- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: Bodley Head (4 Dec 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1847920233
- ISBN-13: 978-1847920232
- Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 4.1 x 24 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 362,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Man Who Owns the News
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Product Description
Book Description
The definitive, exclusive-access account of the life and career of Rupert Murdoch - one of the most powerful, unusual, controversial, menacing, and captivating figures of our age.
Product Description
In a career spanning four decades Rupert Murdoch has built News International into a $70 billion corporation. Through a series of breathtaking gambles he expanded from his base in the Australian newspaper business to achieve a preeminent position in the UK's media, and to control a huge slice of Hollywood. Increasingly his company has built a presence in online and digital media, most recently through its acquisition of MySpace, and he is steadily expanding into Southeast Asia. But Murdoch is more than a predatory and merciless deal-maker. His company does not only generate dizzying profits and growth rates. His company generates the information that forms our understanding of the world. He presides over what we read, what we watch, what we come to believe about ourselves, to an extent that is without serious parallel anywhere on earth. In the words of Michael Wolff, Murdoch 'held more power over more time than any other contemporary figure'. Working with unrivalled access to Murdoch himself, his family, and his inner circle of advisors, Wolff shows how Murdoch came to wield this power and the uses he has made of it. Murdoch has become almost invisible behind the strong emotions he provokes. Now Wolff's account reveals the qualities that took Murdoch to the top of the world and have kept him there. In doing so he tells a business story that is also the story of a man’s life, and the story of our times.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly Dull,
By
This review is from: The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (Hardcover)
Any readers of Vanity Fair will be familiar with Michael Wolff's columns. Usually a good, snappy read about media or political subjects. Murdoch too ought to be an interesting subject, so I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately it was a big yawn.
Much of the book is written in a present tense, chatty style, which might fit a magazine article, but is fairly annoying across the length of the book. Although the takeover of the Wall Street Journal is the main focus there are also lengthy trawls through the Murdoch business history. Mainly it just seems a superficial hack job for a lot of the time. Two page portraits, for example, of all the Murdoch brood, but not much depth. I would hope a decent sketch of an oily creep like James Murdoch might tell me a bit more than this: ' James gets up early, works out at the gym, arrives in the office before anyone else, and leaves in time to put his kids to bed.' Really? What a smashing guy! And how interesting! I think your job is safe there, Michael. As for Rupert, his defining feature, according to the book, is that he is a difficult man to pin down, vague, but successful, a kind of Warhol of the business world. That may be so, but it makes for an unenlightening read. If you wanted to buy a book to read on a flight, with a view to picking up a few snippets of mildly interesting information, then, after a meal and glass of wine, doze off, finally leaving the book, by accident, of course, in the magazine compartment, this is a good purchase. Alternatively, pick up a copy of Vanity Fair.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murdoch,
By
This review is from: The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (Paperback)
Having read William Shawcross' 1992 study of Murdoch and watched as he has sought to conquer the media world, this was a fascinating insight into the man and his personal vision. Quite amazing that Murdoch (and his family) allowed it to happen - maybe he was distracted by thinking about his now-made-public offer for the rest of the BSkyB holding!
Grammatical style is not easy to follow at times and it could be argued it is too one sided and written with evident glee. But, as one who refuses to watch Sky TV, read the Times or the News of the World and, based on newsapaper reports of its style, would not watch Fox in the USA, I really enjoyed the analysis of the man and his motivation.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good account, highly engaging,
By Stephen Connolly (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed reading Michael Wolff's biography of Rupert Murdoch. The book is meticulous and thoroughly researched and I learnt much from it. There is heaps of detailed information about Murdoch's life and how he operates. As a result, you feel on the 'inside' and the book becomes compelling because it reads more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. You'll learn what motivates Murdoch, why the UK press draws him, his battles for newspaper control in New York and the truly rip-roaring account of how he took on the Bancroft family to win the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones. What is amazing about Rupert Murdoch is his drive and his ability to foresee changes: he is among the best as an early mover to secure a position. He is ruthlessly tactical and still going strong. I was fascinated by the whole thing and, as business accounts go, this one is up there with the best.
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