Keith Murdoch

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Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist, businessman and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the current CEO and Chairman of News Corp.

Early life

Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1885, the son of Annie (née Brown) and the Rev. Patrick John Murdoch, who had married in 1882 and migrated from Cruden, Scotland, to Victoria, Australia, with Patrick's family in 1884. His paternal grandfather was a minister with the Free Church of Scotland, and his maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister.

The family moved from West Melbourne to the affluent suburb of Camberwell in 1887. Keith was educated at his uncle Walter's short-lived school, then at Camberwell Grammar School, where he became dux in 1903, despite extreme shyness and stammering. He decided not to go straight to university but to try a career in journalism, so family friend David Syme of The Age agreed to employ him as district correspondent for nearby Malvern. Over the next four years, he managed to create a significant increase in The Age's local circulation, to earn promotion, and to save enough money for a ticket to England, where he hoped to gain further experience and find ways to manage his stammer.

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Education and career

He went from 1908 to 1909 in London, took speech therapy with Lionel Logue, studied part-time at the London School of Economics, and sought to find work as a journalist with the support of more family acquaintances, including Australia's Prime Minister Alfred Deakin. His stammer became manageable, but Pall Mall Gazette announced that it would have cost him a job shortly after. Murdoch returned home in September 1909 to resume work for The Age, now as a national correspondent, as well as Andrew Fisher, who boosted the family's bonds with politicians, including Andrew Fisher, in several cases involving them at his aunt's country guest house.

He became Melbourne's political correspondent for the Sydney Sun in 1912. In 1915, losing out to more experienced Charles Bean for the position of official Australian correspondent covering World War I. Murdoch and Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, as well as two other MPs, the Hon. The Hon. J. Boyd and the Hon. D. Hall, a historian who covered war talks between Fisher and New Zealand Prime Minister William Massey, just before the deployment of Australian and New Zealand troops in the Gallipoli campaign. They travelled from Wellington aboard the Ulimaroa, a German migrant, who landed in Sydney on February 2nd 1915. Andrew Fisher and Defence Minister George Pearce asked him to stay on his journey to London to look at some issues of concern pertaining to Australian troops in the conflict, so he stopped off in Egypt. While on August, he was able to obtain the permission of Sir Ian Hamilton, the Dardanelles campaign's commander, to visit Australian troops in Gallipoli and write his thoughts for the newspapers, subject to the usual military censorship. He signed a letter saying he did not intend to seek recognition by any other route or by other means than that which had been officially sanctioned" and that he did not "impart military information of a private nature" during the conflict, which was not the case when first reported to Chief Field Censor.

Murdoch arrived in Anzac Cove at the start of September and then transferred to the island of Imbros. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, a Washington journalist who was deeply worried that censorship was being used to censor criticism of the Dardanelles campaign, which, as Murdoch had seen for himself, had serious difficulties. Murdoch promised to forward a letter from Ashmead-Bartlett to British Prime Minister H. Asquith in London on September 8th, giving his uncensored account of the situation. Hamilton quickly learned of the letter (another British journalist, Henry Nevinson, was blamed for this, but his biography points to a Royal Navy war photographer). Murdoch was arrested by Military Police in Marseille on his way to London, and the letter was confiscated. He arrived in London on September 21 and spent some time at the Australian High Commission writing his own letter to his Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, who was largely critical of the British general and administrative staff, particularly the British general and administrative staff.

With Andrew Fisher's letter of introduction, he sent the letter to Australia and sent two copies to British Munitions Minister David Lloyd George. Murdoch's letter arrived in Asquith and was circulated among senior ministers of the British government very quickly. About this time, Ashmead-Bartlett, who was barred from the Dardanelles, made it to London, and shortly after, his version of events began to be published. Murdoch, who was initially worried that Northcliffe's employees had a copy of his private letter, became a friend of the newspaper tycoon. Although his letter, written from memory, contained many errors and exaggerations, Hamilton's main points were backed up by other evidence and Hamilton was relieved of command, and the subsequent attempt to evacuate the troops from Gallipoli in December was carried out with utmost success.

