"The inside story of journalism's demise"--Cover
"With a new preface"--Cover

Introduction
Moguldom. An encounter with Lachlan Murdoch
Gutenberg to Zuckerberg
Building the empires
Succession
Decline and fall
Power. Editorial dictators
The exercise of power
Sycophants and sackings
The mogul politicians
The madness of great men
Malfeasance. The moral compass
Give 'em what they want
Meddling with history
'We go out an destroy other people's lives'
Fox News
The ends justify the means
'I didn't know Hitler kept a diary'
The future. The new moguls
The media is broken
Reimagining journalism

What's gone wrong with our media? The answer: its owners. From William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk, from the British press barons to colonial upstarts Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch, media proprietors have manipulated the news to accumulate wealth and influence as they meddled with democracy. Eric Beecher knows the news business from bottom to top. He has been a journalist, editor and media proprietor (of Text Media and Crikey), with the rare distinction of having both worked for and been sued (unsuccessfully) by the Murdochs. This book reveals the distorted role of the media moguls of the past two centuries: their techniques, strategies, behind-closed-doors machinations, and indulgent lifestyles. It explains how they have exploited the shield of the freedom of the press to undermine journalism - and truth. In an era of fake news, AI and misinformation, this is democracy's chillingly important story: how a small coterie of flawed and narcissistic moguls created a shadow of power that has contributed to making the media an agent of mistrust