Rupert Murdoch

Keith Rupert Murdoch (born on March 11, 1931), is an Australian-born American media proprietor who is the majority shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, one of the world's largest and most influential media corporations. He is one of the few chief executives of any multinational media corporation who (through his family company) has a controlling ownership share in the companies he runs. Beginning with newspapers, magazines and television stations in his native Australia, Murdoch expanded into British and American media, and in recent years has become a powerful force in satellite television, the film industry and other forms of media.

Murdoch and politics

Murdoch is a political conservative, despite the fact that he has been a strong supporter of British Prime Minister Tony Blair of the Labour Party. In the early 1970s he supported the Australian Labor Party, but since 1975 he has generally supported the conservative parties in Australia. In the United States he usually supports Republicans.

Related Topics:
Conservative - British Prime Minister - Tony Blair - Labour Party - Australian Labor Party - 1975 - Republicans

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While at Oxford Murdoch was active in the Labour Club, and he actively supported the Australian Labor Party for some years. Since 1975, however, he has generally supported the Liberal Party of Australia (which, despite its name, is a center-right party). In Britain, he formed a close alliance with Margaret Thatcher, and The Sun was widely credited with helping John Major win an unexpected election victory in the 1992 general election. In the 1997 general election, however, Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair. In the US he has been a long-time supporter of the Republican Party and was a friend of Ronald Reagan. Regarding Pat Robertson's 1988 presidential bid, he said 'He's right on all the issues.'http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1557952,00.html His papers strongly supported George W. Bush in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Related Topics:
Australian Labor Party - 1975 - Liberal Party of Australia - John Major - The 1992 general election - 1997 general election - Tony Blair - Republican Party - Ronald Reagan - Pat Robertson - George W. Bush - 2000 - 2004 presidential elections

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Murdoch is often accused of running partisan media coverage for political parties that promote policies and decisions which favour his commercial interests. For example, it is believed that Murdoch tried to suppress publication of the memoirs of Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, in an attempt to curry favour with China. Patten's book was critical of the Chinese government. Whatever the motives, the book was dropped from publication by Murdoch's HarperCollins publishing company. It was only because of Patten's political influence that the story came to light and the book was published by another firm. It is speculated that Murdoch wanted to please the Chinese government because it happened around the time he was attempting to get a foothold in the Chinese market with the launch of Star TV.

Related Topics:
Chris Patten - Hong Kong - China - HarperCollins - Star TV

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Murdoch's British media outlets generally support eurosceptic positions, and generally show contempt for the European Union. Murdoch publications worldwide tend to adopt Francophobic, pro-Israeli and pro-American views. During the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, all 175 Murdoch-owned newspapers worldwide editorialized in favour of the war (see . Rupert Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the conservative/libertarian Cato Institute.

Related Topics:
Eurosceptic - European Union - Francophobic - Israeli - 2003 invasion of Iraq - Cato Institute

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~