arrogantly misinformed plot which, if effective, would have concluded with Hughesremovingfromcommandthegeneral who finally solved the riddle of the trenches: Monash.
No useful biography of Murdoch is possible without invc�ti •atin • these remarkable episodes of spin-doctoring andintri •uc: theissuesinvolvedarccentraltomediapractice in free societies. It is hard to imagine the outcome as pretty rcadin •. but understanding might emerge: for instance, Murdoch's trainin, as ajournalist wasdeeplyinndequate, as he hinl',ell'rcco •nised. But Younger ignores the substantive cpis1ulcs, while abs1mlly glamourising Murdoch's apprenticeship. in which he was a suburban stringer for 71ie Age, existing on payment hy the line. Such systems (a form of swcatin •, as Murd0<.:h said) make the reporter's income dependent on thosewhocanoffernews-oritslikeness-and an urge to 'distinguish the meritorious from themerely meretricious'makeslifedifficult. Thecorrosiveimpactonjournalistic judgment isn't considered by Mr Younger - whose main experience seems to be in governmentpublic relations - but is visible in media history (sec, for example, Max Frankel's The TimesofMylife-a11dMyl[/ewithTheTimes, 1999). Remarkable men and women have emerged as great reporters from such a background, but Keith Murdoch was not one of them: doubtlessthere werereasons, but little can be seen through the rich goo in which Younger coats his subject's youth. (We arc told about the stammer and diffidence that afflicted the young reporter, but nothing about when and why it gave way to the articulate bumptiousness seeninMurdochthepolitical fixer.)
That the Herald was a newspaper with good qualities must owe something to Murdoch. but theexclusion of other contributors -Theodore Fink, most obviously - makes Mr Younger's estimation worthless. Generally, he innates his case to bursting: notably when Murdoch appears as a socio-economic sage, lighting the Depression years with Keynesian insights on effective demand. Neither Fink nor
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Murdoch held an economic notion outside businessmen's orthodoxy, and their Herald toiled officiously against the smallest Keynesianinitiatives of federal treasurer 'Red Ted' Theodore. Received wisdom suited Sir Keith, provided he and hi allic \ eredispensingit.
But Finkdiffered fromMurdoch in wanting newspapers andoffice-holder to maintainsomedecentdistance. Indeed, hecommandedtheHeraldduringtheearlytwentiethcentury, when modern journalism was created - centrally the 'comrncrcial-profc ional newspaper' as Michael Schudson call it: the imperfect model that till keeps news media and political authority just sufficiently separated for democracy to survi c. To thi model, Murdoch gave tcntorian lip service but no seriou loyalty.
Even on Mr Younger's hagiograph, the needle Oickers whenwereach1940andMurdochjoinstheMenziesgovernment as Director-General for Information-as cen or, with powers over every Australian media system. Theoretically, Murdoch stood down from the Herald group. Actually, he retained editorial command. We are told that Sir Keith intended elevating Australian public opinion on the grandest lines. Indeed, he would have transcended orthcliffe's achievementinWorldWar I,butthatidealismblindedhimto obstructions from Finkwithinthe Heraldgroup (and almost everynewspaperoutside it).
Mr Younger's admiration for Northcliffe's 1914-18 concoctions is not widely shared today. Murdoch's plan disintegrated along with Menzies' administration, seeming in retrospect as absurd as authoritarian failures mostly do. Its sinister potential is reduced in Younger's account by the absence of Murdoch's real 1914-18 record, which is necessary to remind us thatthosewho volunteer for the censor's authority arc thoseleastfit to exercise it. The evidence was largelysecretin1940(thoughFinkmusthavehadsomeidea). Today itisonlysecretfromreaderstakeninbyR.M. Younger.
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