The power of media is a longstanding source of commercial interest among the wealthiest people of the world. I recently saw a documentary by Ken Burns about Benjamin Franklin, the man often referenced as the most globally powerful American of his era and perhaps the most influential Founding Father of what has become the most powerful country in the world. Franklin was indeed an influential figure in early American media, and was so significant in early American publishing (the media of his era) because he owned and operated a highly successful printing house in Philadelphia, published the Pennsylvania Gazette, which became the most successful newspaper in the colonies, created Poor Richard’s Almanack, an extremely popular annual publication that ran for 25 years and is still often quoted today, and established a network of printing partnerships across the colonies. As such, he used his printing business to establish himself financially, retiring from active business at age 42. He used his publications to shape public opinion on political matters, pioneered several journalistic techniques, including political cartoons, and had a network of printers who helped spread revolutionary ideas throughout the colonies. He even used pseudonyms to publish various political and social commentary pieces.
The next great media giant I recall was William Randolph Hearst of Citizen Kane fame. He and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher and philanthropist, vied for dominance in the mass publication market. Hearst was one of the most powerful and influential media moguls in American history. His impact on journalism and media was profound. His media empire included the nation’s largest newspaper chain, reaching over 20 million readers at its peak, and he owned 27 other major newspapers across key American cities, controlled magazines, radio stations, and news services, pioneered multimedia ownership before it was common, creating Hearst News Service and International News Service. He, along with Pulitzer, popularized what we now call “yellow journalism” by sensationalizing stories to drive circulation and introduced bold headlines, extensive illustrations, and dramatic storytelling. He even pioneered the use of color comics in newspapers. Hearst used his media outlets to push his political agenda like helping to drive public support for the Spanish-American War. He even ran for political office multiple times, including an unsuccessful run for President. At his peak, he built Hearst Castle, a 165-room mansion, which still enjoys a commanding position in the central California coast. His legacy of Hearst Communications still exists today and goes a long way towards demonstrating the power of media consolidation and how media ownership can translate into political influence. Meanwhile, Pulitzer is best remembered for his endowment of his literary awards, which demarcate excellence in writing.
Back in 1990 I had the opportunity to meet and interact with Robert Maxwell, the British media mogul who adopted Hearst’s and Pulitzer’s “yellow journalism” approach and owned a media empire anchored by The Daily Mirror, London’s biggest tabloid. I was introduced to him by our bank’s Chairman, Charlie Sanford, who had mentioned me to him because he had an interest in investing in Argentina and I had recently rebuilt our entire Latin America Department. I have also suspected that Charlie thought of me when he dined with Maxwell because Maxwell and I shared a similar and notably large physique. I was tasked to spend three weeks in Buenos Aires with Maxwell and his crew, representing him as his merchant banker as he tried to buy up interesting assets in Argentina. In keeping with his media influencer image, he had the head of one of his hot media properties, MTV Europe, join us (for no particular reason other than to show off his popular media reach). It all afforded me a real inside view into the workings of a media mogul’s thinking and playbook. One of the most fascinating episodes of that chapter was when I was summoned by Maxwell’s son and heir apparent to his empire, Kevin, then the head of Maxwell’s McMillen Publishing Company in New York, to keep tabs on the rambling and erratic initiatives of his father. It gave me the opportunity to get to know Kevin, his brother Ian and his now infamous and incarcerated sister Ghislaine (now imprisoned for child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein). I saw firsthand how media empire succession can be a very messy business.
For the last 30 years and especially the last ten of those, our world has largely had its sense of reality shaped by another infamous media mogul and his family, Rupert Murdoch and his Fox empire. I read today that a Reno, Nevada judge has denied a motion by Rupert and his eldest son, Lachlan, to alter a 1999 irrevocable trust which partitioned the media assets of Murdoch among his six children and vested control of the media empire equally in the hands of the four oldest children (including Lachlan). What the 93-year old Rupert has determined is that his recent training of Lachlan in the ways of diabolically and manipulatively conservative spin media is the best way to perpetuate his perverse influence on the world beyond the grave. So, he wants to recast his trust to vest full control of his conservative media empire (Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, etc.) with Lachlan so that the far less manipulative inclinations of his other three oldest children cannot sway and alter the impact and conservative leaning of the evil empire. This is the biggest crack in the stone wall of Murdoch’s universe since the Dominion Securities settlement of $787 million agreed 18 months ago. Rupert and Lachlan will surely appeal the judge’s irrevocable trust ruling, but until then the Murdoch stone wall would seem to be crumbling like all walls and all evil empires do eventually.
The legacies of great and responsible media titans like Franklin and Pulitzer live on as positive examples of responsible media power. Even the more controversial Hearst lives on in memory because of his efforts to bring beauty to the California coast. But Maxwell and eventually Murdoch, who have made a habit of perverting the media to turn their worldview into the prevailing view, are destined to go down in flames. I believe in the prevailing of good versus evil in the world and that suggests that the succession of evil will always fall apart at some point and the world will allow truth to reemerge and force ill intent back into the shadows where it belongs. There are very few more positive steps that will benefit America and Americans more than the fall of the house of Murdoch. It has too long perverted the American perspective and when Rupert dies, just like when Trump eventually dies, the world may not become as it once was, but it will certainly become a safer, kinder, gentler and more honest world where caring for one another can take precedence over boosting up one’s own needs and opinions.
Succession is a bitch, Rupert.