"It's a libel to say that I use my newspapers to support my other business interests. The fact is, I haven't got any other business interests"
About this Quote
Then comes the twist: “I haven’t got any other business interests.” It lands as a cheeky deadpan, but the subtext is colder. Murdoch isn’t saying his newspapers don’t serve interests; he’s saying the newspapers are the interest. Influence is not a side hustle to be protected by media holdings. Media is the holding. In one sentence, he collapses the tidy liberal fantasy that there’s “journalism” on one side and “business” on the other. He suggests the real asset is agenda-setting itself: the ability to decide what counts as news, what gets amplified, and which politicians wake up sweating.
The context is the long-running suspicion around proprietorial media: that editorial lines and political endorsements function less as civic participation than as leverage. Murdoch’s genius here is to concede nothing while implying everything. If you believe him, the accusation falls apart. If you don’t, the joke becomes a confession in plain sight: the newspapers aren’t supporting other ventures because they’re the venture that makes all the others possible.
Quote Details
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| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Murdoch, Rupert. (2026, January 18). It's a libel to say that I use my newspapers to support my other business interests. The fact is, I haven't got any other business interests. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-a-libel-to-say-that-i-use-my-newspapers-to-8917/
Chicago Style
Murdoch, Rupert. "It's a libel to say that I use my newspapers to support my other business interests. The fact is, I haven't got any other business interests." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-a-libel-to-say-that-i-use-my-newspapers-to-8917/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's a libel to say that I use my newspapers to support my other business interests. The fact is, I haven't got any other business interests." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-a-libel-to-say-that-i-use-my-newspapers-to-8917/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.



