Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire

by Walter Marsh

“From schoolboy socialist to boy publisher to mogul on the Young Rupert offers a revelatory glimpse of Murdoch becoming Murdoch."―Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But in search of Paul Robeson For half a century, the Murdoch media empire and its polarizing patriarch have swept across the globe, shaking up markets and democracies in their wake. But how did it all start? In September 1953, 22-year-old Rupert Murdoch landed in Adelaide, South Australia. Fresh from Oxford with a radical reputation, the young and brash son of Sir Keith Murdoch had arrived to fulfill his father’s dying for Rupert to live a “useful altruistic and full life” in the media. For decades, Sir Keith had been a giant of the Australian press, but his final years were spent bitterly fending off rivals and would-be successors. When the dust settled on his father’s estate, Rupert was left with the Adelaide-based News Ltd and its afternoon paper The News ―a minor player in a small, parochial city. But even this inheritance was soon under siege, as the left-wing “Boy Publisher” stared down his father’s old colleagues at the city’s paper of record, The Advertiser , and a conservative establishment kept in power by a decades-old gerrymander. Led by Rupert’s friend, ally, and editor-in-chief Rohan Rivett, the fledgling Murdoch press began a seven-year campaign of circulation wars, expansion, and courtroom battles that divided the city and would lay the foundations for a global empire―if Rupert and Rohan didn’t end up in custody first. Drawing on unpublished archival material and new reportage, Young Rupert pieces together a paper trail of succession, sedition, and power―and a fascinating time capsule of Australian media on the cusp of an extraordinary ascension.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Business, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2024

Reviews

[Elias Marseille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als je onderwerp interessant is, hangt het alleen nog van je eigen schrijfstijl af of je boek dat ook wordt. Walter Marsh grossiert helaas in een enorme hoeveelheid aan tijdswisselingen, een aantal zijpaden die korter hadden gekund en weinig echte insiders view op Murdoch en zijn beginjaren.

Desalniettemin vond ik het een interessant boek: in de jaren '20 werd de basis gelegd in de rechtspraak voor wat kranten wel of niet konden schrijven. Daarnaast blijft het ongekend wat Rupert Murdoch in zijn leven heeft meegemaakt. Hij bleek zowaar aan de goede kant van de geschiedenis te staan in het geval van Max Stuart: een aboriginal die ten onrechte ter dood werd veroordeeld. Murdoch verdedigde hem en werd vervolgens zelf aangeklaagd voor smaad. Uiteindelijk werd Stuart vrijgesproken, decennia later en werden de aanklachten tegen Murdoch en zijn krant ingetrokken.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into the early adult life of Murdoch and his time running Adelaide’s afternoon paper The News in the 1950s.

[Paul Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is certainly not a hagiographic biography, nor is it a hatchet job. It initially gives us background, concerning Rupert’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch’s establishment of a newspaper dynasty. We are introduced to Young Rupert as a socialist university student at Oxford, who finds himself at the helm of his father’s business after Sir Keith’s sudden death. It turns out that Rupert’s socialist leanings were a dalliance that was sacrificed for expediency in rebuilding an empire. There were fleeting flights of altruism, but sacrifices were made to build the News empire. Friendships, along with loyalty and principles became luxuries that could be ditched when they became inconvenient. Events have proven this over time. There is not much about more recent times, or about Rupert’s marriages. I recall only his first being mentioned, but it’s not about Rupert, the family man, but about Rupert the businessman. It’s surprisingly even handed, given all the dirt that could have been included. I

It’s a fascinating insight into what shaped the driven media baron we see today. I can’t say that he comes across as likeable, or devoted to anyone. Ultimately, everything is transactional. If it’s not bringing profit, it has to go.

[Maxine Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

(He) made a telling comment to the reporter: 'Monopoly is a terrible thing - till you have it.'
I admired his chutzpah, his dash, but I loathed his journalism. - I wish he was on the side of the angels, because the bloke's a genius'...
Had the course that Rivett had set, where News Limited's pages would be used in passionate pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality, already begun to diverge from Murdoch's future, where power, profit, and growth were irretrievably entwined?

[Geoff Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of detail and very well researched but, unfortunately, it is written in a confusing style; the author jumps around in the timeline and devotes many pages to subjects only remotely connected with Rupert Murdoch.
As an exhaustive documentary of Rupert Murdoch's early life the book is good, but it is not an easy read.

[Peri Strathearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enthralling, cinematic jaunt through 1950s Adelaide and a newsroom culture long gone. By focusing so closely on two men and their brushes with the establishment, Marsh paints a detailed picture of their motivations and personalities, while still keeping the time to devote a passage or a chapter to the side characters who waft into and out of their story. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

[Jon Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richly researched and a good read.

Much of the book is set in Adelaide and I highly recommended it for any who have spent time there. As a local it is a valuable introduction into events that have perhaps shaped the city into what it is now.

[Shing · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the young Rupert, who was already showing definite indications of just how ruthless and hungry for power he was to become.
This work is well researched and well noted, although (unsurprisingly) none of the Murdoch clan contributed.
There's quite a lot of names to follow in this biography, and it may hold more interest for those of us from Adelaide, where his career as a medi mogul really began.

[Ned Charles · Rating 1 out of 5]

An appalling effort. I continued reading after 50 pages only because the book was a gift.
What was the authors objective?

[Ari Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haiku review: In here there are gems / Hidden in a vast mountain / Of aimless factoids.

[Isabella Kassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ermmmm a bit disappointed overall. Pretty compelling and I enjoyed the writing but the larger acquisitions of Murdoch’s current media empire are reserved to the epilogue.

While I know this is about young Rupert, I thought it would be a bit more thorough of an examination of his character and how we got to where we are now. Unfortunately, that analysis was generally absent save a few sentences here or there. It was an interesting read into publishing drama in 20th century Adelaide, and very well researched, but I think I’ll look elsewhere for a more in depth book on Murdoch

[Sagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really well researched, however had I known it would be set in Adelaide I would never have picked it up as that place is a cesspool and a downer to read about. This author has done a good job making something that should be boring quite enlightening. I think this is for anyone with an interest in early 20thC Australian history.