Rating: 
Summary: Excellent biography.
Review: Very well documented personal (a combination of gambling instinct and dour puritanism) and business biography of the media tycoon. The rise of Murdoch from an owner of a small newspaper in Australia to a global media tycoon. His motif: "power, not money." The power to influence political/social history through his colossal media empire. Murdoch believes that the Americanizing of the world is not only profitable for his business, but a great good in itself.
The author situates the ascent of Murdoch within the world political history (cold war, Thatcher, Reagan ...) and gives an incisive portrait of some of his collaborators: Barry Diller and Kelvin Mac Kenzie (editor of his milk cow 'The Sun').
Written with a good sense of humour, e.g. "... Giles should assume the title of Editor Emeritus ... Giles asked Murdoch what this title really meant . It's Latin, Frank. E means exit and meritus means you deserve it." Or, after Murdoch banned alcohol on the working place, someone replied "Free drunks produce better newspapers than sober slaves". The tycoon was even asked by the Vietnamese government to make communist-controlled television more popular!
Besides, the author gives a sneer at Unesco for attacking freedom of information. One minus point: on different occasions, the author refers to big financial troubles for the media empire without giving the numbers.
Rating:
Summary: How about an update to the update?
Review: When I read William Shawcross' "Murdoch" back when it was originally published (early 90s), I thought it was one of the best biographies I had read. I especially liked the author's focus on his subject's "pre-News" days, most notably a very memorable discussion on Murdoch's infatuation with Marxism during his university days.Murdoch explains that period away with the following answer: "If you're 20 and not a communist, you have no heart; and if you're 40 and not a capitalist, you have no head." Shawcross then painstakingly builds a portrait of a man who - over the next 30 years - slides clear across the spectrum to become Maggie Thatcher's biggest champion. There's a great blow-by-blow of Murdoch's battle with the press unions at Wapping, with Thatcher's tacit support. Of course, things in Murdoch's world move quickly, so Shawcross put out an update edition (this one) in 1997. Now, we need an update to the update. So much has transpired in these six years. We need Shawcross' take on: - The continued rise of the Fox Network (expecially Fox News)
- Lachlan and James Murdoch's increasingly large roles at News Corp.
- The DirectTV takeover attempts (Part 1 and 2)
- Continued efforts to penetrate India and China
- Wife #3 Wendy Deng + two new young children ...and much, much more. Never a dull moment with the man who fellow (now ex-) mogul Ted Turner heads up the world's leading "evil empire."
Rating:
Summary: How about an update to the update?
Review: When I read William Shawcross' "Murdoch" back when it was originally published (early 90s), I thought it was one of the best biographies I had read. I especially liked the author's focus on his subject's "pre-News" days, most notably a very memorable discussion on Murdoch's infatuation with Marxism during his university days. Murdoch explains that period away with the following answer: "If you're 20 and not a communist, you have no heart; and if you're 40 and not a capitalist, you have no head." Shawcross then painstakingly builds a portrait of a man who - over the next 30 years - slides clear across the spectrum to become Maggie Thatcher's biggest champion. There's a great blow-by-blow of Murdoch's battle with the press unions at Wapping, with Thatcher's tacit support. Of course, things in Murdoch's world move quickly, so Shawcross put out an update edition (this one) in 1997. Now, we need an update to the update. So much has transpired in these six years. We need Shawcross' take on: - The continued rise of the Fox Network (expecially Fox News)
- Lachlan and James Murdoch's increasingly large roles at News Corp.
- The DirectTV takeover attempts (Part 1 and 2)
- Continued efforts to penetrate India and China
- Wife #3 Wendy Deng + two new young children ...and much, much more. Never a dull moment with the man who fellow (now ex-) mogul Ted Turner heads up the world's leading "evil empire."
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