Rupert Murdoch looked frazzled but defiant. We were having what was supposed to be a friendly coffee, but this was 2006 and he was under siege from bankers who were trying to cope with his financial over-reach.

A battle over control of Rupert Murdoch’s global television and publishing empire begins Monday in a Reno, Nevada courtroom, where a judge will consider the contentious matter of succession.

A group of news organizations filed an emergency petition Thursday, asking Nevada’s highest court to unseal the ongoing family succession battle playing out in a Reno courtroom that will determine the future of Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire.