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Q&A with the journalists who inspired The Murdochs: Empire of Influence.

A look at Rupert Murdoch's life in photos.

New CNN Film wins an Audience Award.

Q&A with the journalists behind CNN's new series 

The story of the Murdochs, the world’s most powerful media family, is a tale of high-stakes deal-making, political maneuvering and dynastic betrayals.

The riveting reporting by Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg in their New York Times Magazine article How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World caught the eye of CNN. They teamed up to create the new seven-part series The Murdochs: Empire of Influence, which premieres on CNN this Sunday at 9 and 10 p.m. ET.

Last week, CNN anchor Kate Bolduan spoke with Mahler and Rutenberg about their report and the new Original Series:

Q: What sparked your reporting on Rupert Murdoch?

Jim Rutenberg: Both of us have covered the Murdochs for years. We were tasked by The New York Times Magazine to look at what’s going on with Fox News in the Trump environment. As we were reporting it, we started realizing that the real story was the family. We had some luck during the reporting of the article because the family was sort of splintering. And this family in my view – and I think a lot of media reporters who have covered them will agree – is very hard to get inside of. You only got what they wanted you to get. They really didn’t share much. We were told by a Murdoch representative, "You’re not going to get anything but we’ll answer questions at the end." But we just hit it at a time when the family was falling apart and there was a lot of leaking from different viewpoints, and it gave us an opportunity to piece together what was going on.

Q: Rupert is a master of the media and the series shows he's a master of manipulation. He is clearly known to be ruthless. How challenging was it to get inside to report on this?
Jonathan Mahler: It was certainly challenging, but we found that the family was splintering, so that really worked to our advantage because each member of the family has surrogates who were telling different stories. Once we were able to suggest to someone that we are hearing this, then someone else wants to, of course, counter that.  What we ended up doing is sifting through these conflicting accounts to find the truth in it. It was like a snowball.

Q: Why do you think Rupert hasn’t named a successor?

Jonathan Mahler: Well, in a sense he sort of has now in Lachlan, but I think to the extent he hasn’t completely anointed him is he doesn’t want to relinquish the throne himself. To do that would be an admission of his own mortality, basically. So, I think he is just clinging to the throne. He’s doing what he needs to do to keep the business running and to keep his children happy-ish. I think he doesn’t want to step down.

Q: What makes this man, this family and this dynasty so captivating and interesting to so many people?
Jim Rutenberg: It is the power that they wield and the way Rupert and the company have fundamentally affected change to politics in the US and around the world.

Do you have questions for New York Times reporters Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg, whose reporting fueled the documentary?

CNN is hosting a Twitter Spaces (@CNN) on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. Listen in and submit your questions live. 

Don't miss the special two-episode premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET on CNN. 

Rupert Murdoch's life in photos 

Known for his ruthless business tactics and political maneuvering, Rupert Murdoch runs a massive multimedia empire and is one of the richest and most powerful people in the world.

His business began in the 1950s with one local newspaper in Australia.

It is now a massive multimedia empire that spans the globe and includes TV, online, film and print interests. At 91 years old, Murdoch still holds the top post at News Corp, which has a market cap of $13.5 billion.

Here's a look back at his life in photos: 

Murdoch holds a copy of the Sydney tabloid The Daily Mirror in 1960. He bought the newspaper that year. Murdoch was just 22 years old when he inherited the newspaper publishing company owned by his father, Keith.

"I was raised in a newspaper family by a father who believed that the newspaper was among the most important instruments of human freedom," Murdoch said in 2008.

In the 1970s, Murdoch expanded to the United States. He purchased the San Antonio Express and the San Antonio News in 1973, started the National Star in 1974, and bought the New York Post in 1976. By 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized US citizen, and he purchased Twentieth Century Fox for $600 million. In 1986, he bought several US television stations and created Fox Broadcasting.

Murdoch is joined by his wife Anna and their sons — Lachlan, far left, and James — as they attend the movie premiere of "Broadcast News" in 1987. He's been married four times and fathered six children over the course of his seven-decades long career. Several of Murdoch's children have followed him into the family business.

Murdoch shakes hands with Roger Ailes after naming Ailes the head of the new Fox News Channel in 1996, which he launched later that year.

Murdoch is photographed in his News Corp. office in London in 2007. The same year, he purchased Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Murdoch poses with Disney CEO Bob Iger in London. In 2017, it was announced that Disney had agreed to purchase most of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion.

New CNN Film about musical legend Dionne Warwick wins an audience award

The documentary feature, DIONNE WARWICK: Don’t Make Me Over, won the Audience Award at the 2022 BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia. 

The CNN Film is a deeply personal and intimate portrait of the velvet-voiced songstress. It follows Warwick’s rise to music superstardom, from singing in her grandfather’s church to winning six Grammys. It also showcases her advocacy for racial equality and justice, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. The film also includes the backstories behind her blockbuster hit songs, including “That’s What Friends Are For,” “Alfie,” “Heartbreaker,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and “I Say A Little Prayer.”

“Working on DIONNE WARWICK: Don’t Make Me Over has been a true labor of love. We wanted to make a film that people wouldn’t just see … we wanted viewers to feel transported,” said Dave Wooley, who wrote, produced, and directed the film. 

The film premieres Sunday, January 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on CNN.