F - Rupert Murdoch

The Media Mogul's true identity. Welcome to the official "Read All About It" Rupert Murdoch site, dedicated to the Howard Stern fans' passion for knowing EVERYTHING about the man who wishes to TELL IT ALL about everyone else. This is to the man who published Howard Stern's home address in his popular New York newspaper. Let your curtain of privacy rise, Rupert Murdoch!

Here's the life story of this controlling, egomaniac, distorter of the truth...

Parts taken from the PBS produced Frontline video, "Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?"

He spent his teenage years at racetracks gambling. He referred to Lenin as "the great teacher" to bother his father, later while a student at Oxford he had a bust of Lenin on a mantle in his dorm room.

While a student at Oxford he ran for office in a labor club and was disqualified after distributing flyers for breaking rules that prohibit self promotion. "He breaks the rules sometimes of gentlemanly conduct, and he's made a career out of doing
that." ---Thomas Kiernan, biographer.

In London he took a job as copy editor of the Daily Express on Fleet Street where "he came to believe that newspapers were meant to entertain, not educate."---Ken Auletta, narrator.

In The Australian, which Murdoch founded, he wanted a serious quality paper to give him credibility and political influence.

In 1972 he supported labor party candidate Gough Whitlam as prime minister of Australia. Whitlam claims that after the election Murdoch demanded to be made ambassador to London! Murdoch denied this at first and was publicly outraged that Whitlam would tell the public what his actual intentions were! (What a pompous jackass!)

In 1975 instead of supporting Whitlam, Murdoch supported the more conservative Malcolm Fraser and so did The Australian. "..nothing appeared in the paper if it didn't follow the line, ...most extraordinarily ruthless and one sided political coverage I think any of us can remember, and we devoutly hope we never see it again."----MungoMacCullum, former political reporter The Australian.

Malcom Fraser won and following the election papers were burned in the streets and journalists striked, not over money but ethics. Later at Murdoch's request, Malcolm Fraser had laws on foreign ownership of television stations changed which allowed Murdoch to maintain residency elsewhere.

The News of the World was the biggest selling newspaper in Britain and since 1891 had been family owned (majority owned). Robert Maxwell, a corporate raider was threatening to buy the paper so the William Carr family sought a "white knight" to save them form the undesirable Robert Maxwell. Rupert Murdoch described himself as that "white knight" promising that Sir William can stay on as chairman while Murdoch would be managing director and purchase 40% of the stock. Rupert Murdoch promised that he would not seek majority ownership. When the shareholders voted they chose Murdoch over Maxwell because that was what the Carr family wanted, even though Maxwell was offering more money. Six months after the merger Murdoch broke his word and sought majority control. "The Carrs were outraged and called Murdoch a liar. The charge that his word was counterfeit would follow him." The papers reputation, which was not good before Murdoch, worsened and became known as "the news of the screws".

The News of the World was a weekly and Murdoch also wanted a daily so in 1969 he bought the Sun. "He regarded journalism really as a branch of the entertainment business, and he thought that people bought a paper not to be
instructed or edified or to know about the world, but to have a laugh."--- Alan Watkins, newspaper columnist. Under Murdoch the Sun started printing the "Sun Lovely", a topless model on page three.

In 1976 Murdoch bought the New York Post, the oldest continuously published daily in America. Rupert Murdoch's wife Anna told Thomas Kiernan (who has written a biography of Murdoch) that if he put page three girls in the New York Post as he wanted to do, she would leave him because she didn't want her children to see it. "He's a complex personality, because if you read the editorials in his newspapers there are very highly moralistic and they are very highly principled and so on, and yet they appear in papers that are almost without principles journalistically."--- Thomas Kiernan

According to Steve Dunleavy, reporter for the New York Post, Murdoch made the paper more conservative and replaced one fourth of the staff with tabloid reporters previously employed by Murdoch.

In 1981 Murdoch bought the 200 year old Times of London. According to Andrew Neil, former editor the Sunday Times, because Murdoch already owned The Sun and The News of the World his acquisition of the Times should have been referred to the monopolies commission but was not because Murdoch had the right political connections. However the Articles of Association in parliament do commit Murdoch to not be involved in the editorial direction the paper takes, in the way he has been involved with The Sun and the News of the World.

