A special feature in the NT News on Tuesday , September 13 , l960 , explained the significance of the Murdoch takeover. It included a photo of Rupert Murdoch, 29 , right. An editorial MURDOCH HERALDS NEW PRESS ERA
IN THE NORTH said the son of the famous newspaperman, Sir Keith Murdoch , had visited the Territory many times .
From these visits grew the awareness of the need for private investment and expansion in the interests of Australia as well as the North itself.
The new tabloid paper would soon be a tri-weekly with
a sporting edition to come out early Saturday. It also stated that
Murdoch’s personal assistant ,
Ken May, who had been the Adelaide News political roundsman , was
expected in Darwin in a few weeks
to coincide with the visit
of Mr and Mrs Murdoch who would be driving
across from Townsville .
The Murdochs arrived in Darwin a day earlier than expected and it was suggested that Rupert may have disconnected the
speed governor on a hire
car and put his
foot down .
Bowditch said the quick trip made a favourable
impression on him and the NT News staff .
On another occasion , Murdoch arrived , possibly from Mt
Isa, and Bowditch asked compositor Bobby Wills to
drive a hire car
to the Fannie Bay
Hotel where Murdoch’s party was
staying. Wills delivered the car
to the hotel and Bowditch
introduced him to Murdoch. Murdoch told
Wills: “ You can now say you
shook the hand of a man who shook the hand of President John F. Kennedy.”
Bowditch said that in those early days Murdoch was seen as something of a rebel and
at the time was taking on the larger media empires in Australia. Furthermore, when he had been at Oxford
University Murdoch had been what
Bowditch described as a "lefty " and went on to say he was regarded by some
as " the great white
hope” in Australia.
In the special book printed by the Herald and Weekly Times as a tribute to Sir Keith after his death , it included the following passage which gave an insight
into his attitude to young journalists and their political views :
As long as they served him loyally in
their office work, Murdoch was
tolerant of the political views of his staff. He admired independence of
thought. Any set of convictions , even if misplaced, were better than no strongly
held convictions. Enthusiasm ,if even sometimes misdirected, was its own virtue .
In the era of between war cynicism which culminated in Munich,
the leftist proclivities of many of
Murdoch’s young men caused a raising of eyebrows
among Murdoch’s financial acquaintances. Murdoch stuck to his tolerance.
He was heard more than once to joke that
any young man ought to be a socialist
, at least until the age of 25.
Later, he reckoned, his rebels would tend towards a more balanced view of the world, and perhaps the world would tend a little their way, too. In his
own politics Murdoch was a revolutionary conservative. This is evident in his
published writings, but even more so in confidential commentaries he wrote
about his own newspapers…
Bowditch opined that Murdoch eventually changed once
he had
borrowed so much money to expand
his empire. It will be shown that
Murdoch strongly supported Bowditch in his fearless campaigns, even when he became personally involved , flouted the
law and took dangerous risks. NEXT : Hectic life under the new
regime .
