The man who owns the news

The title of this entry is also the title of a book I'm reading about Rupert Murdoch. It's actually very good. The writer had unprecedented access to Murdoch and his family, as well as his top executives. It focuses on the take over of the Dow Jones (and the Wall Street Journal) in 2007, but flashes back to important events and moments in Murdoch's evolution into the all-powerful media magnate he is now.

I heartily recommend it.

But it got me thinking. I like seeing Murdoch do well. And I think the reason is purely that he is Australian. I love seeing Australians do well on the international stage. I'm not totally sure why, but I think it has something to do with that curious Australian trait of being the little brother.

We love and hate England at the same time. We love and hate the USA at the same time. We make fun of, but also protect New Zealand (our little brother).

We, as the little brother, want to be liked. We are the youngest child, wanting to establish ourselves, go our own way, break out independently. BUT we also LOVE it when we show our older brothers that we can compete on their level. We can be a part of their world too.

I think that's why Australians, and the Australian media and governments, love it when we succeed overseas. And we really do. Ben Graham was famous in AFL circles in Australia. No one North of Albury would have cared who he was. But he snags a spot in the Superbowl and the whole country goes crazy for him.

We have a numberof successful actors working regularly in Australia over the last 40 years, but it's only when they get a big chance in Hollywood that we fawn over them.

Isla Fisher was just another Home and Away alumni who hooked up with Ali G. Then she was great in Wedding Crashers and she's all of a sudden "one of Australia's hottest women".

It's like we need our older brothers' recognition for something before we start to appreciate it ourselves.

Not all the time, mind you. And this is part of being the youngest. The "who cares, I'm doing my own thing". We're so good at sport we invented a couple of our own to take our best sportsmen out of the international arena. We went crazy for ABBA. We allow Richard Wilkins on television every morning.

So when I see Murdoch do well, see him dominate internationally, I think "well played, Rupert". Never mind that he hasn't lived here in years. He is born of Australian sensibilities, with an Aussie disregard for the establishment. The book argues that this hatred of the establishment is one of the driving forces behind Murdoch's success.

(Interesting fact: the reason we don't have Page 3 Girls in Australia is because his mum, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, won't have it. And she is a formidable woman).

I don't know how this will affect our country going forward. I think it can only help. If Australians always have something to strive for, then we'll always have reasons to keep improving. And that's a good thing.