How Rupert Murdoch tried to kill off The Independent with his ‘10p Times’

In the 1990s, the Times proprietor sparked a vicious price war among Fleet Street newspapers – and its baleful effects are still felt today, writes Sean O’Grady

Billionaire newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch watches his presses roll, in 1985 (Corbis/VCG/Getty)

Of all the reasons to despise Rupert Murdoch – and there are many – mine is personal: he tried to kill The Independent.

I fully accept that it was only thanks to the way that he had smashed the print unions and brought new technology into the newspaper industry 40 years ago that The Independent could even get started – but that’s no excuse for his attempted Indy-cide, if you’ll pardon the expression.

So, yes, I’m extremely happy that he’s left the media stage. Despite the defiant resignation letter he issued on Thursday, the world’s most malign 92-year-old has been, in the words of biographer and close observer Michael Wolff, a “barely functioning” boss of his corporation for some time. And, as you see from the now-digital organ in your hands, we’ve survived his predation.