In this edition of the Unmade podcast, we share Chapter Two of the audio version my book Media Unmade.
The text version of the book is published by Hardie Grant and is available from bookshops and online.
Today’s chapter opens in February 2010 at a party in Sydney thrown by Nova shortly after the arrival of new boss Lachlan Murdoch.
The chapter - The New Adventures of Lachlan Murdoch - shares the story of how Murdoch finally became a media owner in his own right after leaving News Corp, through the purchase of DMG Australia.
Soon after, the company killed baby boomer network Vega and launched Classic Rock. That part didn’t go so well.
Today’s chapter also covers how Murdoch and friend James Packer bought into Ten, which was riding high on the Masterchef phenomenon, and quickly fired CEO Grant Blackley after a bizarre boat trip.
It details the explosive court case after Murdoch poached Warburton from Seven, in which it emerged that David Leckie had labelled the executive as “Mr Ambitious”.
The next chapter of Media Unmade will appear in this podcast feed in a week’s time. The Unmade podcast is produced by North West Tasmania’s finest audio production company, Abe’s Audio.
Some chapters of the audio edition of Media Unmade will be for paying subscribers only.
On Monday, I’ll be sharing my interview with Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson ahead of this week’s company annual general meeting. It will go live on Monday morning while I’m somewhere over the Middle East as I relocate to the UK through until February.
Have a great weekend.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Proprietor - Unmade
Contacts:
Send press releases to newsdesk@unmade.media
Send comments to letters@unmade.media
Contact me at tim@unmade.media
Media Unmade - Chapter Two: The New Adventures of Lachlan Murdoch