Rupert Murdoch, a prominent media mogul, has long insisted that he would never retire. Back in 1998, at the age of 67, he expressed his belief that retiring would lead to his demise. Even in 2015, when he was grooming his son Lachlan to take over at Fox, Lachlan acknowledged that Rupert would never retire.
However, today, Murdoch has taken a significant step towards retirement by assuming the title of chairman emeritus. At the age of 92, he is stepping down and passing the baton to his son Lachlan, who will now serve as the sole chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp.
Despite this transition, the conservative bias of the Murdoch media empire will remain intact. If anything, Lachlan is even more conservative than his father and closely aligned with Trumpism. The future direction of the network, however, is somewhat uncertain, as Rupert’s three siblings will also have a say in the decisions of the Murdoch Family Trust once he is no longer around.
This momentous announcement has garnered a great deal of attention from Murdoch’s own newspapers and TV networks. Fox News, for instance, led its morning newscast with the news, while “Rupert Murdoch to Step Down as Chair of Fox, News Corp” dominated the homepage of The Wall Street Journal.
While his allies present this move as a form of semi-retirement, Murdoch has assured his employees that he will continue to be involved in the company, expressing his intention to watch, read, and provide his opinions from his various offices across different countries.
Although Murdoch’s movements and political activities will undoubtedly continue to be closely followed, today’s announcement signifies a undeniable truth: Murdoch’s influence and power have diminished.
For my upcoming book, Network of Lies, I had the opportunity to delve into the emails and texts uncovered during the Dominion v. Fox lawsuit. As I reviewed these documents, I was struck by how passive Murdoch appeared in his correspondences with Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and then-New York Post editor Col Allan. When Fox faced criticism for its coverage of Donald Trump’s election loss and resorted to spreading falsehoods about Dominion, Murdoch seemed more like an ordinary passenger than the captain of the ship.
A longtime Murdoch associate even shared, “There was a time when Rupert would say jump and people would say how high. But not anymore.”
Therefore, today’s announcement did not come as a surprise, despite Murdoch’s previous claims of never retiring.
Murdoch rarely speaks publicly or grants interviews, making the Dominion legal proceedings a unique insight into his world. During his deposition in January, he seemed disengaged and disconnected. He identified himself as a journalist at heart, particularly a newspaperman who still values print. Murdoch admitted to not watching Fox News as much as he should and demonstrated a lack of familiarity with some of the hosts. He portrayed himself, intentionally or not, as a mere spectator in his own company.
While the pretrial process revealed evidence of Murdoch’s influence, such as his ban on Steve Bannon’s appearances and his mobilization of Fox assets for Republican Senate races, it also showed his apparent lack of involvement when Fox spread insidious lies about the 2020 election results. He appeared shockingly unaware of what was happening within his own company.
At one point, Nelson, the attorney for Dominion, asked Murdoch, “Do you think it’s healthy for democracy when millions of people believe a falsehood about whether an election was rigged?” Murdoch’s response was telling: “It is not good for any country if masses of people believe in falsehoods.”
Perhaps no other statement could summarize Murdoch’s tenure at Fox in such a damning way.
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