1st Edition
News Corp Empire of Influence
Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence this book offers an authoritative, wide-ranging, and accessible analysis of the development, operations, and political influence of the most widely commented on media company of modern times, directed by the world’s most famous media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. It details News Corp’s ownership and control, traces its global expansion in print, television and film, examines the crises that have prompted sell-offs, withdrawals and retrenchment, and explores losses and gains in its responses to the rise of digital media. The book explores Rupert Murdoch’s close relations with successive prime ministers and presidents, examines the mobilization of his news outlets to make and break political reputations, and details the consistent promotion of right wing populist ideology on a range of key issues across the company’s tabloid outlets.
This is an invaluable resource to students and scholars of global media industries, the political economy of media, media policy, and media and politics.
1. An Empire in Decline?
2. History: The Making of a Global Media Conglomerate
3. Digital Disruptions: Threats, Opportunities and Missed Chances
4. Economic Profile: Properties, Revenues, Market Shares
5. Political Profile: Ownership, Control, Influence
6. Cultural Profile: Tabloid Tales and Populist Politics
7. Revaluations
Biography
Graham Murdock is Emeritus Professor of Culture and Economy at Loughborough University, UK. He is internationally known for his work in the sociology and political economy of communication. He has held visiting professorships at the universities of Auckland, Bergen, Brussels, California, Curtin and Fudan in Shanghai. His writings are available in twenty-one languages. His books include, as co-editor, Money Talks: Media, Markets, Crisis (2015), Carbon Capitalism and Communication: Confronting Climate Crisis (2017) and Contested Connections: Pandemic and Digital Media (2022) and, as co-author, Researching Communications (2021).
Benedetta Brevini is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, USA and Associate Professor of Political Economy of Communication at the University of Sydney, Australia. Before joining the academy, she worked as journalist in Milan, New York and London for CNBC, RAI and the Guardian. She is the author of several books including Public Service Broadcasting online (2013), Amazon: Understanding a Global Communication Giant(2020) and Is AI good for the Planet (2022), and the editor of Beyond Wikileaks (2013), Carbon Capitalism and Communication: Confronting Climate Crisis (2017) and Climate Change and the Media (2018).
Michael Ward teaches Australian media as part of Boston University’s global program in Sydney and is a sessional academic in media and communication at the University of Sydney, Australia. He was a senior executive with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
