Absolutely brilliant, from the lede "not getting overwhelmed by the sand" to the perfect phrasings ("gnarly old gargoyle). Tina Brown goes from strength to strength--the best read in (on?) Substack, or anywhere.
I wonder if anyone here recalls the line in Peter Sellers' movie, "After The Fox", where Peter's character, as the film's director character, rises in his hydraulic director's chair, surveys the landscape, and pronounces, "I want more sand in the desert!"? Maybe he was referencing Sam Spiegel's thoughts on making "Lawrence Of Arabia", and Rupert Murdoch's influence on America's culture.
If there is anyone who should've been deportee number one, stripped of his US citizenship, and sent back to the penal colony from where he arose, this is the individual. He represents the worst of all America can be, and some have become. Few in America have played into the hands of our adversaries better than this fool. His out of control lust for power using Freedom of the Press as a dagger through the heart of the ideal, "We the People in Order to Form a more Perfect Union," is unparalleled in liberal democracies here and abroad. He has taken the words of Thomas Paine in Common Sense, "It is not in our numbers , but in our unity that our strength lies," and tried to butcher them into oblivion. Murdoch, The Butcher of Perth. #Deport Murdoch
I believe it. We have his rag the NY Post here, and he just started one in California!!! I look at the Daily Mail from the UK most days to see what they are writing (and the comments. OMG) and know he has the Aussie papers too. They are all disgusting, but nothing has destroyed the world more than FOX. I damn him for that considering so many watchers are illiterate, but they can listen to this garbage 24/7. He's such a blight on society. Yet this fossil Rupie is the energizer bunny rabbit and keeps on ticking. And had an engagement between Jerry and this new one. I wonder if this last wife who is Russian, is a handler. For billions of dollars, I swear on my beloved little nieces and nephews, I wouldn't let one claw of his near me. And the irony on top of everything is I'm too old for him!!! I'm Jerry Hall's age. LOL I hope she has that tell-all biography ready to hit "send" the minute he croaks....dying to know why he left her. No one other than Wendy Deng has been young enough to spawn. I wonder if that was by choice. Not one more to dilute the dynasty.
As the magnificent Tina Brown has educated us, Rupee is a crocodile. When this hellion first started reading The Sunday Times of London back in the 80s, when he took it over, he was/is cagey enough that the paper appealed to the Times readership, and did not go tabloid. Until the second Reagan Administration the Fairness Doctrine had been intact in the United States for years. If you broadcast an opinion during your news program, you had to offer equal time to a countervailing opinion. Reagan's FCC in the late 80s did away with that. This is what gave rise to the one-way talk radio in the early 1990s. Murdoch exploited that opening in 1996 with Fox News. Interestingly when he tried to introduce Fox News to the British market years ago it fell flat in a matter of months, because the UK audience saw it for what it was: mediocre entertainment, not news, so Fox News disappeared from UK TV.
As to Wendy Deng, this was the old crocodile being so full of himself, he married Chinese, because he was looking to move into the Chinese market, and naturally in Western moron thinking, thought it strategic in marrying a Chinese woman would increase his chances with the Chinese government. Silly Westerner! Of course the Chinese saw right through him and his foolishness, and told the WTWM (White Trash with Money) to hit the road.
Rupert Murdoch being WTWM? Just as you are what you eat, you are what you publish, and when you publish trashy, you are trashy, no matter how much you flash the cash, hence WTWM.
I always get a chuckle when I see your name. Thank you for the education. There are just so many WTWM I can't keep up. I remember the picture of her and him in black turtlenecks on his yacht (probably in my bible Vanity Fair). I thought she was using him even more for the money and sealing the deal with the 2 spawn. Everything just feels so globally incestuous. Wasn't there a rumour she was wild about or had a thing with Tony Blair? And two of her best friends are Ivanka and Jared (and Itm pretty sure I read that their older daughter if not the other two were learning Mandarin) . And now Tony Blair is supposed to be one of those on the "Board of Peace"? And if he is, where is he getting the billion from? Ugh. It's all so tawdry. I still in a million years will never get him and Jerry Hall, unless it was her way of getting back at Mick marrying a billionaire when Mick is known to be so tight he squeaks.. Hope she walked away with a fortune. I always liked Jerry. I was earnest when I hoped she was going to get to the finish line and be the Merry Widow.
