Question 1

True or false: Fox News was launched by Murdoch in 1996 as a direct competitor to CNN.

Accepted Answer

True. Murdoch and former NBC executive Roger Ailes launched Fox News on October 7, 1996, specifically to challenge CNN’s dominance in cable news.

Question 2

True or false: Murdoch was involved in a major phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of News of the World.

Accepted Answer

True. The 2011 phone-hacking scandal at News of the World, a British tabloid owned by Murdoch, caused public outrage and forced the paper to shut down after 168 years.

Question 3

True or false: Rupert Murdoch was born in Australia and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Accepted Answer

True. He was born in Melbourne in 1931 and renounced his Australian citizenship to become a U.S. citizen in 1985, a requirement for owning U.S. TV stations.

Question 4

True or false: Murdoch’s first newspaper acquisition was The Times of London in 1981.

Accepted Answer

False. His first acquisition was the Adelaide News in Australia in 1953, inherited from his father; he bought The Times of London much later, in 1981.

Question 5

True or false: Murdoch’s father was a famous war journalist who died when Rupert was just 21.

Accepted Answer

True. Sir Keith Murdoch was a renowned journalist and editor; his death in 1952 left young Rupert to take over the family’s small newspaper business.

Question 6

True or false: Rupert Murdoch once served as the editor-in-chief of The New York Post.

Accepted Answer

False. Murdoch owns The New York Post but has never personally served as its editor-in-chief; he has appointed various editors over the decades.

Question 7

True or false: Murdoch once owned a stake in the social media platform TikTok.

Accepted Answer

False. Despite his investments in digital media, Murdoch has never held a stake in TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.

Question 8

True or false: Murdoch studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University.

Accepted Answer

True. He attended Worcester College, Oxford, earning a degree in PPE, and was heavily influenced by his left-leaning tutor, though his own politics shifted rightward.

Rupert Murdoch Trivia Questions