Page 7 Murdoch was confronted: Shown in footage contained in David Bowden, “Milly Dowler Family Set for 2 Million Pound Hacking Payout,” Sky News, September 19, 2011.
Chapter 2
Page 9 the idea of Australia: Multiple current and former Murdoch editors, executives, and confidants, interview by author.
Page 9 Robert Thomson, born in a small town: Mark Baker, “Rupert Has Got a Crush on You,” The Age, March 23, 2013; several current and former Thomson colleagues, interviews by author.
Page 9 Col Allan, from the tiny agrarian town: Lloyd Grove, “Rupe’s Attack Dog Gets Bitten, Keeps Barking,” New York Magazine, September 10, 2007.
Page 9 The British-born Les Hinton: James Robinson, “Les Hinton: Murdoch Consigliere Who Smoothed Waters After Goodman Case,” Guardian, July 8, 2009.
Page 10 David Hill, an Aussie who ran sports: Joe Flint, “Fox Sports’ David Hill Superimposes His Will on TV,” Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2010.
Page 10 “The story of our company is the stuff of legend”: David Folkenflik, “Murdoch Confronts Critics at News Corp Meeting,” All Things Considered, October 21, 2011.
Page 10 “Adelaide is irrelevant”: Graeme Samuel, interview by author, Melbourne.
Page 10 An infant born in Melbourne: Information taken from institutional websites, including Newscorp.com, Newsspace.com.au, various not-for-profit organizations in Australia.
Page 11 Stephen Mayne, formerly an editor: Description of Mayne derived from author’s interviews of Stephen Mayne; a former News Corp official; and an associate of Lachlan Murdoch. All subsequent Mayne quotes in this chapter are taken from author’s interviews with Mayne.
Page 11 much of what his father had written didn’t stand up: Shawcross, Murdoch, pp. 21–22.
Page 12 The son adopted radical leftist politics: Shawcross, Murdoch, pp. 32, 38.
Page 12 publicity manager of the Cherwell: Chris Baraniuk, “Who Guards the Guardians,” Oxford Today, October 15, 2012.
Page 13 “I don’t know of any son of any prominent media family”: Dynasties: The Murdochs, ABC (Australia), 2001. Subsequent quotes from Dame Elisabeth are also derived from this documentary.
Page 13 He married young and had a daughter: Kiernan, Citizen Murdoch, pp. 55–56, 81–82.
Page 14 News Corp was granted waterfront property: Paola Totaro, “Auditor Attacks Showground Deal for Murdoch,” Sydney Morning Herald, December 9, 1997.
Page 15 “He’s a big, bad bastard”: Paul Keating to Tony Blair, July 16, 1995, from Alistair Campbell’s diaries, as cited by Leveson Inquiry lead lawyer Robert Jay in question to Blair. From Leveson transcripts, May 28, 2012, Blair testimony, pp. 60–61.
Page 15 “I don’t want to pretend this is a guy”: Andrew Jaspan, interviews by author, for this and subsequent quotations.
Page 15 John Hartigan, then CEO and chairman of News Ltd: Leigh Sales, interview, July 14, 2011, ABC (Australia), www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3269880.htm.
Page 16 he informed Hartigan it was time: Andrew Crook, “Farewell Big Harto: News Ltd CEO John Hartigan Resigns,” Crikey.com.au, November 9, 2011.
Page 16 “Long time in newspapers”: Tom Baxter, interview by author.
Page 16 beachside community of Albert Park: Author, visit to Albert Park; Kate MacFadyen, interview by author.
Page 17 Between six and seven of every ten copies: Figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation and Roy Morgan Research for 2011 as cited in Wendy Bacon, Sceptical Climate: Media Coverage of Climate Change in Australia, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, 2011, p. 23.
Page 17 “he’s the bloke they have to please”: Paul Barry, interview by author. (Subsequent Barry quotations taken from this interview.)
Page 17 “It’s a pretty clear stranglehold”: Monica Attard, interview by author.
Page 18 Rupert Murdoch addressed the nature of media ownership: Murdoch, BBC interview, 1968, http://youtu.be/wtcq8RDDPFU?t=2m.
Page 19 “Most [Australian] Labor politicians hated Rupert”: Former senior News Corp executive, interview by author; Tony Wright, “Politicians of All Stripes Beat a Path to Murdoch’s Door,” The Age, July 16, 2011.
Page 19 “by far the most detailed paper”: Robert Manne, interview by author.
Page 19 “Here is Australia’s first truly national newspaper”: Copy of full July 1964 mission statement provided to author by News Ltd, as reproduced, with permission: www.npr.org/assets/news/2012/04/05/australian.pdf.
Page 21 Murdoch believed that the avid backing: Philip Dorling, “Whitlam Radical, Fraser Arrogant, Hawke Moderate: Secret Cables Reveal Murdoch Insights,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 20, 2013.
