Rupert Murdoch poisoned our public life for 70 years – but we still owe him a debt

It was deeply unwise to allow one old man to wield such extraordinary power on three continents for decades, writes Alan Rusbridger. But, unlike other billionaire media moguls, Murdoch was an innovator, who defended and cherished journalism, however warped his ethics and standards were

Politicians, other media organisations, regulators, even the police, knew that Rupert Murdoch was a bad enemy to have (PA Wire)

There are positives. Unlike Robert Maxwell or Conrad Black, he was not a crook. Unlike Lord Northcliffe, he didn’t go completely insane. Unlike Richard Desmond, he understood, defended and cherished journalism.

He turned The Sun into an immensely successful and profitable title in the UK. He virtually single-handedly created Sky News, which is an impressively professional and (albeit by law, rather than Murdoch’s choice) independent broadcaster. He has ploughed untold millions – probably billions – into propping up struggling titles, thereby giving employment to thousands of journalists over the years.

And – however brutal and ugly the Wapping dispute was in the mid-1980s – someone had to find a way to move newspaper production from the 19th century methods to the computer typesetting now universally used the world over. Many tried and failed. It took a Murdoch to succeed.