Clash of the Titans

by Richard Hack

When Robert Edward (Ted)Turner III started out in business, he owned a small billboard company in rural Georgia. What he has eneded up with is the vice-chairmanship of AOL Time Warner throught he sale of his $3 billion empire, which includes CNN, superstation WTBS, Turner Network Television,Turner Classic Movies, the Atlanta Braves, the goodwill Games and MGM Studios. Risk-taking, careful planning and steely determination are the hallmarks of this brash, outspoken and wildly succesful media mogul. On the other side of the world his counterpart, Keith Rupert Murdoch, impeccably dressed, ruthless and hungry for success, began with one small Australian newspaper and parlayed it into 125 newspapers and magazines around the glove, the Fox, Inc., motion picture and television conglomerate, and news satellites on four continents. These two men, controllers of much of the news and entertainment we receive every day, have long traded barbs and vitriolic attacks, creating an intense race for complete domination of the media. Turner and Murdoch are the major players in the media world today - and both have personal lives as complicated as their business dealings. Family squabbles, public divorces, high-profile romances, huge charitable bequests and their appearances at the most exclusive gatherings in the world have made both moguls entertainment news in their own papers and news magazine shows. This meticulously researched look at media business is also a dual biography. In great detail it delves into both the personal and professional lives of these two outsize figures, their fierce competition, and their enormous effect on American daily life.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, Biography

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Hack attended the Lynnewood School, and Haverford High School, on the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia. He later attended Pennsylvania State University and holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Design.

Hack moved to Los Angeles where he was hired by TV Guide magazine as its West Coast national programming editor. By the early 80s, Hack began writing the TeleVisions column for the daily entertainment trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter. During the next decade, Hack was instrumental in propelling the paper into a dominant position over rival Variety, and often appeared on The Tonight Show and Today reporting on Hollywood.

During the same period, he was a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose, Tomorrow, Entertainment Tonight, and Access Hollywood.

In 1990, Hack left The Hollywood Reporter to become Vice President of Creative Affairs at Dove Audio and Entertainment, a production company that specialized in miniseries and books-on-tape. While at Dove, Hack adapted Sidney Sheldon’s The Sands of Time, Memories of Midnight, and The Stars Shine Down as mini-series, which he also produced, and wrote his first book, Next to Hughes with Robert Maheu.[2]

Since leaving Dove, Hack moved to a horse ranch in Maui, where he stabled polo ponies, and established a home on the Intracoastal in Florida.

His bestseller Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters was released on September 11, 2001. Hack was being interviewed live on the Today show by Matt Lauer when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

His subsequent book, PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover was the basis of the 2011 film "J Edgar," directed by Clint Eastwood.

Reviews

[Patrick]

A really enjoyable but overwritten book on Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch. The author seems much more familiar with Murdoch's business dealing than Turner's, but the parts on Turner get really funny after the first 100 pages. A couple of other complaints...

The chapters segue directly from Murdoch's story to Turner's story with no parapraph break or any other interruption. I find that pretty odd, though one gets used to it after a few chapters. The author tells each man's story chronologically but that doesn't always make thematic sense in these chapters. Also, the first chapter describing their initial head-to-head competition in 1996 was pretty weak. The book gets a lot better once you make it out of that.

I am reading this because I am curious as to how Murdoch put himself in such a position as to be able to buy the Wall Street Journal. The information on Turner is a bonus. This has been worth my time thus far.

Purchased at the Friends of the Library bookstore at the El Toro public library.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clash of the Titans is a credible parallel biography on Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch, as well as an entertaining history on the media landscape that each indelibly altered with the introduction of 24-hour news, channels for repurposing classic movies, and the creation of a fourth broadcast network.

The parallels and contrasts are sometimes forced, but on the whole, the book delivers an informative and entertaining account of the two men and their individual ascents in the world of business and media.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both Murdoch & Turner are such cartoonish caricatures, that this is a for-sure entertaining read. The narrator launching into the Australian and Atlantan accents with such gusto adds to the entertainment. The moguls' arcs of lives is fascinating; Rupert from shallow rebel to neo-con going from printing boobs and airing car chases to Fox News' bastion of conservatism. Ted Turner from reactive Southern gentleman seems to have emerged from the salt spray of competitive sailing to be a Lorax trying to save the world.

[Reggie Morrisey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The tales of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are like that of so many 19th Century robber barons. The stack of toys each accumulated - company upon company - totters as the men head to their graves. All that will be left will be probate court fights between their bevy of wives and children.
I have more sympathy for Ted Turner, given his success establishing CNN. Murdoch's Fox News is a scourge on humankind. He should be reviled by future historians.

[Richard FitzGerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Hidden gem, doesn't say it's an auto bio but has more biography detail than many on Murdoch.

The Ted Turner bio book is prob better on him. He doesn't come across too well in this book.

I liked the 70ies and 80ies deal marking in the US and dealing with the banks.

A lot of Murdochs reputation come from a latter years, but anyone interesting in building a large organisation could learn so much about his.

[Alberto Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story about two unique and influential media moguls

[Just Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch - same man but on different sides of the same coin. Much rather have lunch with Ted.

[Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Practically a biography of two of the most ambitious men in America. The "Clash" is more of a prediction than an actual story.

[Steven Raszewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. If you want to know how CNN and Fox got their start this is it.

[Bruno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't read it.