The Impor­tance of Rupert Mur­doch

The announce­ment that the News Corporation’s found­ing father Rupert Mur­doch was tran­si­tion­ing to “chair­man emer­i­tus” sta­tus has opened the flood gates for both admir­ers and crit­ics.

ABC News, focus­ing on his influ­ence in British media, head­lined this: 

Hero or vil­lain? Rupert Murdoch’s exit stirs strong feel­ings in Britain, where he upend­ed the media

Rupert Mur­doch stirs mixed feel­ings in Britain, where he trans­formed the media over half a cen­tu­ry

In this space in the good old USA, two names came to mind in reflect­ing on Murdoch’s impact on Amer­i­can media.

The names?

Bar­ry Gold­wa­ter and Robert Bork.

Hop in the time cap­sule and trav­el first back to July …