Rupert Murdoch still a man of the people

At least that's what former The Australian editor Chris Mitchell would have us believe in his book Making Headlines, celebrating his decades in journalism.

Mitchell is in a place to know. The "Serrated Tussock" and the "Digger" have had quite a bit to do with each other over the years as Mitchell explains – time and time again – in his book.

According to Mitchell, Rupert is a bleeding heart.

"And despite all the post-Leveson inquiry and post-Occupy Wall Street left-wing critique of billionaires and the hold they have over governments, Rupert has always worried and spoken about income inequality and the importance of aspiration and the opportunity for working people," Mitchell writes.

"At one level this is self-interest from a man who wants working people around the world to be able to buy his newspapers, subscribe to his pay TV channels and go to see his movies," Mitchell adds.

CBD aspires to one day earn $US34,590,450 ($A45 million) in a single year just like Rupert.

Working on the basis the Digger worked every 365 days in the year to June 30, it equates to a touch over $A125,000 a day.

That's more than average earnings in Australia, which based on the most recently available average weekly earnings, is $78,832 per annum.

We can only presume that when Rupert has spoken about income inequality it has been with keen experience. 

Nosh Up

In years past, your diarist used to bump into Sir Ron Brierley at the odd noshery at night, where he was dining in the company of a pile of annual reports. Those were in the days when he occupied his "man cave" in the former Crest Hotel at the top of the Cross.

And it's nice to note that he reckons he might know a thing or two that Basil Fawlty doesn't about running hotels, since he has popped up as the largest investor in the Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne, with a 10.8 per cent holding which we presume is held on behalf of his current plaything, Mercantile Investment Co.

While it just may give him somewhere to go when he needs time to recover from an Ashes series when the cricket tragic is in Britain, it could also do with some help turning around the chronic underperformer as it is paying out all of its wafer thin profits in dividends.

Still, the pub has just appointed a new general manager which may help it with a quick turnaround.

Shout out

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has had some advice for his colleague about dealing with potential future cross benchers – be nice to them. That's the take out of his comments at Commercial Radio Australia's annual National Radio Conference on Friday.

"As a politician it always pays to make time to be on radio to talk to the presenters and journalists because you never know, one of them may end up being a senate colleague ... shout out to Derryn [Hinch]." Who is a new Victorian senator.

Which had CBD thinking of all the ex-journalists who we've elected to represent us in Parliament over the years. Here are a mere sample of our pollies who have put down the pen, keyboard or mic for a political career.

When it comes to prime ministers, we've had Alfred Deakin, Andrew Fisher, James Scullin, John Curtin, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. And at the MP or state level we've had Maxine McKew, Bob Carr, Brian Burk, Pru Goward, Alan Carpenter and Mary Delahunty. And the list is far from exhaustive.

Fifield himself, a good sport by most people's measures, had aspirations to be a journalist but it didn't quite work out. He told the conference that in the mid-1980s he did work experience at 2UE but after a few days it was apparent it wasn't the right game for him.

"[Former 2UE owner] John Condie then said to me: 'Mitch you seem like a thoughtful young man, why don't you go and do something useful with your life and forget radio'," Fifield told the conference. Bit of shame now he's chief communicator.