Any other business | 23 July 2011

Another Murdoch lesson: when the iceberg looms, it’s too late to change course

The sixth most famous Murdoch in history, after Rupert, James, Wendi and Rupert’s parents Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth (the latter still with us at 102, and presumably wondering what the boy will get up to next) was of course William McMaster Murdoch, First Officer of the Titanic. If space permitted, I’d expatiate on how cruelly this heroic Scotsman was misrepresented in the 1997 cinema epic in which he is seen taking a bribe and shooting two passengers before turning his gun on himself. The film was of course backed by 20th Century Fox, which is controlled through News Corp by Will Murdoch’s distant clansman Rupert — thus offering further evidence of the triumph of ruthless commercialism over truth and decency in the evil empire… But the real point of mentioning the wronged seafarer is to lead into this column’s trustiest standby in times of trouble, the extended Titanic metaphor.