Rupert Murdoch is one of the most powerful men in the world today. Through News Corporation, he controls a global media empire with an unparalleled array of assets in newspaper, television, movies and book publishing. Across the Anglophone world, and increasingly in Asia and Europe, he exerts an unelected political influence reckoned to outclass such predecessors as Northcliffe, Hearst and Beaverbrook - men whose activities were contained within national boundaries.
What is the nature of Newscorp's power, and how was it constructed? This book describes a business built on a unique capacity to collaborate with established power - whether legitimate or otherwise - while pretending to rebel against it. The origins of the technique lie in the First World War propaganda campaigns and intrigues of Rupert's father Sir Keith Murdoch, Bruce Page analyses the son's extension of the same essential method through Australia, Britain and the USA, showing how Murdoch's fluid, authoritarian personal qualities have enabled him to exploit systematic weaknesses in the media systems which we rely on to safeguard liberal democracy.
Building on many years' research and featuring previously undisclosed revelations, 'The Murdoch Archipelago' is both a riveting psychological profile and a devastating case against the dangers of media monopoly.