After inheriting the Adelaide News, his first venture on his own was to acquire the Sunday Times of Perth. That was Act 1 of Murdoch Tabloid, free of his fathers, or outside influence, hence my reference.
He also tried to get into TV in Perth at that time but was shot down.
I didn’t know about the Perth connection. I do know (or legend has it) that as a boy Rupert used to sell apples outside Cruden Farm, which is on the outskirts of Melbourne. Elizabeth Murdoch (the matriarch) left that property to the state on her death a few years ago.
It's hard to ignore the parallels between Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump, especially how dysfunctional paternal relationships led to their emotional pathologies. Murdoch comes across as a pure sociopath. Unfortunately for the rest of us, these twisted people tend to have a lust for power – and those who fulfill that lust are driven to make the rest of us suffer.
Trump, wicked as he is, is loyal to his kids. I don't think he pulled this sick stuff on him. I suppose he has one redeeming quality, canceled by his poisonous corruption.
great read. Would love your POV on Lauren & Anna sharing a car to the couture shows and the future of Conde Nast now that its fully crossed over to the dark side
WOW! It seems on the surface that evil wins, but I cannot help but compare Murdoch to Trump. A case for how a cruel dysfunctional childhood can create such monsters. It seems that the Murdoch kiddos are at least aware of their pathology whereas the Trump clan seems as clueless as the Donald. These people cruise through life leaving people in the ditch. All have wealth, power, and true evilness, and I have no compassion for any of them. When I see people starving in tents in Gaza and then see this bunch, I wish them all the worst.
Quite right. When Dennis Potter was dying of cancer, he called his tumour Rupert. Murdoch has been a cancer on every nation whose media he has infiltrated, and as a result of Fox News, a cancer on the world.
Exquisite. Lucky Gabriel Sherman to receive such a pithy, elegant review. As for the Murdochs, few if any journalists, have dissected their protean dynamics as this bit of Fresh Hell.
Great read. when Murdoch was married to Wendy Deng, they lived in a loft on Prince street and quite frequently on a Sunday morning when I went to Pain quotidian for breakfast croissants, Murdoch would be sitting there, quite alone , with a stack of newspapers and a coffee. No sign of security.
Outstanding Tina. Shakespearean. Father against children. Siblings against siblings. Then "Rupert's Viagra Years" and the "gnarly old gargoyle" 😂 Tina, your way with words. The best.. Now two more half-sisters, and a final step-mother (no doubt a shrewdie) with I assume their own deals. I really was hoping Jerry would be the glamorous widow. 🤗 ( love the nugget that she couldn't talk to the writers of Succession as part of the divorce. She probably has her own book deal when he drops. She's had quite a life herself). Starting from the top down with Rupert's parents, all are products of poor parenting, no matter how much money and power they have. Just like Donnie T. Rupert was really cold-blooded with everything and everyone he ever met. Ugh, what he did to those kids. I've never seen Succession, but know the story. Competing for love and attention and money...no matter whatt the age. . Esp the half-sisters. Has Rupie accepted the part that he's not living forever and can't take it with him that Donnie still has not? Last wife will be the Merry Widow. She'll hire a nurse, not be one. Then the final chapter to come. Just bought it. Thanks, Tina.
Good one, Ms Brown! This corporate bastardization of media plays over and over again. What’s more, it stands as yet another example of greed’s ever unsated appetite. Sigh.
Absolutely brilliant, from the lede "not getting overwhelmed by the sand" to the perfect phrasings ("gnarly old gargoyle). Tina Brown goes from strength to strength--the best read in (on?) Substack, or anywhere.
I wonder if anyone here recalls the line in Peter Sellers' movie, "After The Fox", where Peter's character, as the film's director character, rises in his hydraulic director's chair, surveys the landscape, and pronounces, "I want more sand in the desert!"? Maybe he was referencing Sam Spiegel's thoughts on making "Lawrence Of Arabia", and Rupert Murdoch's influence on America's culture.
