Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire

by Walter Marsh

Overview

“From schoolboy socialist to boy publisher to mogul on the make: Young Rupert offers a revelatory glimpse of Murdoch becoming Murdoch."—Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But This: in search of Paul Robeson

For half a century, the Murdoch media empire and its polarizing patriarch have swept across the globe, shaking up markets and democracies in their wake. But how did it all start?

In September 1953, 22-year-old Rupert Murdoch landed in Adelaide, South Australia. Fresh from Oxford with a radical reputation, the young and brash son of Sir Keith Murdoch had arrived to fulfill his father’s dying wish: for Rupert to live a “useful altruistic and full life” in the media.

For decades, Sir Keith had been a giant of the Australian press, but his final years were spent bitterly fending off rivals and would-be successors. When the dust settled on his father’s estate, Rupert was left with the Adelaide-based News Ltd and its afternoon paper The News—a minor player in a small, parochial city.

But even this inheritance was soon under siege, as the left-wing “Boy Publisher” stared down his father’s old colleagues at the city’s paper of record, The Advertiser, and a conservative establishment kept in power by a decades-old gerrymander.

Led by Rupert’s friend, ally, and editor-in-chief Rohan Rivett, the fledgling Murdoch press began a seven-year campaign of circulation wars, expansion, and courtroom battles that divided the city and would lay the foundations for a global empire—if Rupert and Rohan didn’t end up in custody first.

Drawing on unpublished archival material and new reportage, Young Rupert pieces together a paper trail of succession, sedition, and power—and a fascinating time capsule of Australian media on the cusp of an extraordinary ascension.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781957363516
Publisher:	Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Publication date:	01/02/2024
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Walter Marsh is a journalist based in Tarntanya/Adelaide with a background in history and culture. A former editor and staff writer at The Adelaide Review and Rip It Up, his writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, and InDaily.

Editorial Reviews

10/09/2023

Australian journalist Marsh debuts with a perceptive account of the first 30 years of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s life. Born in Melbourne in 1931 to Sir Keith Murdoch, a conservative newspaper magnate, Rupert became enamored with socialism while in grammar school and, while studying at Oxford University, “waged public battles against press monopolies and the old dinosaurs who ran them, argued passionately for socialism and the power of the union, and bristled at a political and media class captured in a feedback loop of power and patronage.” After Sir Keith died in 1952, Murdoch inherited his father’s media holdings and returned to Australia, where he partnered with editor Rohan Rivett and transformed the Adelaide-based tabloid the News into a lucrative powerhouse. In Marsh’s telling, Murdoch grew more conservative as he came to view the wages of his papers’ unionized workers as an impediment to financing the acquisition of new outlets and building his media empire, culminating in the firing of Rivett in 1960 for his prolabor sympathies. Thoroughly reported and novelistic in detail (secretary “Betty Gillen... walked into the editor-in-chief’s office, a bundle of letters in her hands and tears welling in her eyes. ‘It’s going to be a terrible shock to you,’ ” Gillen says, bringing Rivett news of his dismissal), this provides keen insight into the business magnate’s formative years. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Young Rupert is a scrupulously well-researched history that examines the power of the press in the 20th century and its influence on politics. Rupert Murdoch remains largely elusive, yet new research shows glimpses of a man under pressure and unable to enjoy his success. Readers interested in Australian politics and publishing will find much to satisfy here.”
—Chris Saliba, Books+Publishing

“Ruthless, ambitious, a purveyor of intrigue and scandal for whom loyalty is just a pit stop on the way to a business deal, this is the young Rupert as you’ve never seen him before. A riveting, rollicking tale.”
—Jenny Hocking, author of The Palace Letters

“From schoolboy socialist to boy publisher to mogul on the make: Young Rupert offers a revelatory glimpse of Murdoch becoming Murdoch.”
—Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But This

“Young Rupert is a vivid, revelatory portrait of a young man in a hurry. Deeply researched and sharply written, Marsh summons a vanished era to life and chronicles the intricate maneuvers and shifting character of a man whose whims and grudges have dominated, for better and worse, the media landscape for seventy years. This is an engrossing and insightful study of raw power, shameless politics, and the powers of the press.”
—Patrick Mullins, author of Tiberius with a Telephone

“A fascinating account of the early days of one of the most notoriously influential men Australia has produced. Marsh skilfully brings forgotten episodes of this country’s history to life, and reminds us just how important, cutthroat, and thrilling the news business can be.”
—Sean Kelly, author of The Game

“There’s an art to writing the journalistic yarn, and Walter Marsh has it … Marsh sketches fine portraits … Consistent throughout Young Rupert is Marsh’s talent for research, which involves not only seeking the right sources but also using them correctly. He is careful with his conclusions, never peddling glib fantasies as facts.”
—Damon Young, The Saturday Paper

“Adelaide journalist Walter Marsh’s gripping new account of Rupert Murdoch’s origin story is more than a biography of the mogul — it uncovers media and political dynamics that remain powerful … Meticulously researched … both densely detailed and a rollicking read … it combines detailed history, including fascinating side journeys—into Murdoch’s personal reportage on outback Aboriginal communities (eye-opening in many ways), a firebrand activist’s tragic-heroic trajectory, a literal fist-fight between Packer and Murdoch interests to gain control of a Sydney press—with the narrative drive of a thriller … This is a distinguished work—essential for anyone who wants a greater understanding of Murdoch, his empire, and the contemporary history of South Australia.”
—David Washington, In Review

“The breadth and depth of Marsh’s research, his eye for detail and his truly exceptional storytelling brings what may have been a dry history into vivid relief.”
—Kurt Johnson, The Sydney Morning Herald

“[A] perceptive account of the first 30 years of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s life … Thoroughly reported and novelistic in detail … this provides keen insight into the business magnate’s formative years.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Journalist Marsh presents meticulous reporting on the tangled fortunes of the Murdoch news business … An authoritative … history of the early Murdoch media empire.”
—Library Journal

From the Publisher

12/22/2023

Journalist Marsh presents meticulous reporting on the tangled fortunes of the Murdoch news business. It grew from its base in Adelaide, Australia, to encompass the entire continent and beyond. Opening chapters recount the career of Keith Murdoch, Rupert's father, but there's only a little info about Rupert's childhood and education. He barely makes an entrance until 80 pages into the book when the senior Murdoch died, and Rupert returned from Oxford to pick up the reins of the family business. Brash and inexperienced, Murdoch relies on the advice of his longtime friend and then colleague, Rohan Rivett, who guides him over the next eight years. While there is an enormous amount of information about the many transactions Murdoch made (or attempted to make), it does not provide a sense of Murdoch as a person, beyond his insatiable need to grow his operation. A disproportionate part of the book is an account of a murder case that resulted in libel charges against The News, Murdoch's most high-profile paper. VERDICT An authoritative yet scattered history of the early Murdoch media empire. Readers will learn about his business decisions but not much about who Rupert Murdoch, 92, is as a human being.—Rebecca Mugridge

Library Journal