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HISTORY Rupert Murdoch inherited the Adelaide News in 1952 following the death of his father, Keith Murdoch. This paper has been described by Bruce Page as the "foundation stone" of News Ltd (and News Corp). Over the next few years, Murdoch gradually established himself as one of most dynamic media proprietors in Australia, quickly expanding his holdings by acquiring a string of daily and suburban newspapers in most capital cities, including the Sydney afternoon paper, '' The Daily Mirror '', as well as a small Sydney-based recording company, Festival Records . His acquisition of the ''Mirror'' proved crucial to his success, allowing him to challenge the dominance of his two main rivals in the Sydney market, the Fairfax Newspapers group, which published the hugely profitable '' Sydney Morning Herald '', and the Consolidated Press group, owned by Sir Frank Packer , which published the city's leading tabloid paper, the '' Daily Telegraph ''. In 1964 , News Limited made its next important advance when it established '' The Australian '', Australia's first national daily newspaper, based first in Canberra and later in Sydney . ''The Australian'', a Broadsheet , gave News Ltd. a new respectability as a "quality" newspaper publisher, and also greater political influence since ''The Australian'' has always had an elite readership, if not always a large circulation. In 1972 , News Ltd. acquired the Sydney-based '' Daily Telegraph '' from Sir Frank Packer , making Murdoch one of the "big three" newspaper proprietors in Australia, along with Sir Warwick Fairfax in Sydney and his father's old Herald And Weekly Times Ltd in Melbourne. In the 1972 Elections , Murdoch swung his newspapers' support behind Gough Whitlam and the Leftist Australian Labor Party , but by 1975 he had turned against Labor, and since then has almost always supported the rightist Liberal Party . Over the next ten years, as his press empire grew, Murdoch established a hugely lucrative financial base, and these profits were routinely used to subsidize further acquisitions. In his early years of newspaper ownership Murdoch was an aggressive, micromanaging entrepreneur. His standard tactic was to buy loss-making Australian newspapers and turn them around by introducing radical management and editorial changes and fighting no-holds-barred circulation wars with his competitors. By the 1970s, this power base was so strong that Murdoch was able to acquire leading newspapers and magazines in both London and New York, as well as many other media holdings. Influence in Australia Murdoch's desire for dominant cross-media ownership manifested early—in 1961 he bought an ailing Australian record label, Festival Records , and within a few years it had become the leading local recording company. He also bought a television station in Wollongong , New South Wales , hoping to use it to break into the Sydney television market, but found himself frustrated by Australia's cross-media ownership laws, which prevented him from owning both a major newspaper and television station in the same city. Since then he has consistently lobbied, both personally and through his papers, to have these laws changed in his favor. News Limited has nearly three-quarters of daily metropolitan newspaper circulation and so maintains great influence in Australia. Internal News Limited documents reveal a brazen offer during the 2001 Federal election campaign to spruik the policies of a major party in its best-selling newspapers nation-wide for almost $500,000 Other documents include a marginal seats guide written by a senior business manager for internal use. It evidences a corporate strategy to target marginal seats at the 2004 election[http://www.limitednews.info/index.htm#guided_democracy . Some of the documents appeared on Media Watch but received very little coverage[http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/margo_kingston/000300.html . Acquisitions in Britain Murdoch moved to Britain and rapidly became a major force there after his acquisitions of the '' News Of The World ,'' and '' The Sun '' in 1969 and '' The Times '' and '' The Sunday Times '' in 1981, which he bought in 1981 from the Thomson family. Both takeovers further reinforced his growing reputation as a ruthless and cunning business operator. His takeover of ''The Times'' aroused great hostility among traditionalists, who feared he would take it "downmarket." This led directly to the founding of '' The Independent '' in 1986 as an alternative quality daily. Acquisitions in the United States Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the '' San Antonio News ''. Soon afterwards he founded the '' National Star '', a Supermarket Tabloid , and in 1976 he purchased the '' New York Post ''. Subsequent acquisitions were undertaken through News Corporation. PRESENT As a subsidiary of News Corportation, News Limited operates the following: Newspapers
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