RUPERT MURDOCK is a hero of mine; he saved the British press from the industry’s over mighty trade unions and put an end to the ‘Spanish practices’ that permeated the industry. The print unions were at the time the masters of the universe, and newspaper editors feared their power to prevent publication of their newspapers. The print unions had been used to getting their own way for a very long while. But the beginning of the end came on 24 January 1986 when 6,000 print workers went on strike.
One entrepreneur, Rupert Murdock, had however, in response, an ace hidden up his sleeve. He had been secretly creating a new printing plant for all his titles at Wapping in London’s Docklands; and secured the support of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU); whose members manned the plant and started producing Murdock’s titles. From this time on nothing would be the same again for the print unions; and Rupert Murdock would be forever hated by the Left, and disliked by his competitors in the printing industry on both the Left and the Right. He had taken control of an antiquated system of both technology and employee management relations, and rid the industry of its greatest drag anchor, the militant and slothful print workers. From now on, with the help of new technology the days of union hegemony within the industry were over.
The print workers were sacked and set about besieging the print works in what became known as the ‘Battle of Wapping’; when round the clock picketing took place and barricades were erected to try and prevent Wapping from succeeding. But the times, as well as the technology, were against the unions and their power became depleted and eventually ended.
To Northcliff, Rothermere and Beaverbrook, could now be added Murdock (minus the peerage) in the annuls of newspaper ownership. He overshadowed newspaper publishing in this country for several decades after the Wapping experience: and any respect his competitors had for him was given grudgingly. But this must have only added to Murdock’s pleasure and delight at what he had achieved for newspaper publishing in this country. He stepped up to plate, a place where other owners feared to go, and resolved to end the sovereignty of the print unions over their employers.
His competitors would have no doubt acted with compassion and compromise in order to achieve the same goals – well, this is their excuse for their inability to tackle the unions. They, like Murdock, knew that the age of molten lead was over, but they were nevertheless afraid to upset their printers.
No doubt they would have said that, in the end, the unions would have had to have faced up to the inevitability of modern technology revolutionising the printing industry; and so why act prematurely? Well, for one thing; if the unions and the newspapers owners had come together to reach an agreement that would have allowed the new technology to be installed, with the loss of thousands of their members jobs; then the unions would have wanted some kind of quid- pro-quo that would have left them in the driver’s seat of the new technology, as they had been with the old.
Rupert Murdock knew that the unions had to be defeated, and it had to be done without any compromise. Compromising would have meant negotiation; which in turn meant agreeing, in part, to union terms. The unions had to have their power and influence over the industry ended and Murdock had the will to so do.
TODAY, IN THE LIGHT of phone hacking and the Levinson Enquiry; News International and the Murdock’s find themselves, where not only the liberal establishment (including the press) wishes them to be; but also Murdock’s competitors on the Right, i.e. the Daily Mail, Express and Telegraph.
Today Rupert Murdock has taken charge of his titles in this country. His son has removed himself from the same position and returned to America to oversee Fox and Sky. To Rupert Murdock however, newspapers are in his DNA.
I can remember as a paper delivery boy seeing the Daily Herald change to an earlier edition of the Sun. Like the Herald it was a broad sheet, and remained so until Rupert Murdock took it over. The old Daily Herald was on its last legs when it became the old Sun. But failure continued until Rupert Murdock bought the title and kept it: and this is where the genius of Rupert Murdock once more came into play.
When, as a paper boy I delivered the old broadsheet Sun, I carried no more than ten copies on my round. But, by the time Rupert Murdoch was finished, the new tabloid form of the Sun had added millions to its circulation, eventually taking over from the other dominant tabloid – the Daily Mirror.
Such success in any other country, would have been celebrated. But Rupert Murdock was a ‘chippy’ Australian. So even then, before Wapping, his competitors were not exactly enamoured of him. His natural Aussie bluntness caused offence among the other newspaper proprietors, and he probably knew that, if he were to make a success in the UK, he had to win the popular majority over to his side; which meant producing a tabloid newspaper that would serve such a market; and this he did.
Rupert Murdock should have been recommended for at least a Knighthood. The Sun has served the monarchist cause well in its time; even more so than the monarchs’ natural supporters, including the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, as well its republican enemy, The Guardian.
Murdock may be seen as a republican in Australia, but he always knows which side of the bread is buttered when it comes to profits; which is, after all, what every other newspaper is out to procure.
I do not believe that Rupert Murdock had any knowledge of the phone tapping that took place. Whether his son did or not is another question. Mr Murdock was, I believe, genuinely outraged by the phone tapping. Still, as far as his many enemies in the industry and parliament are concerned, innocent until proven guilty carries little weight…if he had been the leader of Hamas however – well, that would be a different story entirely.
Rupert Murdock is the last of the press barons; that small coterie of powerful individuals who were liked and loathed in equal measure. Politicians, including prime ministers and ministers of state, paid court to them. Lord Beaverbrook even served as a minister in the war time Churchill government, and had his admirers on the Left; admirers like Michael Foot, and the historian A J P Taylor sat at his feet, just as Thatcher, Major, Blair, and Brown sought the support of The Sun when they sought power for themselves.
I do not know whether he was offered a title or not; but that he deserved one, there is no doubt. He saved an industry and brought in a new style of management which, if it had been in existence in the 1970s, we may still have had a British car industry today. But now, lesser men than he, are attempting to destroy him out of nothing more than revenge…this shows the stature of the man.
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