By Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Rupert Murdoch only wanted one thing out of life… and that thing was… you. Palaces… fine cars.. every good thing in life, those items he could have had, but those dazzling prizes bored him. But you and your mind never palled or lost their interest. He craved you… wanted you… and always remained faithful to you, doing everything possible to control every thought in your mind. Rupert Murdoch is a great lover… and you were the unceasing object of his profound, unswerving devotion.
Like many other lovers, Rupert’s interest in you grew from the casual to the obsessive. He wanted to be with you every step of your life… supplying you with everything you needed….and going to great, exorbitant lengths to ensure you got it.
He gave you everything… and only wanted one thing: your full and total devotion. Love Rupert and Rupert would love you… Daddy was there to provide. And if along the way he broke a law or two or made the odd misjudgment, what matter? He did it all for you… and he’d do it all again; such is the true measure of his affection. He loved you, you see, not wisely but too well.
Keith Rupert Murdoch, born 11 March, 1931.
Rupert Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia. It’s a place named after Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, Viscount Melbourne. This wouldn’t matter much except for one of his lordship’s celebrated aphorisms, “That is no use at all. What I want is friends who will support me when I am in the wrong.” It’s something Murdoch should keep in mind these troubled days… the problem is he does not have, maybe never had, friends in the first place, a fact more glaring by the day….
From Adelaide to the world.
From his earliest youth, Murdoch had a fascination with getting his thoughts, ideas, quirks, eccentricities, idiosyncrasies and hobby horses into your head. This can only be done if you control media sources… and Murdoch knew instantly that he had to have such sources… lots of sources… maybe every such source to achieve his goal, to be a man worthy of himself.
His father, Sir Keith Murdoch was a wealthy man, money made through a series of regional Australian newspapers. Sir Keith was an empire builder… and made sure his son and heir had every advantage, including a stint at Worcester College, Oxford University where he supported the Labour Party.
When he was just 22, his father died, prompting his return from Oxford, becoming director of News Limited in 1953. To celebrate, he acquired the “Sunday Times” in Perth, Western Australia. He colored in this part of the world on his map, thereby showing where he had influence. He liked what he saw and knew he wanted more, much more. He had well and truly commenced his lifetime’s quest… exhilarated rather than intimidated at how much there was to accumulate and control… and how little time he had to do it.
His models, his inspirations were the truly great media moguls, people like William Randolph Hearst, Max (Lord) Beaverbrook, Joseph Pulitzer.. He aimed to beat the pants off these titans and become the greatest media giant ever, the man who acquired all, beat all, and surmounted all, triumphant and unassailable. On this basis for years he satisfied himself as he not only took over one key media source after another but developed as a crucial player in the “you scratch my back…” culture of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, the United States… and beyond. It was a marvelous, dazzling, thrilling formula for success:
* Buy media sources (print and television).
* Influence politicians.
* Keep politicians eager to please you, so you support their agendas and careers.
* Ensure that all governments know your power and want to please and appease you.
* Buy another media source… and do it all again.
“Content is king.”
The problem with acquiring media sources is that they are worthless unless people like you and me want and are willing to buy the content they deliver. Thus, every time Murdoch and his News Corporation acquired a new media property, they acquired the problem of keeping and increasing its audience. Another titan, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, knew the solution. His celebrated aphorism is “Content is king.” He used it in reference to the Internet, but it applied as well to Rupert Murdoch’s far-flung, always expanding empire.
It boiled down to this: if Murdoch’s empire was to grow and thrive, he needed superior content and he needed it every single day. That’s what we readers and viewers demanded… and we demanded we get it… or else.
With the stakes so high, so very high and always growing, with the voracious engines of Murdoch’s empire needing more and more customer-pleasing content, it soon became understood (but never, you understand, made public) that all means were permitted to get information that would help circulation. “You understand what I mean by ‘all means’?” he might have said… with his auditors bowing their heads, nodding, winking, thus signifying that they, too, understood what was at stake… and thereby entered into a conspiracy that grew and grew as the need for cash grew apace. It was a deal with the Devil which resulted in immoral deeds, illegal deeds, disgusting and disreputable deeds.
But Mr. Murdoch and the great news media he controlled needed copy… and, after all, we have our own deals with the Devil, don’t we? And so the stage was set… and the very gods of Olympus stopped what they were about, anxious to see what developed and what a man like Murdoch, with a mind without trammels, might do.
The action broke July 4, 2011, when it was that Murdoch’s “News of the World” tabloid ordered the hacking of the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year old girl abducted and murdered in 2002. The publication of that news was like the line that starts all horse races, “And they’re off…” And so they were as each day since then has brought an ever-expanding litany of what Murdoch would like us to believe were a “few minor mistakes”. But were they so slight?
* Item: Murdoch employees hacked the bank records for former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They also hacked the medical records for Brown’s four year old son, Fraser, who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
* Item: Murdoch’s operatives bribed the Queen’s royal protection officers to give them details of Her Majesty’s schedule.
* Item: Murdoch’s hackers, busily at their dark work, accessed the bank, medical and other personal records of thousands of people, looking for who-knows-what for who-knows-why.
In a moment, Murdoch’s unstoppable machine stopped… as politicians, who had kow-towed before the master, scented blood… and wanted it at once, not because of “vengeance” of course (never that) but only for the best and loftiest of reasons.
And so one story of deception, lies, and privacy violation after another surfaced, Murdoch and his empire swooned…. until on July 13th Murdoch had to withdraw a $12 billion offer for shares he does not already own in Britain’s main satellite television broadcaster. And this is only the beginning of miseries as Murdoch’s emboldened critics will now avenge their many abasements and humiliations at his hands, for they have all awaited this satisfaction for many seasons. Murdoch, the consummate street fighter, will never go softly into that good night… but go he must, or lose all. Then when asked why he who had so much had to have more, at any cost, he will say this: “I had to do it, for you, you, the only person I have ever loved.”
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com Check out Instant Traffic Robot -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=ep6SGTie
