Rupert Murdoch’s crazy house (series by a Murdoch insider)
Far from being a “hands off” proprietor, News Ltd’s former Queensland general manager Rodney E. Lever reveals the manic control Rupert Murdoch exercises over News Ltd newspapers — even so far as allegedly using them to try to buy off Australian politicians.
IT WAS what I call the middle years with Rupert Murdoch where it was the hardest for me to cope. It started with the launch of The Australian, followed by the crazy Whitlam years, a string of wasteful unwinnable wars, innocent lives lost and total confusion in the management of News Corp.
Rupert seemed to be everywhere and nowhere. The best people had left the company. In offices it was all Rupert, Rupert, Rupert. Rupert said this, Rupert said that. To keep my sanity I tried to regard myself an observer. It seemed like trying to be an observer on the Titanic.
It was the telephone that made people jump. At the first ring, people said: “It’s Rupert” and their face went white. He would ring people from anywhere in the world and never mind the time. Breakfast time, lunchtime, dinnertime. What time is it in London? What was the time in New York, Singapore, Berlin, Moscow, Reykjavik? It didn’t matter if Rupert wanted to call you...................
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/rupert-murdochs-crazy-house/
