Robert Thomson (executive)

Robert James Dell’Oro Thomson
Thomson in 2014
Born (1961-03-11) 11 March 1961 (age 63)
Torrumbarry, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)journalist, editor
SpouseWang Ping

Robert James Dell’Oro Thomson (born 11 March 1961) is an Australian journalist. Since January 2013 he has been chief executive of News Corp.

Life

Thomson was born in Torrumbarry, Victoria, and studied at Christian Brothers College in St Kilda East, and at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.[1][2] One of his ancestors was named Arturo Dell'Oro, and came from Domodossola, in northern Italy.[3] He is married to Wang Ping, the daughter of a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army.[4][5]

Career

Thomson started work as a copyboy at The Herald (now the Herald Sun) in Melbourne in 1979.[6] In 1983, he became senior feature writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, and two years later became Beijing correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald as well as the Financial Times.[2] Thomson then became a Tokyo correspondent for the Financial Times in 1989.[7] Thomson was appointed the Financial Times foreign news editor in 1994[1] and in 1996 became editor of the Financial Times weekend edition.[2] While at Sydney Morning Herald, Thomson wrote a series on Australian judges, which was published as a book in 1987, The Judges: A Portrait of an Australian Judiciary.[8][9][10] In 1998, Thomson became U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times.[6]

In May 2008, he was appointed managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, having previously been the editor of The Times.[11][12]

He received an honorary doctorate from RMIT University in 2010.[13]

In January 2013, Thomson became the chief executive of News Corp.

In 2007, Thomson was one of the first media executives to criticise Google and big tech for the disaggregation of content and publication of falsehoods, and to pressure them for a higher share of advertising value.[14][15] He has been known to use alliterative expressions to call out those companies, such as platforms for "the fake, the faux and the fallacious", and "tech tapeworms."[14][16] Thomson called for new terms of trade for tech platforms to allow viable business models for creators and to benefit broader society.[17][18]

In 2023, Thomson has decried the unauthorised use of journalistic content by generative AI and the resulting existential risk posed to media companies. Thomson and several other media leaders[19] have called for compensation by tech companies that are developing and employing AI. Speaking in May 2023 at INMA, a media conference, Thomson summed up the industry's outrage, saying "[media's] collective IP is under threat and for which we should argue vociferously for compensation."[20]  He said that AI was "designed so the reader will never visit a journalism website, thus fatally undermining that journalism."[21]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Auletta, Ken (4 April 2011). "Murdoch's Best Friend". The New Yorker.
  2. ^ a b c "'Rupert has got a crush on you'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Robert J. Thomson all'inaugurazione di Palazzo San Francesco. Donati 50.000 dollari. - Mariano Cattrini". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson: A Tale of the Tape". New York. 25 April 2008.
  5. ^ Private Eye magazine, No. 1189, 20 July - 2 August 2007, p.7
  6. ^ a b Arango, Tim (28 April 2008). "Murdoch's 'Head of Content'". New York Times.
  7. ^ Milmo, Dan; Hodgson, Jessica; Gibson, Owen (21 February 2002). "Times editor quits unexpectedly". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  8. ^ Mason, Max (12 April 2019). "Rupert's man: the Victorian 'bush lad' at the top of News Corp". The Australian Financial Review. He wrote a lauded series on Australian judges, which he turned into a book: The Judges: A Portrait of the Australian Judiciary
  9. ^ "The judges". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  10. ^ Baker, Mark. "Robert Thomson". The Australian Media Hall of Fame. Retrieved 9 June 2020. Thomson proposed an ambitious project – a series of interviews with Australia's reclusive judges. It led to a book and a Journalist of the Year nomination.
  11. ^ Clark, Andrew (21 May 2008). "Murdoch tightens control of Journal". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  12. ^ Golum (20 May 2008). "Wall Street Journal Publisher Thomson Is Named Editor". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  13. ^ Gough, Paul (29 November 2014). "Interview with Robert Thomson: Media Man". RMIT Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  14. ^ a b "News Corp. CEO Wields Words as Weapon in Battle Against Facebook". Bloomberg Law. 1 March 2018. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  15. ^ Vogelstein, Fred (2 March 2018). "This Publisher Foresaw an Internet of Fiction Mixed With Fact". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  16. ^ UK Parliament Select Committee on Communications Minutes of Evidence, "Examination of Witnesses (Questions 254 - 259)" (18 July 2007). Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Day of 'reckoning' looms for tech titans: News boss". The Australian. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  18. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (4 March 2021). "News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson Says 'The Fourth Estate Is About To Get A Second Wind' From Digital Deals; Still 'Haggling With Facebook'". Deadline. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  19. ^ Bruell, Alexandra (28 June 2023). "Big News Publishers Look to Team Up to Address Impact of AI". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  20. ^ Pompeo, Joe (20 June 2023). ""Don't Get Screwed Again": News Publishers Are Banding Together in the Face of AI Threat". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  21. ^ Murgia, Madhumita; Thomas, Daniel; Criddle, Cristina; Nicolaou, Anna; Pitel, Laura (17 June 2023). "AI and media companies negotiate landmark deals over news content". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert James Thomson.
Media offices
Preceded by Editor of The Times
2002–2007 		Succeeded by