Page 21 the Australian sets the tone: Numerous Australian journalists, both for Murdoch and non-Murdoch titles, interviews by author.
Page 21 “someone’s probably not going to edit”: James Chessell, interview by author, for this and subsequent Chessell quotations.
Page 22 he took direct aim at the Australian: Manne, Bad News.
Page 23 The paper commissioned a full book review: Matthew Ricketson, “Forensic Critique of a Paper of Influence,” Australian, September 24, 2011.
Page 23 the newspaper fired back: Headlines in the Australian included “Conspiracy Theories May Be Less Laughable If Manne Got Out More”; “Bad News: The Diary of a Murdoch Hater”; “Manne Allows Ideology to Cloud His Judgments”; “A Critic Untroubled by Facts Who Seeks to Silence Dissent”; and “Manne Throws Truth Overboard.”
Chapter 3
The discussion of newspapers at the beginning of this chapter is influenced by my interviews in recent years with many editors who previously worked for or competed with Murdoch’s News International, including former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, former Sunday Times (UK) editor Andrew Neil, former Times of London editor Simon Jenkins, former Independent editor Simon Kelner, former News of the World deputy features editor Paul McMullan, former Sunday Herald editor (and senior editor at the Times of London) Andrew Jaspan, Times of London/Sunday Times head of digital Tom Whitwell, Sunday Times executive editor Tristan Davies, former assistant Sun editor Roy Greenslade, former chief executive of the Economist and ITN David Gordon, Guardian editor in chief Alan Rusbridger, and former Guardian director of digital content Emily Bell, among others. In addition, my thinking was shaped by less formal conversations with a dozen other British journalists, by my interviews with eight members of Parliament, by my reading of various British papers, and by the testimony of the editors of various British newspaper titles before the Leveson judicial inquiry.
Page 24 “xenophobic, bloody-minded, ruthless”: Roy Greenslade, “A New Britain, a New Kind of Newspaper,” Guardian, February 25, 2004.
Page 24 “Stick it Up Your Junta!”: As cited in Chippindale and Horrie, Stick It Up Your Punter!, p. 136.
Page 25 stands in the Hillsborough soccer stadium in Sheffield collapsed: Chippindale and Horrie, Stick It Up Your Punter!, pp. 345–348.
Page 25 The reporter on the story, Harry Arnold: “Sun Reporter Harry Arnold’s Hillsborough Headline Regret,” BBC.co.uk, September 7, 2012, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19507065.
Page 25 comedian had eaten a woman’s hamster: Max Clifford, witness statement to Leveson Inquiry, February 9, 2012.
Page 26 “always been in the gutter”: Kelvin MacKenzie on BBC Two’s Daily Politics show, December 8, 2011.
Page 26 MacKenzie boasted: Kelvin MacKenzie, interview by author.
Page 26 “If any politician wanted my opinion”: Rupert Murdoch, testimony before Leveson Inquiry, April 25, 2012, morning session.
Page 27 in a previous generation: See, for example, Tifft and Jones, The Patriarch; and The Trust.
Page 27 “I find American newspapers boring—and biblical”: Simon Jenkins, interview by author.
Page 28 Murdoch sketched out his philosophy: Rupert Murdoch, MacTaggart Lecture, Edinburgh International Television Festival, August 25, 1989, p. 4, www.geitf.co.uk/sites/default/files/geitf
/GEITF_MacTaggart_1989_Rupert_Murdoch.pdf.
Page 28 Prince Charles, by then married . . . telephoned his girlfriend: Michelle Green, “Bugged and Bedeviled,” People, February 1, 1993.
Page 29 the prince’s sexual banter: Paul McMullan, interview by author.
Page 29 the British press faces tight regulations: British media lawyers David Hooper and Mark Stephens, interview by author; Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, interviews by author.
Page 29 could obtain so-called super-injunctions: Roy Greenslade, “Law Is Badly in Need of Reform as Celebrities Hide Secrets,” London Evening Standard, April 20, 2011.
Page 29 McMullan snorted at the idea: Paul McMullan, interview by author.
Page 29 “anything that the public is interested in is in the public interest”: Paul McMullan, testimony to Leveson Inquiry, November 29, 2011, pp. 39–40.
Page 29 “Privacy is for paedos”: McMullan, testimony to Leveson Inquiry, November 29, 2011, p. 91.
Page 30 One of McMullan’s infamous scoops: McMullan, interview by author.
Page 30 McMullan showed undue modesty: McMullan gave a fuller account to the Leveson Inquiry, p. 93.
Page 31 “Do you just stick your fingers in your ears”: McMullan, interview by author.
Page 31 Johnson later claimed that he had “blackmailed”: Joshua Haddow, “Confessions of a Tabloid Terrorist,” Vice (UK), www.vice.com/en_uk/read/confessions-of-a-tabloid-terrorist-hack-graham-johnson-q-and-a.
