9781761428067_

Crikey owner and ex-News Corp and Fairfax editor lifts the lid on the abuse of power by media moguls from William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk and on his own unique experience of working for (and being sued by) the Murdochs.

Whats gone wrong with our media? Eric Beechers answer is: its owners, many of the biggest of them at least. They have exploited their privileged position in society to distort journalism and accumulate vast wealth and power.

Few people know the media like Eric Beecher. He has worked at Fairfax and News Corp, founded and sold Text Media, and is currently the biggest shareholder in the news website Crikey. Hes been journalist, editor and media proprietor, and has the rare distinction of having both worked for and recently been sued by (unsuccessfully) the Murdochs.

This is a book only he could write: a portrait of the rise of media moguls over the past two centuries, and an analysis of how they have destroyed news journalism and undermined truth by using the shield of the freedom of the press to cover their quest for personal power. In a year that will see Fox News and Donald Trump fight an election, no book could be more timely and important in our understanding of how the media has become an agent of misinformation.

The Men Who Killed the News is deeply informed by Beechers own experience and delivers engaging first-hand insights. His in-depth research takes us from Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst the first sensationalist newspaper owners in the US, who made fortunes and established dynasties to their UK successors Lords Northcliffe and Beaverbrook; contemporary media dictators like Conrad Black, Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch; and on to Musk and Zuckerberg, the latest, tech-inflected manifestation of the mogul.
In 2024, more people will vote in elections than ever before: never has the role of the media been more virulent and of more urgent interest. Eric Beecher is the perfect guide to understanding how media power works: the players, the techniques, the strategies, the behind-the-scenes machinations.

...(*_*)9781761428067_

Whats gone wrong with our media? The answer: its owners. From William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk, from the British press barons to colonial upstarts Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch, media proprietors have manipulated the news to accumulate wealth and influence as they meddled with democracy.

Eric Beecher knows the news business from bottom to top. He has been a journalist, editor and media proprietor (of Text Media and Crikey), with the rare distinction of having both worked for and been sued (unsuccessfully) by the Murdochs.

This book reveals the distorted role of the media moguls of the past two centuries: their techniques, strategies, behind-closed-doors machinations, and indulgent lifestyles. It explains how they have exploited the shield of the freedom of the press to undermine journalism and truth.

In an era of fake news, AI and misinformation, this is democracys chillingly important story: how a small coterie of flawed and narcissistic moguls created a shadow of power that has contributed to making the media an agent of mistrust.

...(*_*)9781761428067_

Readings Best Books of 2024, Non-Fiction
Nominated for the 2025 Sperber Prize

Never before has the media played such an active part in our politics, with Elon Musk using X to affect world elections and direct US government policy. But as Crikey owner and ex-News Corp executive Eric Beecher shows, media moguls have a long history of abusing their power

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The Men Who Killed the News

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