TV REVIEW : ‘Murdoch’ Profiles Politics but Offers Few New Insights

About 89 minutes into “Frontline’s” 90-minute profile of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, correspondent Ken Auletta announces, in somewhat stentorian tones, “It was only after months of talking to Murdoch and tracking his life that it dawned on me what he really was--a modern-day pirate.”

Not really. Pirates stole what they wanted; Murdoch buys it. Pirates broke the law; Murdoch bends the law to his will--or gets it changed to suit his needs.

Murdoch has repeatedly outmaneuvered, outbid and outlasted his competitors, broken his promises, sacked his employees--and emerged from virtually every controversy and confrontation richer, stronger and with a clearer vision of the future than any of his competitors or detractors.

Murdoch is more riverboat gambler than buccaneer, and his high-stakes bets over the past 40 years have given him a communications empire that took in $9 billion last year and that reaches hundreds of millions of people across six continents, through newspapers, magazines, book publishing, a television network, satellite broadcast systems and online computer services.

“Who’s Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?” attempts to explore the many complexities and contradictions of the Murdoch persona--the first of these being that Murdoch initially agreed to cooperate with “Frontline,” then changed his mind and slammed the door . . . while simultaneously cooperating with the very same reporter for a profile to be published in the New Yorker.

Auletta--a distinguished financial journalist and the author of “Three Blind Mice,” a book about the three major television networks--has done about as well as could be expected for “Frontline,” given the gaping hole created by Murdoch’s withdrawal.

Barry Diller provides several insightful sound bites, but those don’t begin to compensate for the absence of the subject himself, especially not when said subject has already been the subject of a half-dozen full-scale biographies. As a result, there is little new in this televised tale.

“Who’s Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?” accurately recounts Murdoch’s biggest battles in England--his takeover of the jewel of British journalism, the Times of London, and his unprecedented conquest of the British labor unions with a stealth, dark-of-night operation that was as breathtaking in its audacity as in its success. “Frontline” also recounts his various media battles in this country.

But the Murdoch story is ultimately more interesting for its politics and its economics than for its journalism--perhaps, “Frontline” seems to suggest, because very little real journalism is practiced in the Murdoch empire. As one interviewee says, Murdoch regards journalism as merely “a branch of the entertainment business,” with no obligation to inform or educate.

Indeed, at various times in various countries, Murdoch’s own journalists have quit en masse, picketed, demonstrated, signed petitions and gone on strike against him to protest his newspaper practices.

Having come a long way--ideologically and financially--from his days as “Red Rupert” at Oxford, Murdoch made common cause with conservative Margaret Thatcher during much of her tenure as prime minister and saw his own fortunes grow along with her political stock--a by no means coincidental series of events.

Murdoch used the New York Post to similar political and financial advantage after he bought it in 1977, and he was accused of an equally cozy arrangement this year when his book company, HarperCollins, agreed to pay Newt Gingrich, the newly elected speaker of the House of Representatives, a $4.5-million advance for two books at the same time that Congress was considering deregulation legislation important to Murdoch.

In the ensuing brouhaha, the deal was radically revised to provide Gingrich with a $1 advance and royalties based on actual book sales. But similar conflicts are bound to arise in other arenas. Murdoch is everywhere.

His Asian satellite broadcast system, Star TV, is said to reach 220 million people. His newspapers account for one-third of all newspaper sales in England. His TV Guide is the largest circulation magazine in the United States. His outbidding of CBS for NFL football turned Fox Television into a virtual fourth television network overnight.

Murdoch’s empire has been on the brink of collapse several times, and the “Frontline” story provides an inside look at one of those situations, in 1990, when Murdoch’s News Corp. was unable to pay back a $500-million loan:

“Murdoch picks up the phone. His hand is shaking because he knows how much is at stake--his entire reputation, his empire, everything he’s built all his life. . . . He reaches the loan officer and talks to him in his best persuasive mode, which can be pretty persuasive. . . . The man went along and agreed to postpone the loan.”

Murdoch the high-stakes gambler had survived to roll the dice again.

* “Who’s Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?” airs on “Frontline” at 9 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28.