If there is anyone who should've been deportee number one, stripped of his US citizenship, and sent back to the penal colony from where he arose, this is the individual. He represents the worst of all America can be, and some have become. Few in America have played into the hands of our adversaries better than this fool. His out of control lust for power using Freedom of the Press as a dagger through the heart of the ideal, "We the People in Order to Form a more Perfect Union," is unparalleled in liberal democracies here and abroad. He has taken the words of Thomas Paine in Common Sense, "It is not in our numbers , but in our unity that our strength lies," and tried to butcher them into oblivion. Murdoch, The Butcher of Perth. #Deport Murdoch
Yes, he was the end of civilization as we knew it. Ground Zero.
Robin,
Even the Aussies think so, at least the many I regularly interact with, and they are appalled that one man should have so much power.
I believe it. We have his rag the NY Post here, and he just started one in California!!! I look at the Daily Mail from the UK most days to see what they are writing (and the comments. OMG) and know he has the Aussie papers too. They are all disgusting, but nothing has destroyed the world more than FOX. I damn him for that considering so many watchers are illiterate, but they can listen to this garbage 24/7. He's such a blight on society. Yet this fossil Rupie is the energizer bunny rabbit and keeps on ticking. And had an engagement between Jerry and this new one. I wonder if this last wife who is Russian, is a handler. For billions of dollars, I swear on my beloved little nieces and nephews, I wouldn't let one claw of his near me. And the irony on top of everything is I'm too old for him!!! I'm Jerry Hall's age. LOL I hope she has that tell-all biography ready to hit "send" the minute he croaks....dying to know why he left her. No one other than Wendy Deng has been young enough to spawn. I wonder if that was by choice. Not one more to dilute the dynasty.
Murdoch does not "have" the Daily Mail, although it nonetheless is disgusting.
Thank you for the correction. I always thought it was one of his so I appreciate the info. It's still a rag. LOL.
As the magnificent Tina Brown has educated us, Rupee is a crocodile. When this hellion first started reading The Sunday Times of London back in the 80s, when he took it over, he was/is cagey enough that the paper appealed to the Times readership, and did not go tabloid. Until the second Reagan Administration the Fairness Doctrine had been intact in the United States for years. If you broadcast an opinion during your news program, you had to offer equal time to a countervailing opinion. Reagan's FCC in the late 80s did away with that. This is what gave rise to the one-way talk radio in the early 1990s. Murdoch exploited that opening in 1996 with Fox News. Interestingly when he tried to introduce Fox News to the British market years ago it fell flat in a matter of months, because the UK audience saw it for what it was: mediocre entertainment, not news, so Fox News disappeared from UK TV.
As to Wendy Deng, this was the old crocodile being so full of himself, he married Chinese, because he was looking to move into the Chinese market, and naturally in Western moron thinking, thought it strategic in marrying a Chinese woman would increase his chances with the Chinese government. Silly Westerner! Of course the Chinese saw right through him and his foolishness, and told the WTWM (White Trash with Money) to hit the road.
Rupert Murdoch being WTWM? Just as you are what you eat, you are what you publish, and when you publish trashy, you are trashy, no matter how much you flash the cash, hence WTWM.
I always get a chuckle when I see your name. Thank you for the education. There are just so many WTWM I can't keep up. I remember the picture of her and him in black turtlenecks on his yacht (probably in my bible Vanity Fair). I thought she was using him even more for the money and sealing the deal with the 2 spawn. Everything just feels so globally incestuous. Wasn't there a rumour she was wild about or had a thing with Tony Blair? And two of her best friends are Ivanka and Jared (and Itm pretty sure I read that their older daughter if not the other two were learning Mandarin) . And now Tony Blair is supposed to be one of those on the "Board of Peace"? And if he is, where is he getting the billion from? Ugh. It's all so tawdry. I still in a million years will never get him and Jerry Hall, unless it was her way of getting back at Mick marrying a billionaire when Mick is known to be so tight he squeaks.. Hope she walked away with a fortune. I always liked Jerry. I was earnest when I hoped she was going to get to the finish line and be the Merry Widow.
