Party games: Australian politicians and the media from War to Dismissal

What is the nature of the relationship between our politicians and the great Australian media dynasties? Before Rupert there was Sir Keith and before Kerry, Sir Frank: along with Fairfax, the Murdochs and Packers have dominated the Australian media for more than half a century. But what part have they played in Australian politics? This book exposes for the first time the extraordinary relationships between our postwar political leaders and the great media proprietors. In "Party Games" Bridget Griffen-Foley takes us from the birth of the public relations industry and its triumphant reinvention of Robert Gordon Menzies to the Liberal implosion of the early seventies; from the king-making efforts of Frank Packer to Rupert Murdoch's contentious role in the dismissal. Describing the pivotal interventions of press barons and politicians in each other's business, she shows how politicians learnt to use the media while the media were learning to shape government. Most importantly, Party Games tells the story of how we came to live in a country where the interests of policy makers and commentators are so dangerously entangled.