Media Unmade – Chapter 11: Blood, Sweat and Tears; and The Unmade Index slides again

Welcome to the latest edition of the Unmade podcast. Today’s edition features another free extract from the audio edition of my book, Media Unmade, which is published by Hardie Grant and available online and in book stores.

One of the things I was fascinated to learn in researching Media Unmade was the atmosphere in Kim Williams’ big office in News Corp’s Holt Street headquarters the day he told his team he was leaving. He may have earned the opposition of the company’s editors, but his inner circle were true believers. Until I wrote the book, I don’t think it was in the public domain that Williams had wept when he told his team the news. On as an emotional and tiring day as that, there’s no shame there.

Even now, I can’t make up my mind whether the company would be in a stronger position if Williams had been able to see through his restructuring, or whether his challenge to state-based autonomy would have wiped out local advertising in the long term.

This chapter also covers the 2013 stock split that saw News Ltd become News Corp Australia, and the creation of 21st Century Fox. As I wrote in Unmade yesterday, the split, which was lucrative for shareholders, was an example of Rupert Murdoch’s deal making genius.