"He's a good businessman and a lousy journalist, a lousy journalist in the sense that he doesn't believe in public interest journalism, and he doesn't keep his promises, he's a liar, he's incontinent in breach of promises, and also he's a very treacherous person, it has to be said"---Harold Evans, who resigned as editor of Times one year after Murdoch took over.

The printing equipment for the Times was antiquated and the union refused to let the machines be updated for fear of losing jobs. Murdoch then secretly began an operation to produce the papers with modern computer equipment, if he could produce the paper entirely independent of the union that would entirely take away any bargaining power the union had. A team of American computer experts set up the operation in an old paper warehouse at a dock. Ben Smylie, head of the computer team, describes how the high tech machines arrived there in mis-marked crates, and cracks in the wall of the warehouse were not fixed so no one would find out about the operation. The plan worked, the union striked, all the employees were fired, and staff was brought in from Australia and New York to run the paper. Ten thousand former employees picketed in the street surrounding the new operation that was protected by barbed wire.

In 1985 Murdoch acquired Fox Studios. "Fox was given every break throughout the '80's on the grounds that a new network should be encouraged. The FCC decided that we need more networks, therefore a lot of hurdles that Fox should have had to jump over were just sort of quietly laid down, and Murdoch was allowed to just drive right on through. The irony is that Congress was complaining about violence and smuttiness on TV and Rupert Murdoch has been in the vanguard of that.

Mention is made about Cops and A Current Affair which was the first of the tabloid television news programs, that other networks have copied with programs like Hard Copy and American Journal. "It's all news that doesn't matter, and yet it's given such importance that viewers are led to think that it does matter somehow, its mere existence cheapens the whole area of broadcast journalism"--- Tom Shales

"Murdoch knew key republican law makers had pressured the FCC on his behalf, Congress even threatened to cut off the FCC funds." ---Ken Auletta

Mention is made of NBC filing a complaint with the FCC about the ownership of Fox television. NBC's beef was that the law states that no more than 25% of the money used to purchase a television station can be foreign. Murdoch clearly broke the law when 99% of the money used to purchase Fox was Australian! NBC's appeal was denied by the FCC. The NAACP also appealed the ruling of the FCC, but it was also denied.

Rupert Murdoch was not interviewed for this PBS broadcast because he said "he distrusted PBS". (No joke boys and girls!)

Hopefully this will shed some light on the diabolical nature of this Media beast. Rupert Murdoch can step on anyone he pleases, and has a long history of doing so, but he has made a BIG mistake of stepping on Howard Stern. WE FANS OF HOWARD STERN WILL NOT ALLOW THIS. DON'T THREAD ON US!

Ok Stern fans, now's YOUR chance to contribute. Let's gather all we know about this lying scumbag, email me with the goods, and I'll post it right here! Tidbits without credit are mine. If you do not want credit, let me know!! Else, you getting credit!!

News Corp reporters booted from Di's Funeral The Sun, owned by Murdoch, paid £50,000 for pictures of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed prior to the accident according to an article in the London Telegraph. The editors of tabloid newspapers were barred from Princess Diana's funeral by her brother, Earl Spencer, despite being earlier invited by Buckingham Palace. Stuart Higgins at The Sun, and Phil Hall at the News of the World, both News Corp papers were among the uninvited.

London Telegraph July 20, 1997 Federal authorities in the US are investigating the MCI deal with News Corp for possible criminal breaches. A grand jury in New York is looking into the role Michael Milken (who was barred for life from the securities industry as part of his sentence) had in the 1995 deal where MCI agreed to invest $2 billion in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

The case revolves around the involvement of Michael Milken, the disgraced former junk bond king, and his role in the 1995 deal in which MCI agreed to invest up to $2 billion in News Corp in return for a 13.5 per cent stake.

Milken pleaded guilty in 1990 to six felony charges and served two years in prison. He also paid more than $1 billion in fines and restitution. Under the terms of his settlement decree with the Securities and Exchange Commission he was banned for life from participating in securities transactions.

The decree barred him from "association with any broker, dealer, investment advisor, investment company or municipal securities dealer".

