Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is the most powerful media organisation in the world. Murdoch's commercial success is obvious, but less well understood is his successful pursuit of political goals, using News Corporation as his vehicle.

In Murdoch's Politics David McKnight tracks Murdoch's influence, from his support for Reagan and Thatcher, his deal with Tony Blair and attacks on Barack Obama. He examines the secretive corporate culture of News Corporation: its private political seminars for editors, its support for think tanks and its global campaigns on issues like Iraq and climate change.

Including analysis of the phone hacking crisis, possible bribery charges and Murdoch's appearance at the Leveson enquiry, this book is a highly topical study of one of the most influential and controversial figures of the modern age.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. vii)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 Crusading corporation (p. 13)
• 2 The outsider (p. 38)
• 3 At the barricades of the Reagan Revolution (p. 62)
• 4 Gatecrashing the British establishment (p. 84)
• 5 Orthodoxy in the blood (p. 106)
• 6 Outfoxing the liberals (p. 127)
• 7 The reign of the Sun King (p. 149)
• 8 The road to Baghdad (p. 172)
• 9 False dawn on climate change (p. 194)
• Epilogue (p. 212)
• Acknowledgements (p. 221)
• Notes (p. 223)
• Index (p. 252)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this brief, thoughtful examination of Rupert Murdoch, likely the most powerful media baron in the world, McKnight (Univ. of New South Wales, Australia) details the inside workings (both lurid and mundane) of Murdoch's News Corporation. He offers some insightful observations, for example, identifying a "Fox News effect," wherein the "ultra-tabloid style" of the network's news ultimately influenced rival cable news organizations. McKnight scrutinizes how Murdoch controls the news content of his empire without appearing to do so directly (a lengthier examination of Murdoch's relationship with Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, would have been welcome). McKnight chronicles the growth of the Murdoch empire, in which conservative ideology and profits were intertwined as it expanded from Australia into Britain and the US. Profits from the electronic ventures were used to prop up the print outlets, with their lagging income. McKnight discusses Murdoch's relationships with Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, and both Bush presidents. Chapters on Murdoch's treatment of the US invasion of Iraq and worldwide climate change are particularly well done. The phone-hacking scandal in Britain is covered briefly in an epilogue. This is not a traditional biography, but it is an excellent brief alternative. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. R. E. Dewhirst Northwest Missouri State University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

David McKnight is Associate Professor at the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, and a former journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC TV's Four Corners.