Just days after the Eurosceptic UK Independence party beat the Conservative government into second place in the Eastleigh by-election, it was revealed that media tycoon Rupert Murdoch invited Nigel Farage…
After launching with fanfare less than two years ago, News Corporation’s iPad newspaper, The Daily, will close after failing to attract a large enough audience.
AAP
The Daily was launched in February 2011 to great fanfare. It was the first iPad only newspaper (although it did have a web mirror but that was just for sharing). It had a simple price, $1 per week, and…
Rupert Murdoch wields enormous influence, but is subject to little accountability.
AAP
Rupert Murdoch recently told owners of 62% of the equity in News Corporation that they had no business in corporate decision-making. The company employees in excess of 50,000 people and has revenues of…
Amid the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal, Rupert Murdoch (pictured with son Lachlan) has resigned from his directorships at News International.
AAP
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
It may just be coincidence that this week’s charging of former News International executives Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks for alleged phone-hacking offences came just days after Rupert Murdoch announced…
The problems facing the Australian news media are global; our companies must start providing solutions that their readers are prepared to pay for.
AAP
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
It took a while, but the Australian news industry has finally caught up with the crisis of journalism which has been affecting the rest of the world for quite some time.
I say “crisis”, but let’s be clear…
News Corporation will split its publishing assets from its entertainment arm – with the exception of its Australian operations.
AAP
News Corporation is breaking up. The process will take about 12 months and is subject to shareholder approval. The de-merger will separate News Corporation’s publishing assets from its media and entertainment…
Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s former Director of Communications, leaving the Leveson Inquiry.
EPA/Karel Prinsloo
Andy Coulson, Former News of the World editor and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s previous Director of Communications, was arrested and charged with perjury last night in relation to evidence he…
Australian media regulators would take an active interest in attempts by News Limited to increase its stake in Foxtel.
AAP
Problems facing media moguls Rupert and James Murdoch in the United Kingdom and the United States have yet to have an impact in Australia.
But if recent speculation is true that News Limited might be…
Murdoch’s “blind eye” on managerial overcommitment – too many media outlets, too little time – is unsurprising. But we need some tough decisions on the balance between media self-regulation and public oversight.
AAP
What are we going to do about media regulation?
This week saw release of the 81 page report of the Convergence Review, an Australian Government document that deals with broadcast regulation and offers…
James and Rupert Murdoch appearing before the Westminster parliamentary committee that has subsequently attacked their fitness as media proprietors.
EPA/Press Association
Will the damning, and somewhat surprising, verdict brought in on Rupert Murdoch by a committee of British parliamentarians, spell the end of the reign of the Wizard of Oz?
The answer depends on what is…
Rupert Murdoch arrives at the Leveson Inquiry in London last week.
EPA/Andy Rain/Facundo Arrizablaga
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
Actor Hugh Grant said it as well as anyone in an interview with ABC News a while back. All that was needed to end the UK’s decades-long culture of tolerance for News International’s phone-hacking, its…
Shows such as CSI have warped our understanding of what questioning is likely to achieve.
Facundo Arrizablaga/EPA
Commentators on Rupert Murdoch’s appearance at the Leveson Inquiry have pointed out some alleged inconsistencies between the evidence and his testimony, leading many commentators to reject Murdoch’s claims…
Can a Sunday version of top selling weekday tabloid The Sun recapture readers lost when the News of the World was closed?
AAP/Facundo Arrizabalaga
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
I write on the day that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp launches its Sunday Sun in the UK, to widespread astonishment at the man’s “chutzpah” and apparent lack of remorse for the ethical breaches which brought…
The Sun is facing a crisis of its own as revelations of police bribery emerge.
EPA
It is difficult not to supress a satisfying shiver of schadenfreude as one watches the saga of the self-immolating Murdoch Empire play itself out.
The latest episode – breath-taking in its sheer chutzpah…
Murdoch and Rinehart could soon own almost all the significant newspapers in Australia.