Page 31 “the editors start shouting”: McMullan, interview by author.
Page 31 “The tone was buccaneering”: David Gordon, interview by author.
Page 31 Murdoch’s cadre of Australians imported . . . “mateship”: This section is based on David Folkenflik’s interviews with Andrew Jaspan, who worked for and against Murdoch in the UK and competed against Murdoch in Australia; a former News Corp executive; former New York Post editor and publisher Ken Chandler; and Australian historian and novelist Thomas Keneally.
Page 32 traces the origins of mateship: Keneally, email exchange and conversation with author.
Page 32 the carnage of Gallipoli: Keneally, email exchange with author.
Page 32 Associated R & R Films Pty Ltd: As cited in Wolff, Man Who Owns the News, p. 63.
Page 32 Mateship can take the form of a favor: Andrew Jaspan, interview by author.
Page 33 invited to spend a boozy night: Freya Petersen, email interview by author.
Page 34 tapped his mate Dunleavy: Shawcross, Murdoch, pp. 196–197.
Page 34 In her entry in Who’s Who: Geoffrey Levy, “Rebekah Brooks, the Schmoozer Hated by Murdoch’s Wife and Daughter,” Daily Mail, July 17, 2011.
Page 34 Brooks had prepared particularly well: Piers Morgan, Insider, pp. 39, 50.
Page 35 “name and shame” approach: “Police Criticize Paedophile ‘Name And Shame,’” BBC News, July 30, 2000; “Innocent Man Branded Child Abuser,” BBC News, August 3, 2000.
Page 35 eighty-three convicted sex offenders: Matt Born, “Paper Drops Paedophile Campaign,” Telegraph, August 5, 2000.
Page 35 handing over a mobile phone from the paper: Mark Stephens, lawyer for Sara Payne, interview by author.
Page 35 Dr. Yvette Cloete returned to her home: Brendan O’Neill, “Whispering Game,” BBC News, February 16, 2006.
Page 35 A mob chased a family: “Mob Violence at Home of ‘Paedophile,’” Telegraph, August 4, 2000; “Police Condemn ‘Paedophile’ Attacks,” BBC News, August 7, 2000; “Families Flee Paedophile Protests,” BBC News, August 9, 2000; Dave Hill, “After the Purge,” Guardian, February 5, 2001.
Page 36 Bryant clad only in briefs: Simon Walters, “Posing in His Y-Fronts for a Website Called Gaydar, the MP Who Helped Scrap Ban on Gay Sex in Public,” Mail on Sunday, November 30, 2003; Richard Littlejohn, “No, I’m the Only Gay in the Valleys,” Sun, December 2, 2003; “Blair’s Attack Poodle Says Pants to the Lot of You,” Sunday Times, December 7, 2003.
Page 36 “Shouldn’t you be on Clapham Common?” Chris Bryant MP, interview by author.
Page 37 Some of the older reporters hired private investigators: As cited by Graham Johnson in Hack, Kindle edition, location 2905 of 5126.
Chapter 4
Page 38 On a subfreezing morning: Author’s attendance during tour, as reflected in David Folkenflik, “With Headline Bus Tour, ‘New York Post’ Takes Manhattan,” All Things Considered, March 19, 2013. Various Post headlines as indicated in text of chapter.
Page 39 Murdoch had broken into the American market: Julie Domel, “Rupert Murdoch’s 1973 Purchase of E-N,” San Antonio Express-News, July 29, 2011.
Page 40 This world welcomed Ken Chandler: Ken Chandler, interview by author. Subsequent Chandler quotations from this chapter are also derived from that interview.
Page 40 Murdoch . . . promised in writing that he would keep faith: Nissenson, Lady Upstairs, p. 403.
Page 41 Murdoch deployed: Interviews by author with Chandler; and additionally a former senior Post editor; and a former midlevel Post editor; also as cited in Kiernan, Citizen Murdoch, pp. 208–209.
Page 41 how to take down Geraldine Ferraro: As cited in Kiernan, Citizen Murdoch, pp. 289–290, invoking the reporting of Geoffrey Stokes in the (Murdoch-owned) Village Voice on Dunleavy memo.
Page 41 didn’t think much of a woman: As cited in Kiernan, Citizen Murdoch, p. 290.
Page 43 “What would Rupert think about this?”: Viv Groskop, “David Yelland: ‘Rupert Murdoch Is a Closet Liberal,’” Evening Standard, March 29, 2010.
Page 43 making the conservative case for war: Julia Day, “Murdoch Praises Blair’s ‘Courage’,” Guardian, February 11, 2003.
Page 44 Murdoch called British prime minister Tony Blair: “Rupert Murdoch Pressured Tony Blair over Iraq, Says Alastair Campbell,” Nicholas Watt, Guardian, June 15, 2012.
