Bare Naked Principles

Michael Hedges August 27, 2012 Follow on Twitter

For commercial businesses, say free-market absolutists, no single principle carries more weight than profit. To a standard more lofty than puerile pennies comes the media sector, wearing public service, interest and values proudly. Virtue is in the beholding.

British media withheld from view last week the grainy mobile phone photos of a naked Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, available worldwide on the web. The Royal Family had asked discretion from the media, the story itself providing ample embarrassment, and all complied. That ended when Rupert Murdoch personally intervened, reported the Independent (August 26), and commanded the News International owned UK tabloid The Sun to publish the photo on the front page.

“There is a principle here,” the proprietor reportedly told News International chief executive Tom Mockridge. “I know this is about Leveson but this is humiliating. We can't carry on like this. We should run them, do it and say to Leveson, we are doing it for press freedom.” A “well-placed source” also told the Independent that Mr. Murdoch was “angry.”

The Leveson Inquiry into ethics and media brought on by certain ethical lapses (phone hacking, police payoffs, et.al.) will shortly complete its task and report findings and recommendations that may or may not result in press regulation in the UK. Mr. Murdoch, “humbled” as he testified last year to the Leveson Inquiry, sees no need for such intervention.  The marketplace – other incentives notwithstanding – rules. Press freedom means the freedom to profit.

Mr. Murdoch’s invective followed by only a day daughter Elisabeth’s plea at the Edinburgh Television Festival (August 23) that “profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster.” Elisabeth Murdoch, chief executive of TV production house Shine Group, gave the annual MacTaggart lecture. Shine Group is wholly owned by News Corporation, the transaction itself raising more than a few eyebrows.

Standing before television industry peers Elisabeth Murdoch delivered a well-crafted story, defining herself, revealing her vision. “My life has been blessed with opportunities,” she explained, “and I hope that I have always tried to make the most of them, taking the rough with the smooth. There have been plenty of both.” Perhaps more than speaking this gathering of the TV “tribes,” she seemed focused on an audience of one.

She talked of the “willful madness” of launching the Shine production house, underwritten by her father. “I decided to follow Shine’s well established mantra and went out to find like-minded people with whom we could achieve more than we could alone,” she explained. “It became clear to me that News Corp was the best strategic home for us.”

Like-mindedness does not extend to the recent troubles plaguing News Corporation, which is “currently asking itself some very significant and difficult questions about how some behaviors fell so far short of its values,” she observed. “Personally, I believe one of the biggest lessons of the past year has been the need for any organization to discuss, affirm and institutionalize a rigorous set of values based on an explicit statement of purpose.”

It was brother James Murdoch speaking to the same gathering of British television tribes in 2009 who talked of profit being the sole guarantor of media independence. But those were the days of his heir apparence and he rattled the company line about the “chilling” effect of public broadcaster BBC on the UK television industry and threatened to leave the UK if News Corporation’s bid to takeover completely pay-TV company BSkyB was thwarted.

“James was right that if you remove profit, then independence is massively challenged,” noted Ms Murdoch, "but I think that he left something out: The reason his statement sat so uncomfortably is that profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster.” As her production company sells to the BBC, it’s quite cool, she added. In a question and answer period the morning following the MacTaggart lecture she admitted having a voice in booting brother James out of the UK and News International CEO Rebekah Brooks out of a job.

It’s been said Rupert Murdoch has newspaper ink in his veins. Elisabeth Murdoch has screen flicker in her eyes, a true TV native. She watched a lot of TV growing up, listing all her favorites, Partridge Family included. “I love television. Always have. Always will. Television has been my friend, my comfort and my window on the world. It has been the source of so many ideas, emotions and experiences, all of which have shaped who I am and helped form my beliefs.”

Elisabeth Murdoch is not pining away for television’s golden days nor accepting half measures in the television present. “We all know that the traditional eyeballs-based advertiser model is ultimately not sustainable. A model that by definition requires an audience to be seen as a means to an end is not viable,” she observed. “Slapping a hashtag in the corner of the screen doesn’t begin to build a community.”

While describing the Murdoch’s as “a normal family,” she noted the difference. “My Dad had the vision, the will and sense of purpose to challenge the old world order on behalf of ‘the people’. He literally bet our house on it. My parents spoke to us vividly over the breakfast table about what this purpose meant, and that we could be obliged to be permanent outsiders and constant nomads. But even back then, I understood that we were in pursuit of a greater good, a belief in better.”

The special relationship between fathers and daughters has inspired literature for centuries. From poets to playwrights  - and on to psychologists - the complexity is profound and enduring. “It doesn’t matter who my father was,” wrote poet Anne Sexton, “it matters who I remember he was.”

See also in ftm Knowledge

Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation

News Corporation is a highly competitive media giant a global, multi-media footprint. From paywalls and pay-TV to tabloid troubles and new ventures the media industry watches Rupert Murdoch. Update includes family ties, succession plans and other News Of The World. 210 pages PDF (September 2012)

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