Murdoch And The Vicious Circle

„The developments have been catastrophic for Murdoch. »He has been completely knocked sideways«, one of his close associates told me. »This has all kinds of implications—the relationship with his kids, the relationship with his board. Even for someone as non-introspective as Rupert, he has to be wondering what the hell hit him«. The scandal has virtually ensured that James will not immediately succeed his father as emperor—if he succeeds him at all—and has threatened Rupert Murdoch’s hold on the company he built. The hacking story has confirmed the fears of those who see the hand of Murdoch everywhere: the News of the World was hacking into thousands of people’s private voice mails. The paper was paying off the police. Murdoch had politicians dancing on a string. As information dribbled out, it became known that Rupert Murdoch, or his representatives, had met with Cabinet ministers (or the prime minister) 130 times in the past 14 months, roughly once every third day.

For a generation, the British have been able to count on one thing: Rupert Murdoch’s omnipresence. His editors always had him in mind; many other people did, too. »People project things onto Rupert«, a former editor at the New York Post told me. »Sometimes they do it because they want to bask in the Murdoch-ness of it, and sometimes they do it because they want to resent it«. But they do it. This is an elemental fact, and it speaks to the culture that Murdoch created in his newsrooms and by extension in much of British society. Murdoch may claim that he never directed anyone to do any of the specific things that have hobbled his empire, but the claim is irrelevant. An ethos was established at the top, and everyone below understood how business was supposed to be done. Orders were not necessary.”