HE is described as a rightwing media mogul, a title that would befit many in India except that he would trump them in age; he was among the few sympathisers of former US President Donald Trump; his life story has spawned more artistic creations in the form of films, television shows, song albums and plays than any other media baron before; he exemplifies the adage that age is just a number and at 92, he is rearing to start a new innings.
Keith Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born-US citizen who till last week was the Executive Chairman of News Corporation, has handed over the business to his son Lachlan Murdoch and is now busy charting a new role for himself. Longevity runs in his genes as Rupert’s mother established Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at the age of 102, in 2011. She passed away at the age of 103.
The kingmaker
Between The Sun and The Times in the UK; The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and The Australian in Australia and The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in the US, Rupert Murdoch owns virtually half of media business around the world. Among the broadcasting brands he has are Fox News and Sky News Australia. He also owns the publishing company HarperCollins and is the 71st richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
Being a journo runs in the family. His father used to run a small newspaper in Adelaide called The News which Rupert took over in 1952. After that he acquired several newspapers in Australia till the sixties. His attention shifted to the UK and the US in early seventies and thereafter he took over several publications, television channels and entertainment companies to expand his empire.
India eludes
In what can be seen as the power and strength of Indian media and its publishing houses, Murdoch could never make it big in what is today the world’s biggest democracy. His publications have been siding with regimes of their choice in both the UK and the US and could have played some role in their rise and fall over the years but in India Murdoch Senior has had no such luck.
One of the main reasons behind this is the fact that in India it is regional, non-English, vernacular publications which rule the masses. Whether it is Hindi newspapers, which command the highest circulation in the country at several folds higher than that of English newspapers or Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Bangla, Odia, Urdu, Assamese publications. Each language has its own media leader board in the region and commands its own legions of loyal supporters.
Rupert Murdoch made an entry in India through Star TV in 1993 when News Corporation acquired it from a Hong Kong company Hutchison Whampoa. The plan was to capture Chinese and Indian territories through satellite network. But both countries proved tough nuts to crack and in 2019 the Star business was spun off to Fox International. The Walt Disney Company later took over the entertainment business of 20th Century Fox and the Star group became part of the Disney Group.
