Jeff interviewing Rupert Murdoch on BBC radio Five Live January 2006
In light of the sudden resignation of James Murdoch from his father’s business - due to irreconcilable differences towards climate change ie James believes it’s a major issue while his father not so much, I recall the one and only time I met Rupert Murdoch and how much trouble I got into for it.
Rupert doesn't give many interviews and if he does, they are usually only to his own networks or newspapers. That means he rarely gets challenged in real time. We’ve all seen the sycophancy displayed towards the proprietor when asked an annoying question on Fox Business about the circumstances of the closure of News of the World. The now defunct newspaper had hacked the phones of dozens of celebrities for many years as well as most controversially, the murdered teenager Millie Dowler.
So the BBC was especially pleased when it secured a full live interview with the famous media mogul in January 2006 - Well before the phone hacking scandal. The only reason they got it was Jeff Randall. He had been the BBC’s first ever Business Editor and had been hired after a glittering career as a business journalist with many newspapers. In that milieu Jeff had gotten to know and like Rupert Murdoch, so when Jeff ceased to be Business Editor but retained his own business discussion show on Five Live radio, one of the first people he approached to do the show was Rup.
I was too junior back then to know the ins and outs of when or how Mr Murdoch was approached and persuaded. Without meaning to impune Jeff Randall, who I liked and socialised with outside the BBC, I doubt Rupert didn't set out some ground rules for the interview in advance. After all, for many people within News Corporation, which at that time owned the Sun, Times and News of the World (RIP) as well as a third of BskyB, the BBC was seen as the enemy. Doubtless some of his advisers urged him not to do it - believing there might only be downsides to it.
In the end Rupert did the interview on the strict condition that he not meet anyone other than the producer and Jeff himself. No other human being was allowed to interact with him whilst in TV Centre - and no photos or videos of the radio interview.
James Murdoch has now quit the family business entirely.
Of course that wasn't announced publicly and pondlife like me hadn't been informed.
But being aware of live interview and being the nosey person that I am, I was loath to miss an opportunity to meet the great Australian himself. I was working that Sunday morning and popped downstairs to the Five Live studio and sure enough, there wasn't a sinner there. No hangers on. No agents, publicists or PR wonks. Just a bored looking driver/bodyguard reading the newspaper in the green room and sipping cold tea.
The interview itself was uneventful. The only thing I can recall was him being barely lukewarm about the newly elected leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron. There were a few questions about Europe but nothing which would stop the presses.
In fact so devoid of headlines and notable quotes was the interview that I can't find any evidence of it in my online searches. If you find references please pass them on.
Thankfully I had taken my own camera with me to capture to the moment (see photo above).
Once complete, Rupert grabbed his jacket and his driver and walked out. At that point I simply stepped up, offered my hand to him in the corridor and said thanks for coming to the BBC. He smiled and moved on. I recall noting how dark his hair was for a 75 year old.
I thought the matter was closed.
How wrong I was. A few days later, I was called into the office of a senior manager and reprimanded in no uncertain terms for being anywhere near the studio. And the senior producer who was in charge of the show was also apparently livid. Jeff didn't care less.
In career terms I was ‘banished’ to working nights and kept off air until October that year.
I have been following Rupert’s career ever since ;-)
FIN
PS: Here I am discussing the breaking story of James’s sudden departure on Newsnight on Friday July 31st 2020
https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1289325983900864520?s=20
