The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News and its sister channel Fox Business faced their share of challenges during former President Joe Biden’s four years in the White House. Fox News agreed to pay Domination Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a major defamation lawsuit — while facing a separate $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic. And there were tensions between Donald Trump and Fox News over Fox News’ initial enthusiasm for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential run.
But Fox News dominated cable news ratings after Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch will be turning 94 on March 11, and the direction the right-wing Murdoch media empire should take in the future is, according to The Guardian, inspiring major infighting among his children.
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Journalist/author Jane Martinson, in an article published by The Guardian on February 22, explains, “The mogul’s four eldest children — Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence — were set to inherit the family firm…. But four years ago, just after turning 90, Rupert had tried to cut James, Liz and Prue out of their inheritance and hand the businesses over to Lachlan, his favored heir who also happens to share his increasingly right-wing politics. (A) lawsuit was brought by the three errant offspring, and in December, a Nevada commissioner ruled in their favor, accusing Rupert and Lachlan of acting in ‘bad faith.'”
Martinson continues, “The trial took place in secret, but the fallout — thanks to the New York Times investigation and a 13,000-word Atlantic interview with James — has been anything but. Among the highlights — or the lowlights if you’re a Murdoch — were the revelation that Rupert’s plan to disinherit three of his four eldest children was dubbed ‘Project Family Harmony,’ that Rupert’s lawyer had accused the three children of being ‘white, privileged, multibillionaire trust-fund babies,’ and that James now viewed his father as a ‘misogynist.'”
A former Murdoch family “adviser” told The Guardian that employees are worried about the effect family infighting will have on the company.
According to that source, “It’s hard to overstate how uncertain everyone associated with the company feels right now. You’ve got some great journalists doing great work while squabbling billionaires fall out over even more money.”
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Michael Wolff, author of the 2023 book “The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire,” told The Guardian, “I think that we’re clearly heading toward that (collapse)…. Lachlan will be fired, and the rest of the company will be dismantled.”
But despite all this turmoil, Martinson notes, the Murdoch media empire still “brings profits and political clout.”
“Although the businesses are riding high politically,” Martinson observes, “Fox News still faces a $2.7bn defamation claim from Smartmatic after on-air comments suggested the electronic voting systems helped rig the 2020 US presidential election…. Yet Fox News is the most profitable part of the Murdoch empire and likely to be the easiest to sell in the short term. It is separately traded and valued at $25bn, and there will be no shortage of billionaires willing to pay for its access and influence.”
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Jane Martinson’s full article for The Guardian is available at this link.