EPA/Michael Reynolds/AAP/Tony McDonough
Australia’s wealthiest person, Gina Rinehart has bought shares in Fairfax Media. Should we be worried if she buys a controlling interest in the company that publishes the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and…
Murdoch is taking more control of his Australian interests now John Hartigan is gone.
AAP/Rob Hutchison
Was John Hartigan pushed or did he leave his position as CEO of News Limited just in time? It’s likely that only a handful of people know the real answer to this question; among them will be “Harto” and…
The Murdoch crisis in the UK raises many questions about media ownership in Australia.
AAP/William West
The Gillard Government’s media inquiry is to disregard the crucial issues of bias and concentration of media ownership, despite Bob Brown’s demands for wider terms of reference. This is, at best, misled…
Self-regulation of newspapers can lead to a conflict of interest.
AAP/William West
The Gillard Government has announced it will hold an inquiry into the state of the Australian print media.
One of the key elements investigated will be the role of the Australian Press Council, the self…
Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd owns 70 per cent of Australia’s daily print media.
AAP
While “Murdochgate” rolls on, the question of what it means for Australia has inevitably been attracting considerable attention.
In this discussion, News Ltd itself has played a leading role. For those…
Rupert Murdoch holding a copy of The Times, a News International paper.
AAP
In little more than two weeks, the long simmering issue of illegal phone hacking at News Corporation’s British newspaper News of the World has developed into a cascading crisis, with fatal results for…
As both CEO and chair of News Corp, Murdoch must accept blame for his employees' behaviour.
AAP
News Corporation shareholders would have been justifiably disturbed when James and Rupert Murdoch told this week’s UK parliamentary committee hearing that they could not be held responsible for the behaviour…
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News attracts criticism in the US for its perceived bias.
AAP
The decline and fall of Rupert Murdoch has more twists and turns than a colonoscopy: the closing of the 168-year-old News of the World; the resignation of two of his top executives and four Scotland Yard…
Appearing before a parliamentary committee was “my humblest day” according to Rupert Murdoch.
AFP PHOTO/PARBUL
So, after a day of drama at Westminster, what have we learnt, other than the fact that Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi packs a mean left hook (future pranksters beware)?
For the best part of six hours we…
Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke faced enormous media interest over their relationship.
AAP
Reaction to the widening News of the World scandal has again highlighted the lack of protection against invasion of privacy by the media in Australia.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating renewed his attack…
It’s time to investigate the consequences of concentrated media ownership in Australia.
AAP
As international outrage increases with each new revelation in the News International phone hacking scandal, serious questions are being raised about whether Rupert Murdoch’s empire can be considered a…
Sign of the times for Rupert Murdoch’s UK print media operations.
AAP
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
Born and bred in the UK, I have spent my entire adult life in the company of News International newspapers.
And as a media scholar by profession, I have been critical of the Murdoch titles for decades…
Foxtel’s broadcasting deal with the AFL will boost News Ltd’s revenue from live sport.
AAP
Almost 15 years have passed since Rupert Murdoch declared that “sport absolutely overpowers film and everything else in the entertainment genre,” yet the media mogul’s words still capture the reality of…
Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper empire is reeling under the phone hacking scandal.
AAP
Schadenfreude is the tough-sounding word that wins my vote for describing accurately how millions of people around the world are feeling about Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
For those who were long resigned…
Britain’s tabloid culture is yellow journalism for the 21st century.
AAP
When American newspapermen mused on their profession a century ago, they would confess, usually with pride, that it was both cruel and mendacious – and had to be. H L Mencken, among the most influential…
Metropolitan Police officers are interviewing senior News International executives as part of their investigation into phone hacking by journalists. AAP photo.
AAP
Where to begin? The closure of a 160-year-old newspaper, the arrest of the man who until recently was the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications, the revelations that the Metropolitan Police, or at…
Greens leader Bob Brown has attacked the News Ltd ‘hate media’.
AAP
Greens leader Senator Bob Brown recently described attacks on his party by The Australian as being the work of a News Ltd “hate media”.
News outlets owned by the Murdoch empire are renowned in the USA…
