Michael Wolff.
MICHAEL WOLFF
the fall: the end of the murdoch empire (2023)
Rupert Murdoch (born 1931) is a global newspaper, pubishing, and television magnate. Born in Australia, he took over the running of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father. This was the foundation for a publishing and TV business based initially in the UK, then spreading to the USA. His first acquisition in the UK was the failing Sun daily. A rather tepid centre left publication, he turned it into a rip-roading populist newspaper with gripping headlines and uninhibited content, including a bare-breasted woman on page 3. This proved to be a highly successful formula, and he went on to buy the venerable Times and Sunday Times.
He proceeded to reduce the operating costs of his UK newspapers by defying the hitherto almighty Fleet Street unions, moving his newspaper production to a new non-union printing works in Docklands.
Murdoch made an early and risky entry into satellite TV buy launching Sky TV. This proved to be highly successful. Then he expanded to the USA, taking over newspapers, TV stations, and book publishing companies. His career was full of ups and downs, including the closure of one of his UK newspapers - the News of the World - after a phone tapping scandal.
The Financial Times wrote of the book: ‘A Wolff book never fails to be delicious, as well as sweepingly insightful, on the turmoil behind various thrones but he has a Murdochian instinct: when in doubt, go for the jugular.’
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Michael Wolff (born 1953), the son of an advertising professional, graduated from Columbia University. While at university he worked for the New York Times as a copy boy. He then developed a career as a magazine journalist, including six years writing a weekly column for New York magazine.