Butcher from Melbourne or Adelaide??? Not Perth…
Dear Janice,
Thank you I stand corrected!
After inheriting the Adelaide News, his first venture on his own was to acquire the Sunday Times of Perth. That was Act 1 of Murdoch Tabloid, free of his fathers, or outside influence, hence my reference.
He also tried to get into TV in Perth at that time but was shot down.
I didn’t know about the Perth connection. I do know (or legend has it) that as a boy Rupert used to sell apples outside Cruden Farm, which is on the outskirts of Melbourne. Elizabeth Murdoch (the matriarch) left that property to the state on her death a few years ago.
All interesting…
It's hard to ignore the parallels between Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump, especially how dysfunctional paternal relationships led to their emotional pathologies. Murdoch comes across as a pure sociopath. Unfortunately for the rest of us, these twisted people tend to have a lust for power – and those who fulfill that lust are driven to make the rest of us suffer.
Trump, wicked as he is, is loyal to his kids. I don't think he pulled this sick stuff on him. I suppose he has one redeeming quality, canceled by his poisonous corruption.
I disagree. Trump is loyal to no one. He’d throw anyone under the bus even his children.
100% 👍
Brilliant observations. ❤️❤️
great read. Would love your POV on Lauren & Anna sharing a car to the couture shows and the future of Conde Nast now that its fully crossed over to the dark side
WOW! It seems on the surface that evil wins, but I cannot help but compare Murdoch to Trump. A case for how a cruel dysfunctional childhood can create such monsters. It seems that the Murdoch kiddos are at least aware of their pathology whereas the Trump clan seems as clueless as the Donald. These people cruise through life leaving people in the ditch. All have wealth, power, and true evilness, and I have no compassion for any of them. When I see people starving in tents in Gaza and then see this bunch, I wish them all the worst.
Quite right. When Dennis Potter was dying of cancer, he called his tumour Rupert. Murdoch has been a cancer on every nation whose media he has infiltrated, and as a result of Fox News, a cancer on the world.
Exquisite. Lucky Gabriel Sherman to receive such a pithy, elegant review. As for the Murdochs, few if any journalists, have dissected their protean dynamics as this bit of Fresh Hell.
“... the gnarly old gargoyle dumped Anna for 30-year-old Wendi Deng…”
LOL!
Great read. when Murdoch was married to Wendy Deng, they lived in a loft on Prince street and quite frequently on a Sunday morning when I went to Pain quotidian for breakfast croissants, Murdoch would be sitting there, quite alone , with a stack of newspapers and a coffee. No sign of security.
Great yarn Tina. Thank God for freedom of the press, eh ?
I don’t know if I could stand to read a whole book about this creep.
Appreciate Tina’s summary.
And he's just one creep. They're everywhere these days.
I know!
Always anticipate your brilliant and beautiful writing and point of view. thank you.
Outstanding Tina. Shakespearean. Father against children. Siblings against siblings. Then "Rupert's Viagra Years" and the "gnarly old gargoyle" 😂 Tina, your way with words. The best.. Now two more half-sisters, and a final step-mother (no doubt a shrewdie) with I assume their own deals. I really was hoping Jerry would be the glamorous widow. 🤗 ( love the nugget that she couldn't talk to the writers of Succession as part of the divorce. She probably has her own book deal when he drops. She's had quite a life herself). Starting from the top down with Rupert's parents, all are products of poor parenting, no matter how much money and power they have. Just like Donnie T. Rupert was really cold-blooded with everything and everyone he ever met. Ugh, what he did to those kids. I've never seen Succession, but know the story. Competing for love and attention and money...no matter whatt the age. . Esp the half-sisters. Has Rupie accepted the part that he's not living forever and can't take it with him that Donnie still has not? Last wife will be the Merry Widow. She'll hire a nurse, not be one. Then the final chapter to come. Just bought it. Thanks, Tina.
"Pathology of power" is too right, and a brilliant description.
Stunning article, Tina
Good one, Ms Brown! This corporate bastardization of media plays over and over again. What’s more, it stands as yet another example of greed’s ever unsated appetite. Sigh.