Man Bites Murdoch: Four Decades In Print, Six Days In Court

(Paperback)

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Man Bites Murdoch is Bruce Guthrie's explosive account of almost 40 years in the news business, his brutal dismissal from Australia's biggest selling paper, the celebrated court case that exposed the inner workings of the world's biggest media company, and the treachery of its most senior executives. Guthrie survived tuberculosis, Melbourne's gritty northern suburbs and a boss who twice tried to sack him in his first six months in newspapers, to become a foreign correspondent and then one of Australia's feistiest and most controversial editors. His CV boasts editorships of The Age, The Sunday Age, Herald Sun, Who Weekly, The Weekend Australian Magazine, even a stint at America's celeb-news bible, People. Then, just as he claimed one of the industry's most glittering prizes, he fell foul of Rupert Murdoch and his henchmen, who promptly dispensed with his services. What would any self-respecting Broadmeadows boy do in such circumstances Sue them, of course. Man Bites Murdoch exposes the back rooms of Australian business, politics and media and offers a front-row seat at the many seismic events that played out over the last 20 years, including Murdoch's relentless push for growth both here and overseas, young Warwick Fairfax's ill-fated takeover of the family company and the extraordinary impact of the internet.

Reviews

Journalists, media junkies, some of the players and politicians will no doubt sink their teeth into Man Bites Murdoch...an insider's read, sprinkled with tales of bastardry and double-dealing." Malcolm Schmidtke, The Spectator Australia

"Guthrie's two-finger salute to News joins Paul Barry's The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer, as a must-read title on the bizarre, fascinating and 60s throwback worlds that are the boardrooms of Australian media." David Knight, Adelaide Review

"Man Bites Murdoch contains a treasure trove of titbits that will have media watchers feverishly scanning the index when it hits bookshops." Andrew Crook, Crikey

Author Bio

Bruce Guthrie began his media career as a copyboy at The Herald in Melbourne in 1971. After completing a cadetship, he worked in a variety of reporting roles for the paper until 1985, when he was appointed the Herald and Weekly Times' Los Angeles correspondent.