Page 44 Every now and then he’d invite a reporter up: Former New York Post reporter Tim Arango, interview by author.
Page 44 periodically urinating in a sink: As cited in Lloyd Grove, “Rupe’s Attack Dog Gets Bitten, Keeps Barking,” New York Magazine, September 10, 2007.
Page 44 the tail that wagged the dog: As cited in Corky Siemaszko, “For Sale: Page Six,” New York Daily News, May 19, 2007.
Page 45 it emerged in the Aussie press: For example, Glenn Milne, “Rudd Admits to U.S. Strip Club Visit,” Sydney Daily Telegraph, August 19, 2007; “Strip Club Outing Will Hurt Me, Rudd says,” ABC (Australia), August 19, 2007.
Page 45 Sandra Guzman, a Latina journalist: Allegations and quotations taken from original complaint in Sandra Guzman v. News Corp et al. 09-CV-9323. Admissions by Post editors on Steve Dunleavy’s remarks to Robert George taken from depositions attached to the case.
Page 46 the Post endorsed her for Senate: As cited in “Pataki’s the One,” editorial, New York Post, November 6, 2004.
Page 46 Ruddy was speaking warmly: Chris Ruddy, “Bill Clinton Interview: Hillary Will Make the Decisions,” NewsMax, October 31, 2007; Chris Ruddy, interview by author.
Page 46 yet the New York Post endorsed Barack Obama: “Post Endorses Barack Obama,” editorial, New York Post, January 30, 2008.
Page 47 Fox News chairman Roger Ailes interceded: David Carr and Tim Arango, “A Fox Chief at the Pinnacle of Media and Politics,” New York Times, January 9, 2010.
Page 47 Elisabeth Murdoch . . . had raised money: Andrew Porter, “Elisabeth Murdoch Hosts Barack Obama Fundraiser,” Telegraph, May 14, 2008.
Page 47 the Post reverted to form: “New York Post Endorses John McCain,” editorial, New York Post, September 8, 2008.
Page 47 Post cartoonist Sean Delonas drew a chimpanzee: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,” Sean Delonas, editorial cartoon, New York Post, February 18, 2009.
Page 47 In an editorial headlined: New York Post, “That Cartoon,” February 20, 2009.
Page 47 Allan also released a statement: Nico Pitney, “New York Post Defends Cartoon, Slams Al Sharpton,”
Huffington Post, February 21, 2009.
Page 48 Murdoch issued his own apology: “Rupert Murdoch Apologizes for Chimp Cartoon,” CNN.com, February 24, 2009.
Page 48 “I don’t understand the history”: Allan’s testimony as presented in Guzman v. News Corp. et al.
Page 48 Among Allan’s critics: Michael Wolff, interview by author. Former News Corp executive Gary Ginsberg told the author he did not remember the episode and otherwise declined to comment on it.
Page 49 Deng’s story was one of astonishing ambition: John Lippman, Leslie Chang, and Robert Frank, “Rupert Murdoch’s Wife Wendi Wields Influence at News Corp,” Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2000.
Page 49 a Chinese Becky Sharp: Eric Ellis, “Wendi Deng Murdoch,” The Monthly (Australia), June 2007.
Page 49 The divorce settlement was reported to have cost $1.7 billion: For example, Paola Totaro, “The Reluctant Son: Lachlan Murdoch and News Corp,” Monthly, March 2012; Amy Chozick, “After 14 Years, Murdoch Files for Divorce from Third Wife,” New York Times, June 14, 2013.
Page 49 in reality she settled: Author’s interview with former senior News Corp executive, which accords with reporting by earlier Murdoch biographers Michael Wolff and Neil Chenoweth.
Page 49 The Man Who Owns the News received scant coverage: Database searches show no articles containing “Michael Wolff” or “The Man Who Owns the News” in any News Corp newspaper in the US or the UK in the period surrounding the publication of the book. The Australian published a laudatory review by Stephen Loosley, “Making Murdoch,” on November 29, 2008. The paper also published a less flattering feature column calling the book gossip.
Page 49 the gossip website Cityfile: Cityfile.com is now defunct, but the article is cited in Owen Thomas, “Victoria Floethe, the New Media Ingenue,” February 26, 2009, http://gawker.com/5161010/victoria-floethe-the-new-media-ingenue. Not all observers credited Wolff’s explanation for the coverage of his personal life. Foster Kamen, then of the Village Voice, wrote skeptically of Wolff’s claims that the Post planted the story of his affair in blogs to give it cover: Kamen, “Shut Down: Michael Wolff’s Rupert Murdoch/City File/Page Six Conspiracy Theory: Shut It Down!” http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/05/michael_wolffs.php. Through public relations representatives, Col Allan and other Post executives would not comment for this book.
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