Murdoch attempted to negotiate with Field Marshal Douglas Haig in 1917 while reporting the Western Front as an unofficial war correspondent (A.I.F.). The Australian Corps will bring together divisions. Despite Murdoch's recommendation of Major General Brudenell White as the new corps commander while celebrating Major General John Monash (who was of Jewish German descent) as the Australian Corps's command was given command when the corps was established in 1918. Murdoch, alongside official war correspondent Charles Bean, continued to campaign for Monash's demotion by pledging directly to Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes and lulling him into the belief that the A.I.F. Monash's top officers had a vehement opposition. When Hughes first visited the front with the intention of replacing Monash, he first interviewed the same senior officers, finding that their support for their commander was strong and that Monash's planning and execution abilities were excellent. The following result of Monash's assault ended the question of Monash's suitability, but Murdoch tried to persuade Hughes that Monash should not have to control the repatriation of Australian troops.

Murdoch stayed in London, growing the cable television network, writing influential newspapers, and assisting his friend Billy Hughes on trips to England—until he was given the opportunity to write chief editor at the Melbourne Herald in January 1921. With regular assistance from Northcliffe himself, he began applying Lord Northcliffe's principles. As he was in London, he concentrated on political matters, but he also made the Herald more popular in other ways, such as improved arts coverage and celebrity contributions. In 1922, Hugh Denison, the owner of the Sydney Sun News-Pictorial, attempted to break into the Melbourne market with the Sun News-Pictorial, resulting in the newspaper's circulation up by 50%, but the new tabloid was not available in 1925. He adopted the name "Lord Southcliffe" and became the company's managing director in 1928, by which time the Sun had been on his way to become Australia's biggest-selling newspaper.

Elisabeth Joy Greene, an 18-year-old débutante, was photographed in 1927 in Table Talk magazine and arranged for a friend to introduce him. Mrs Elisabeth Murdoch married on the Cruden Farm estate in Langwarrin in June 1928, becoming Mrs Elisabeth Murdoch. They had children Helen (later Mrs Geoff Handbury), Rupert Murdoch, Anne (later Mrs Milan Kantor), and Janet (now Mrs John Calvert-Jones). I had been active in the early years of the Wars for a while, beginning with Isabel Law, the daughter of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and potential Prime Minister Bonar Law.

He had led a movement to take over newspapers in Australia from 1926 to 2004, with differing success. In Adelaide, for example, the Herald publisher took over the feeble The Register in 1928 and turned it into a Sun-style picture tabloid. The previously dominant Adelaide Advertiser accepted a takeover bid within months, and the Register was largely closed in 1931, shortly after the Herald bought the evening Adelaide News, securing a local monopoly. Murdoch had been investing in newspapers on his own account, particularly in Brisbane, where he purchased shares in the Daily Mail and later merged with Courier. He maintained his velocity with latest technologies, and by 1935, the Herald had eleven radio stations (while Murdoch attempted to prohibit the official Australian Broadcasting Commission from establishing its own news service). He oversaw the merger of rival cable companies to establish Australian Associated Press Ltd in 1935, as well as a scheme to install a paper mill in Tasmania.

Murdoch's papers protested James Scullin's Labor Party government in the 1930s, and gave full support to the ex-Labor politician Joseph Lyons, who ran unsuccessful 1931 bid to become Prime Minister. He was awarded a knighthood in July 1933 and, as an art connoisseur with an appreciation for modern art, he became a trustee of Victoria's museums and galleries. He had some regrets about his help for the strong-willed Lyons, saying, "I put him there and I'll drive him out" in 1936. Meanwhile, others were becoming extremely worried about the risks of concentrating so much press power in the hands of one person. After Australia became involved in the Second World War, all came to a halt. Murdoch was promoted to a newly created Australian Government position, Director-General of Information, on June 18, and he obtained permission to press Government statements as and when required. Comparisons were made with Goebbels, press cooperation was shattered quickly, politicians protested, and politicians protested, and amid efforts to update the law, he was forced to resign the position in November.

He returned to the newspapers (from where he had promised to distance himself while serving in the government) and challenged Labor Prime Minister John Curtin (who led a minority government in 1941) and was re-elected with a landslided majority in 1943). In 1942, he became chairman of the Herald group and in 1944, retaining his connection with the art world, he established the Herald Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne. He became chairman of the National Gallery of Victoria's trustees the following year. He resigned from most of his duties except the Herald in 1949 and signed an agreement with the Herald board to purchase the Adelaide newspapers as the first option in the case of a future auction of his Brisbane newspapers.

Murdoch died at the family's home, Cruden Farm, Langwarrin, Victoria, on the night of 4–5 October 1952, the funeral service was held at Toorak Presbyterian Church. A large part of his estate, which was appraised at £410,004, was sold to pay off mortgages, death charges, etc. (the Herald exercised its right to buy the Brisbane newspaper shares), but the family was still firmly in charge of News Limited, the Adelaide News's sole owner.

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