South Sea Bubble pt3

Never met the guy, I am sure at a heart Rupert Murdoch is a perfectly decent person, but I am inordinately pleased that he is getting his comeuppance. I don't think I have been overcome with the British disease of knocking the successful. It is has been a very long standing revulsion for him and his style of operation.

Credit were it is due. The Unions and the Print Union had a strangle hold on UKplc. They were wedded to old technology, highly and overly protective to past working practices and were intent on winning at all costs against old inept management. Did one suckle the other or was it ever an unequal power struggle? Matters not. Murdoch with, I very strongly suspect, more than a helping hand from that woman, Thatcher, broke the unions strangle hold and enabled the press to re-invent themselves, fit for the C20.

What I did not like at the time was the ruthless, single-minded and utterly intransigent approach. Fine maybe for the new colonies but it grated in my craw. We have grown to be more sophisticated and subtle, more mindful all others right and proper concerns. That does not equate to pushover, let the bully boys win. There are win win answers if you take the time and adopt the right strategies. Let the gobby take themselves out onto a extended limb and then leave them there to hang. So no I was not a fan of Murdoch then.

Not too worried when he gobbled up the gutter press but then went on to gobble up all the Qualities as well, that was another nail in his coffin. His management style shows scant regard for sensibilities and displays a contempt for subtly, integrity or conscience. Not dynamic traits but not ones that help ensure the news you promulgate have a resonant ring of authenticity either. So his style gave me no assurance that the quality titles he tucked under his belt would prosper and grow their reputations. Editorial freedom matter little when either you provide the required slant, sales and profit margins or you are summarily dismissed and replaced with a more compliant editor. Murdoch sitting on top of the pile set the agenda and set the bar on what was acceptable. If he considered nothing was exempt from getting a lead over rivals, then that line was even more energetically pursued by all those under him. It was his role and position to set the moral bar, except he did not see the need for one.

So I really don't think my objections to him are based on envy, dislike of change or a desire to unseat a top dog but derive from a gut distaste for a style that just wasnt British. That he then went on to use his accumulated power and wealth to master mind the take-over of terrestrial TV. No doubt running at the same time a background campaign denigrating licence fee paid services, just served to raise my alarm even higher.

So I will not crow but I am mightily pleased he has had his comeuppance and I have every expectation that his bloated empire might crumple and vanish into a blackhole, all in a twinkle of my eye.