Who's Afraid Of Rupert Murdoch?

Just about everyone, it seems. Rupert Murdoch, the upstart Aussie who broke every journalism rule to reach a dizzying level of power, has antagonized people on three different continents while becoming the Howard Hughes of media. Sure, he's crude, boorish, prurient, salacious, and a few other undesirable adjectives, but he's also as rich as Croesus and this PBS Frontline report on how he got that way is quite fascinating. It seems as if whenever he was told he couldn't possibly be a success in something (start a national newspaper in Australia, launch a fourth network in the United States, steal TV coverage of pro football from CBS) he set out to prove that his detractors were completely wrong. Along the way, he helped to jump start a flagging British tabloid industry by adding the popular Page Three Girls, dealt a mortal blow to decency standards in this country with his upstart Fox network, and told the powerful British labor unions to take a flying leap when they refused to go along with his ideas to modernize the newspaper printing plants. The only quibble I have with this video is that it does not have the power of a direct interview with Murdoch; we are treated, instead, to interviews with people who still bear the imprint of his foot on their backs and a picture of a rather unsavory character emerges. Libraries with large media collections, those with patrons interested in management styles, and those with a need to offer materials on influential people of the 20th century will be interested in this video. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Carlson)