
Rupert Murdoch: The Man, His Method and Me
1 The Corporate Culture
2 Power, Politics and the Murdoch Method
3 Deals
4 Economic Regulation
5 Crisis Management
6 Responsibility
7 Protecting His Assets
8 The Succession and the Pivot
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Select Bibliography
Notes
Index
KEITH RUPERT MURDOCH
TIMELINE
1931
March Keith Rupert Murdoch born
1950
October Goes up to Worcester College, Oxford
1952
October Father, Keith Arthur Murdoch, passes away. Rupert inherits
father’s stake. The will is complicated, so the precise date of
possession is difficult to pinpoint
1953
Family approves of Rupert becoming managing director of
Adelaide papers, News and Sunday Mail
1956
Marries Patricia Booker
1958
Daughter Prudence (now Prudence MacLeod) born
1964
July Launches The Australian, a serious, nation-wide broadsheet in
Australia, and his first new title
1967
Divorces Patricia Booker