Khaya Sithole | Rupert Murdoch is right on one thing: You don't get something for nothing

If the media cannot survive, ours will be a world where universal access only results in a convergence of the uninformed punctuated by meaningless content and destructive disinformation, says Khaya Sithole.

Over the past 70 years, very few stories regarding matters of public interest have benefited from an opening that says: "And then Rupert Murdoch chipped in."

Murdoch – the media baron whose empire transcends platforms, continents and ethical boundaries with notable abandon – has been at the epicentre of the evolution of the media business ever since he decided to use the springboard of his inheritance of a small newspaper in Australia in 1952 to grow an empire so vast and universal, it elicits both scorn and curiosity from peers, regulators and the general public alike.