4 ms·

Rupert Murdoch loses battle to control succession to his media empire

44 points by rntn 2y ago

wumeow 2y ago
A less-radical Fox & co would be a boon to the US. >Robert Thompson, a media scholar based at Syracuse University, said even after the court loss, the Murdochs may stick with their empire’s right wing-pleasing business model. Maybe, but Rupert is worried enough about it to stab 3 of his children in the back.
sydbarrett74 2y ago
[flagged]
- dang 2y ago
  Ok, but please don't fulminate on Hacker News. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Not that you owe media barons better, necessarily, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. (Syd Barrett fan, in case that helps.)
  - sydbarrett74 2y ago
    My apologies to all for the saltiness.
alsetmusic 2y ago
Two minutes before loading HN, I was thinking about how sad I am that my mother gets her "news" from Fox. I hope his empire crumbles. He's single-handedly done more harm to the USA than any other person during my lifetime.
- pupppet 2y ago
  Couldn’t upvote this more.
- cleanerbob 2y ago
  [dead]
- hypertexthero 2y ago
  > The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you’ve cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you’re not careful. —Steve Jobs, in a 2010 conversation with Rupert Murdoch.
  - christianqchung 2y ago
    Wow, that raises my opinion of Jobs dramatically, not that I had anything much against him before.
    - onetokeoverthe 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - soulofmischief 2y ago
        Your own source does no corroborate your claim: > "I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off 8 and transplanting cancer into several more. The latter has not resulted in any fatalities so far..."
        onetokeoverthe 2y ago
        [flagged]
        soulofmischief 2y ago
        [flagged]
        dang 2y ago
        Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- throw0101a 2y ago
  > Two minutes before loading HN, I was thinking about how sad I am that my mother gets her "news" from Fox. If it's any consolation, if you can get them to switch stations they can be 'deprogrammed': * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi...
wilsynet 2y ago
It’s fine to have a conservative leaning news channel. It’s not fine to spend so much of the time spreading lies.
- mindslight 2y ago
  Can we please please please stop labeling this political movement aiming to tear down our country's institutions as "conservative" ? It paints the agenda as some safe status quo option when it is actually plainly radical (ie the complete opposite of conservative). Realizing this pervasive mischaracterization also neatly explains the tone policing dynamic of contemporary college campuses. That isn't some "hyper" form of liberalism, but rather a straightforward conservative dynamic of keeping the ranks in line. The confusion comes from what college administrators are trying to conserve - the social mores they fought for and won as liberals a generation+ ago. And lest you think I'm just coming from left field here, Moldbug (upstream of much of today's "alt right") made a similar judgement when he rejected the approach of conservatism as doomed and labeled his own philosophy as reactionary.
  - throwaway314155 2y ago
    There are faaar better hills to die on, however correct you may be.
    - mindslight 2y ago
      I didn't sign myself up to die on a hill by writing a comment. If one person finds my framing useful, I've succeeded. It's obviously too late to change much of what's coming down the line, but getting our intellectual/memetic house in order is one of the first steps to reconstruction.
  - joshka 2y ago
    Maybe just learn to pronounce it with a very strong Australian accent. If you're missing the point, the first syllable rhymes with punt.
defrost 2y ago
When Rupert dies, his votes effectively expire, and his four oldest children have an equal say in the management of the empire. This created the possibility that the three more politically moderate siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James might gang up to roll Lachlan. As one sharemarket analyst told me when I wrote The Successor, my 2022 biography of Lachlan, “it’s fair to assume that the day Rupert dies is the day Lachlan gets fired”. ~ Paddy Manning, independent journalist, author of The Successor: The high-stakes life of Lachlan Murdoch (2022) https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/12/10/rupert-murdoch-lachlan-murdoch-loses-family-trust-case/ https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/12/10/rupert-murdoch-lachlan-...
- skissane 2y ago
  If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax?
  - defrost 2y ago
    Rupert Murdoch grew up in media, his father had a newspaper and (along with other adventures) tilted hard at the British Government over censorship of war news in WWI. With that as his launchpad he expanded from Australia to the UK and mastered the art of eating Fleet Street's lunch (stealing eyeballs from establishment newspapers). Recently, when Fox finally (temporarily) stopped supporting Trump following his defeat by Biden, the NewsMax crowd had a red hot go at stealing eyeballs from Fox and being the edgy outsiders. They weren't real good at it. But this isn't about Rupert, it's about his kids .. and in many ways their talents remain to be seen. If Fox moves to the centre, will it be successful? That depends on the hands on the tiller. If someone goes up against Fox media will it be Newsmax and Ted Turner's ghost or will it be Lachlan Murdoch hellbent on sticking it to James? These are, IMHO, more interesting questions. Never underestimate the drama of siblings ripping into each other .. now add several billion dollars in to the mix.
  - throw0101a 2y ago
    > If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax? There have been studies that have shown that changing channels cause people to change their views: * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi... So if the shift is gradual, then there could be a shift over time on viewers' part.
paxys 2y ago
Succession ended a couple seasons too early
voisin 2y ago
The only reason to have created a trust was to minimize taxes (whether in estate planning or in life). That attempt now cost him control over the future of his life’s work. I wonder if he reflects on this at all.

