A Monash University expert is available to comment on Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that he is stepping down as chairman of both Fox Corporation and News Corp after beginning his media empire in 1954.
Associate Professor Shane Homan, Head, School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University
Contact: +61 449 500 667 or shane.homan@monash.edu
Read more of Associate Professor Homan’s commentary at Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Associate Professor Homan:
“No one approaches Rupert Murdoch’s level in terms of the scale and historical impact on the media industries. He is the last of the great legacy media moguls, who took great delight in actively running his enterprises, with a fondness for newspapers and what they could do. In Australia, he has been courted by, and has in turn, shaped Prime Ministers and their agendas.
“We can also say that Murdoch has been a decisive influence in ending 'both sides-ism' of traditional journalistic practice. In establishing Fox News, he provided the template for a post-truth world where winning the debate must always triumph over the public good of informing societies.
“Murdoch has always been the master of the signature acquisition (for example, the Wall Street Journal). With a new wave of management, it will be interesting to see if the current News Corp structures endure, especially in the ways that broadcasting subsidises some branches of his print empire.”
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