The ABC and Four Corners investigated Rupert Murdoch many times. Here's what we found

With a career spanning 70 years, Rupert Murdoch is no stranger to facing the same kind of interviewing and investigative treatment that he has dished out in his media outlets.

The ABC turned the spotlight on Murdoch plenty of times over the decades — from profile pieces in the 70s to investigations into the 2020 US election.

Here are several episodes of Four Corners from the archives.

What Makes Rupert Run (1971)

Back in 1971, when huge public relations teams and media training were yet to block interviews, Rupert Murdoch sat down with Four Corners.

In 2023, his retirement statement might have rallied against the elite, but in 1971 he was more angry with snobs.

"I'm not ashamed of any of my newspapers at all, and I'm rather sick of snobs who tell us that they're bad papers, snobs who only read papers that nobody else want," he said.

"I doubt that they read many papers at all — and whereas on most issues they consider themselves liberals or radicals or something, they think they ought to be imposing their taste on everyone else in the community."

At that stage, Murdoch's empire was worth $89 million. It owned 43 major newspapers in Australia, 40 more overseas, plus magazines, community papers, the NWS9 Adelaide TV station, three radio stations and Festival Music.

But it was his rapid expansion in the UK that was making headlines. The (now defunct) News of the World had a circulation of 6.25 million and boasted a "strong emphasis on sex and titillation". And next in his sights — television.

Murdoch had just become the largest shareholder in London Weekend Television, and was ready to take on the dominant BBC, investing $1 million of his own money.

That might not have been good news for David Frost, the station's most prominent presenter and a fellow shareholder. Murdoch's comments on his pay negotiation with Frost — who he called a "contract artist" at about the six-minute mark — would make anyone blanch.

Amid the speculation on whether his Fleet Street success would transfer to the small screen, Murdoch was very open about his relationships with his editors, disputing his "reputation as a ruthless boss".

"I don't think I'm ruthless at all. I think entirely that's something that's been painted by people like yourselves," he told the reporter.

The House of Murdoch (1995)

In the mid-90s, Four Corners set out to tell the inside story of how Murdoch built his dynasty. Questions over the company's succession plans were already bubbling away almost three decades before Murdoch, then in his mid-60s, would eventually step down at the ripe age of 92.

But from the outset there was a problem: Despite already helming one of the world's most powerful media empires, the man himself was media shy. Murdoch would not agree to an interview.

Instead, viewers were taken to Australia's Whitsundays, where secret preparations were underway for the "exclusive party of the decade". News Corp executives from Los Angeles and London filter onto the island, dressed in dark suits incongruous with the island's palms and glistening blue water. Then in strolls future British prime minister Tony Blair and then Australian prime minister Paul Keating.

"They have media on three continents, and Labor leaders like to proselytise about the things they're doing, we're proud of what we're doing," Keating said.

Murdoch arrived surrounded by his offspring. Asked what would happen to his business when he died, he laughed it off: "Ah ha, it will do a lot better."

Journalist Ali Cromie got no further words out of the media baron, and instead relied on biographers and analysts to shed light on the Murdoch family's complicated dynamics.

In 1995, all eyes were on Lachlan Murdoch as the likely successor. The then 24-year-old had recently moved to News Corp's Sydney headquarters, and as observed by media analyst James Capel, it was clear that he was "being fast-tracked through the businesses".

"I think he'll [Lachlan] have a long apprenticeship under Rupert," biographer John Monks said, "and then after that I suppose he'll take over everything." This week that apprenticeship finally came to an end.

Bad News (2011)

Will the House of Murdoch fall? That was the question posed in 2011, as News Corp faced a crisis bigger and nastier than any that had come before.

In July that year it was revealed that the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid had illegally hacked the phone of murdered British school girl Milly Dowler in the pursuit of headlines, along with celebrities, politicians and members of the British royal family. The revelation cemented what would become known all over the world as the News International phone-hacking scandal.

"It produced this kind of emotional tidal wave in the country that just knocked everyone over," said Guardian journalist Nick Davies, who broke the story about the hacking of Dowler's phone. "And when they stood up again, no-one was willing to be on the News of the World's side."

By August, when the Four Corners episode aired, 12 people had been arrested in relation to the saga, including former and current senior executives, and 120 police were investigating the allegations. Big corporations had pulled out their advertising, and flocks of MPs had crossed the floor and deserted their News Corp alliance.

The paper was quickly shuttered, but outstanding questions remained over the responsibility of Murdoch and his son James, who at the time helmed News International — News Corp's British wing and the owner of News of the World.

Journalist Sarah Ferguson was on the ground in London when Rupert and James Murdoch fronted a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal. Inside the hearing room, the senior Murdoch announced that it was "the most humble day" of his life, but when asked whether he was ultimately responsible for the fiasco, he placed the blame squarely on his employees.

The untangling of the saga would go on for years, and James Murdoch would eventually resign as executive chairman of News International, but the Murdoch empire remained standing.

Fox and the Big Lie (2021)

How has Rupert Murdoch's support for conservative politics and particularly his championing of Donald Trump come to define his media business over the past decade?

That was the question Ferguson posed in a two-part series investigating Fox News that was broadcast in 2021.

None of Murdoch's media outlets worked harder to support Trump than Fox, which Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff has pointedly dubbed "the Trump network".

And even as criticism of Fox steadily chipped away at two things Murdoch held most dear — the reputation of his media business and the relationship with his family — Murdoch's support for Trump seemed unshakable.

One former correspondent, Conor Powell, was quoted in the Four Corners episode describing Murdoch's media empire as "the biggest purveyor of misinformation in the world" while former Fox military analyst Ralph Peters labelled Fox an "ethically and morally corrupt enterprise".

Murdoch's own son, James, was at odds with the media patriarch, announcing he would step down from the company to pursue his own interests.

Trump's behaviour and the power of Fox in the Trump era split James and Lachlan. And that split really troubled Rupert.

Yet Murdoch backed Trump's run for the White House, supported his policies while in office, and perhaps most crucially, failed to dispute the claims of election rigging that Trump used to fire up the supporters who attacked the US Capitol following the 2021 election.

But where did Murdoch's support for Trump come from?

It began in 1996 when Murdoch set up Fox News channel to challenge CNN's media dominance. For many years, helmed by Roger Ailes, Fox upheld the concept of fair and balanced.

But when he left the network in 2016 following a high-profile sexual harassment complaint, Fox News registered a shift to the right with Murdoch in direct control.

Under Murdoch's watch, Trump's influence grew alongside a ratings bonanza with key Fox television personalities such as Sean Hannity using airtime to promote Trump's politics.

"I have a few people that are right out there, and they're very special," Trump told an election rally in 2018. "They've done an incredible job for us. I'm going to start by saying Sean Hannity come on up. Sean Hannity."

So pro-Trump had the network become that Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters (Ret) noted the change was so profound the station shifted in a decade "from being a conservative voice … to being a propaganda organ for Donald Trump".

Murdoch's eldest son James could not accept the direction his father's network was moving and resigned.

"My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company's news outlets …," he said.

Asked if he would ever return, he replied: "I don't think so. They're off doing their own thing there."