44 points by rntn 2y ago

A less-radical Fox & co would be a boon to the US. >Robert Thompson, a media scholar based at Syracuse University, said even after the court loss, the Murdochs may stick with their empire’s right wing-pleasing business model. Maybe, but Rupert is worried enough about it to stab 3 of his children in the back.

sydbarrett74 2y ago

[flagged]

dang 2y ago
Ok, but please don't fulminate on Hacker News. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Not that you owe media barons better, necessarily, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. (Syd Barrett fan, in case that helps.)
- sydbarrett74 2y ago
  My apologies to all for the saltiness.

alsetmusic 2y ago

Two minutes before loading HN, I was thinking about how sad I am that my mother gets her "news" from Fox. I hope his empire crumbles. He's single-handedly done more harm to the USA than any other person during my lifetime.

pupppet 2y ago
Couldn’t upvote this more.
cleanerbob 2y ago
[dead]
hypertexthero 2y ago
> The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you’ve cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you’re not careful. —Steve Jobs, in a 2010 conversation with Rupert Murdoch.
- christianqchung 2y ago
  Wow, that raises my opinion of Jobs dramatically, not that I had anything much against him before.
  - onetokeoverthe 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - soulofmischief 2y ago
      Your own source does no corroborate your claim: > "I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off 8 and transplanting cancer into several more. The latter has not resulted in any fatalities so far..."
      - onetokeoverthe 2y ago
        [flagged]
        soulofmischief 2y ago
        [flagged]
        dang 2y ago
        Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
throw0101a 2y ago
> Two minutes before loading HN, I was thinking about how sad I am that my mother gets her "news" from Fox. If it's any consolation, if you can get them to switch stations they can be 'deprogrammed': * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi...

wilsynet 2y ago

It’s fine to have a conservative leaning news channel. It’s not fine to spend so much of the time spreading lies.

mindslight 2y ago
Can we please please please stop labeling this political movement aiming to tear down our country's institutions as "conservative" ? It paints the agenda as some safe status quo option when it is actually plainly radical (ie the complete opposite of conservative). Realizing this pervasive mischaracterization also neatly explains the tone policing dynamic of contemporary college campuses. That isn't some "hyper" form of liberalism, but rather a straightforward conservative dynamic of keeping the ranks in line. The confusion comes from what college administrators are trying to conserve - the social mores they fought for and won as liberals a generation+ ago. And lest you think I'm just coming from left field here, Moldbug (upstream of much of today's "alt right") made a similar judgement when he rejected the approach of conservatism as doomed and labeled his own philosophy as reactionary.
- throwaway314155 2y ago
  There are faaar better hills to die on, however correct you may be.
  - mindslight 2y ago
    I didn't sign myself up to die on a hill by writing a comment. If one person finds my framing useful, I've succeeded. It's obviously too late to change much of what's coming down the line, but getting our intellectual/memetic house in order is one of the first steps to reconstruction.
- joshka 2y ago
  Maybe just learn to pronounce it with a very strong Australian accent. If you're missing the point, the first syllable rhymes with punt.

defrost 2y ago

When Rupert dies, his votes effectively expire, and his four oldest children have an equal say in the management of the empire. This created the possibility that the three more politically moderate siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James might gang up to roll Lachlan. As one sharemarket analyst told me when I wrote The Successor, my 2022 biography of Lachlan, “it’s fair to assume that the day Rupert dies is the day Lachlan gets fired”. ~ Paddy Manning, independent journalist, author of The Successor: The high-stakes life of Lachlan Murdoch (2022) https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/12/10/rupert-murdoch-lachlan-murdoch-loses-family-trust-case/ https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/12/10/rupert-murdoch-lachlan-...

skissane 2y ago
If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax?
- defrost 2y ago
  Rupert Murdoch grew up in media, his father had a newspaper and (along with other adventures) tilted hard at the British Government over censorship of war news in WWI. With that as his launchpad he expanded from Australia to the UK and mastered the art of eating Fleet Street's lunch (stealing eyeballs from establishment newspapers). Recently, when Fox finally (temporarily) stopped supporting Trump following his defeat by Biden, the NewsMax crowd had a red hot go at stealing eyeballs from Fox and being the edgy outsiders. They weren't real good at it. But this isn't about Rupert, it's about his kids .. and in many ways their talents remain to be seen. If Fox moves to the centre, will it be successful? That depends on the hands on the tiller. If someone goes up against Fox media will it be Newsmax and Ted Turner's ghost or will it be Lachlan Murdoch hellbent on sticking it to James? These are, IMHO, more interesting questions. Never underestimate the drama of siblings ripping into each other .. now add several billion dollars in to the mix.
- throw0101a 2y ago
  > If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax? There have been studies that have shown that changing channels cause people to change their views: * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi... So if the shift is gradual, then there could be a shift over time on viewers' part.

paxys 2y ago

Succession ended a couple seasons too early

voisin 2y ago

The only reason to have created a trust was to minimize taxes (whether in estate planning or in life). That attempt now cost him control over the future of his life’s work. I wonder if he reflects on this at all.