Rupert Murdoch has influenced every facet of our modern media. The scion of a newspaper baron in Australia, Murdoch built a vast empire that now spans the globe. In the US, he owns the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Fox News. He gave us The Simpsons, Page Six, and Bill O’Reilly.

And at 94 years old, he’s never been more powerful. Which is why a succession battle among his four oldest children had all the trappings of a Succession episode but with higher stakes, such as: Who gets a direct line into the Trump White House?

Earlier this month we learned the answer to that question. Rupert’s son Lachlan, a man philosophically aligned with his father’s conservative ideals, will run the empire after Rupert’s death.

But how was the empire created? How did the son of a somewhat obscure newspaper magnate in Melbourne go on to reshape the way we consume news and understand politics?

Today, Explained spoke with several experts who have tracked Murdoch’s rise and dominance across the globe. In the first episode of a two-part series, we focus on how Murdoch transformed his father’s holdings into a world-beating company, and how he bent people in power to his will.

Today, Explained’s Sean Rameswaram spoke with Matthew Ricketson, a professor of communication at Deakin University; Des Freedman, a professor of media and communication studies at Goldsmiths, University of London; and Graham Murdock, professor emeritus at Loughborough University London. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

For more on our miniseries about how Rupert Murdoch took over the world, listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify. And please check back later today for the second installment of the miniseries.

Is Rupert Murdoch a nepo baby?

Des Freedman (Goldsmiths, University of London professor): Murdoch is absolutely a nepo baby.

Matthew Ricketson (Deakin University professor):  If the term nepo was in existence in 1931, yes, he is a nepo baby.

One of our former prime ministers, Malcolm Turnbull, who tangled with Rupert Murdoch, has described him as Australia’s deadliest export.

His whole presentation is of this kind of scruffy, rebellious outsider figure, shaking his fist at the establishment and the elites. The reality is that when he was born in 1931, his father was the managing director of a big newspaper group in Australia. He went to Oxford University, and then his father dies in 1952 and leaves him one afternoon newspaper in Adelaide, which is another city here in Australia.

Graham Murdock (Loughborough University London emeritus professor): His father, Keith, really pioneered tabloid journalism in Australia. Keith Murdoch realized that........

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