Influence in Australia
Murdoch's desire for dominant cross-media ownership manifested in early 1961 when he bought an ailing Australian record label, Festival Records, and within a few years it had become the leading local recording company. He also bought a television station in Wollongong, New South Wales, hoping to use it to break into the Sydney television market, but found himself frustrated by Australia's cross-media ownership laws, which prevented him from owning both a major newspaper and television station in the same city. Since then he has consistently lobbied, both personally and through his papers, to have these laws changed in his favour. This occurred in 2006 when the Liberal-National Coalition government, having gained control of both houses of the Australian Parliament, introduced reforms to cross-media ownership and foreign media ownership laws.[24] The laws came into effect in early 2007,[25] with further changes in 2017 abolishing 'two out of three' restrictions that had previously prevented news companies from owning newspaper, radio, and television services within the same city.[26]
In 2001 News Corp Australia had nearly three-quarters of daily metropolitan newspaper circulation and so maintained great influence in Australia. Internal News Corp Australia documents reveal a brazen offer during the 2001 federal election campaign to promote the policies of the Australian Labour Party (ALP) in its best-selling newspapers nationwide for almost A$500,000.[27] Other documents include a marginal seats guide written by a senior business manager for internal use. It evidences a corporate strategy to target marginal seats at the 2004 election.[28] Some of the documents appeared on Media Watch.[29]
Murdoch wanted a way to influence politics in his native land. He saw a way to do that through the News Corp publication The Australian.[30] The national daily has been used to support Murdoch's political interests over time, such as John McEwen with the National Party of Australia and Gough Whitlam with the Australian Labor Party.[31] According to the Finkelstein Review of Media and Media Regulation, in 2011 the group accounted for 23% of the newspaper titles in Australia.[32] As of 2021, it owns seven of the country's 12 national or capital city daily (print) newspapers (that is, 58 per cent; excludes weekend papers). In the capital cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, and Hobart, there are no other print dailies. However a 2020 report showed that only 25% of news consumed is obtained from print newspapers, with TV being the top source, online second, and social media third. By early 2021, News Corp had either dropped, or made online only, many of its local newspapers. At that time, it was publishing fewer than 20 print newspapers, and around 85 online titles.[33]
In 2016, News Corp commanded 65% of national and capital city daily (print) newspapers. However, its news website news.com.au ranks second after the ABC News website on visitor count, and its individual newspaper websites do not match several digital-only ones. In December 2020, all of News Corp's news websites reached 1.2 million fewer readers than those owned by Nine Entertainment. The company owns just one television news outlet, Sky News Australia, which does not have a large audience on TV; however, its Facebook posts are shared prolifically, and its subscribers on YouTube, by 2021, not only far outnumbered those of Channel 7 and Channel 9 but had surpassed ABC News.[33]
In 2018 the company's sites included news.com.au, Business Spectator and Eureka Report, Kidspot.com.au, taste.com.au, and homelife.com.au. It had a 55% stake in CarsGuide, which was sold in 2016, a share in REA Group that operates realestate.com.au, as well as websites for most newspaper and magazine titles. The company's other Australian assets include Australian News Channel, 65% ownership of subscription television provider Foxtel, (which in turn owns Fox Sports Australia)[34] and shares in the Brisbane Broncos NRL team.
A parliamentary petition initiated by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for a Royal Commission investigating the diversity and integrity of print media, focused primarily on News Corp, raised more than 500,000 signatures in November 2020.[35]
Before 2010 News Corp Australia media was more politically flexible, but have become much more rigid as Lachlan Murdoch’s influence at the company has grown – as of 2024, The Australian has endorsed the Liberal Party at each of the past five federal elections, while none of the four daily metros have endorsed Labor since at least 2010.[36]