Milken has long been close to both Murdoch and the top brass at MCI, whose early expansion was substantially funded by junk bonds. The SEC has already been investigating whether his role as a consultant in the News Corp deal constituted participation in the securities business.

SKY TV gets countries to issue arrest warrants on Murdoch

SkyREPORT.COM News For 7/9/98 reported "Murdoch Wanted In India - Rupert Murdoch, brash frontman of News Corp., has been issued with arrest warrants from an Indian court. The business mogul has been charged with bringing obscene movies into the country via his Star TV operation. The year-old case against Murdoch claims that Star TV's movie channels and 26 cable operators showed foreign movies that violated India's Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and the Cinematograph Act."

In Bombay there are now three outstanding warrants for the arrest of K. Rupert Murdoch. The first stems from a talk show that defamed Gandhi, the second came about because the first was ignored, the third issued in December 1997 is for the telecast of obscene films on the Star TV network. Read about this in an article in India's Economic Times. Here are links to two more articles on the subject: article one, article two.

TAX FRAUD AND ILLEGAL WIRE TAPPING News Datacom Research is a company based in Israel that develops encryption technology and makes smart cards for use with the B Sky B satellite TV in Europe. It is 60% owned by Rupert Murdoch, 20% by Bruce Handmark of
Australia and Michael Klinger of the US and Uzi Sharon of Israel, 20% by the Weizman Institute and Professor Adi Shamir a cryptology specialist.

According to Globes, News Datacom is also developing multimedia, interactive and internet accessible services "for NewsCorps's and MCI's new network which is set to begin operation in two years time."

The Israeli government has accused News Datacom of tax fraud and more recently there are allegations of illegal wire tapping. One of the now-former employees was a fugitive from the US legal system for evasion of taxes in the US and Israel.

There are several nationwide investigations currently active in several countries, including the US and Isreal, containing to Rupert Murdoch's alleged illegal wire tapping actions.

Reuters report:

SYDNEY, April 3 (Reuters) - News Corp Ltd , the global media group controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said on Friday that it had signed an agreement to pay US$3 million in a settlement with the Israel Income Tax Commission.

67 Year old Murdoch dating 31 Year old; WE GOT HIS ADDRESS!!

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, preparing to divorce from wife Anna, has been romantically linked to a 31year-old executive from his Hong Kong-based Star TV network.

The new woman in Murdoch's life is Wendy Deng, a Chinese-born, Yale-educated Star vice-president, according to a report in one of his rival London newspapers, the Daily Telegraph.

Deng had been in Murdoch's base city New York for the past few weeks, the paper said.

The 67-year-old billionaire had also taken up a new residence in the most fashionable quarter of Manhattan, the paper said.

After separating from his wife, Murdoch has just moved into a suite at the Mercer Hotel in New York's Soho area.

He has also put his $33 million Los Angeles home up for sale, the paper said. -- Nine MSN News

November 4th, 1998 Murdoch expects healthy profits from new unit News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch told analysts and investors in a closed session Monday that Fox Entertainment Group as a publicly traded spinoff will double within five years the $36 million in collective profits that its assets posted in the fiscal year ended June 30. News Corp. executives are selling next week's planned initial public offering of Fox Entertainment Group. The publicly offered 13 percent will raise an estimated $2 billion, which will be used to pay down News Corp. debt. But...

The $36 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from Fox Broadcasting Co. last year is two to three times less than the earnings industry analysts estimated. Some analysts are concerned the company's valuation of the Fox properties involved in the IPO are overblown.

The Howard Stern FOX Show Let's not forget when Stupert, err, I mean, Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug on the highly anticipated Howard Stern FOX TV late night show, with band leader/legendary guitarist Leslie West.

Biographies:

Arrogant Aussie: The Rupert Murdoch Story by Michael Leapman 1984 Lyle Suart Inc., Syracuse NJ
Citizen Murdoch by Thomas Kiernan 1986 Dodd Mead and Co., NY
Murdoch by William Shawcross 1992 Simon & Schuster, NY
A Paper Prince by George Munster 1984 Viking, NY
Rupert Murdoch by Jerome Tuccille 1989 Donald I. Fine Inc., NY

MUCH MORE TO COME -- STAY TUNED!!

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