Empire of Influence: Rupert Murdoch and the Crisis of Deliberative Democracy
The CRCC are delighted to invite you to join this talk by Professor Graham Murdock – part of a series of events celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture.
Empire of Influence: Rupert Murdoch and the Crisis of Deliberative Democracy
Professor Graham Murdock (Emeritus Professor, Loughborough University)
4th June, 2.00-3.30pm | B111 Brockington and online
Chaired by Professor Dominic Wring
Appearing in an episode of The Simpsons, made by Fox , a subsidiary of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, the company’s major shareholder and until recently chief executive, announces himself as ‘the billionaire tyrant’. Grounded in critical political economy and drawing on Graham Murdock’s recent book News Corp: Empire of Influence, co -authored with Bene Brevini and Michael Ward, this lecture unpacks this description of the leading media mogul of modern times.
Economically it interrogates Murdoch’s reputation as the quintessential deal maker ,examining the company’s pivotal role in print and television in the major English- speaking markets-Australia, the UK and US; detailing his push to globalise with satellite ventures in the key emerging markets of Japan, India and China; analysing his responses to the rise of digital media, and charting the successive crises that have prompted sell-offs, withdrawals, and retrenchment.
Politically the lecture explores Rupert Murdoch’s close relations with successive British and Australian prime ministers and American presidents, examines the mobilisation of his news outlets to make and break political reputations, and details the consistent promotion of right-wing populist ideology on a range of key issues across the company’s tabloid outlet on three continents.
Bio: Graham Murdock, Emeritus Professor of Culture and Economy at Loughborough University played a central role in establishing Loughborough’s undergraduate and post graduate teaching programs in communications . His work in the sociology and political economy of culture and communications is internationally known. He has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Auckland, California at San Diego, Mexico City, Curtin, Bergen, the Free University of Brussels, and Stockholm and is currently Honorary Professor in the Journalism Department at Fudan University in Shanghai. His writings have been translated into 21 languages. His books include; as co-author News Corp: Empire of Influence (2024) and as co-editor, Money Talks: Media, Markets, Crisis (2015) and Carbon Capitalism and Communication: Confronting Climate Change (2017)
To book please email: crcc@mailbox.lboro.ac.uk