How Rupert Murdoch's Empire of Influence Remade the World
Rupert Murdoch was lying on the floor of his cabin, unable to move. It was January 2018, and Murdoch and his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, were spending the holidays cruising the Caribbean on his elder son Lachlans yacht. Lachlan had personally overseen the design of the 140-foot sloop named Sarissa after a long and especially dangerous spear used by the armies of ancient Macedonia ensuring that it would be suitable for family vacations while also remaining competitive in superyacht regattas. The cockpit could be transformed into a swimming pool. The ceiling in the childrens cabin became an illuminated facsimile of the nighttime sky, with separate switches for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A detachable board for practicing rock climbing, a passion of Lachlans, could be set up on the deck. But it was not the easiest environment for an 86-year-old man to negotiate. Murdoch tripped on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Murdoch had fallen a couple of other times in recent years, once on the stairs while exiting a stage, another time on a carpet in a San Francisco hotel. The family prevented word from getting out on both occasions, but the incidents were concerning. This one seemed far more serious. Murdoch was stretchered off the Sarissa and flown to a hospital in Los Angeles. The doctors quickly spotted broken vertebrae, which required immediate surgery, as well as a spinal hematoma, increasing the risk of paralysis or even death. Hall called his adult children in a panic, urging them to come to California prepared to make peace with their father.
Few private citizens have ever been more central to the state of world affairs than the man lying in that hospital bed, awaiting his childrens arrival. As the head of a sprawling global media empire, he commanded multiple television networks, a global news service, a major publishing house and a Hollywood movie studio. His newspapers and television networks had been instrumental in amplifying the nativist revolt that was reshaping governments not just in the United States but also across the planet. His 24-hour news-and-opinion network, the Fox News Channel, had by then fused with President Trump and his base of hard-core supporters, giving Murdoch an unparalleled degree of influence over the worlds most powerful democracy. In Britain, his London-based tabloid, The Sun, had recently led the historic Brexit crusade to drive the country out of the European Union and, in the chaos that ensued, helped deliver Theresa May to 10 Downing Street. In Australia, where Murdochs power is most undiluted, his outlets had led an effort to repeal the countrys carbon tax a first for any nation and pushed out a series of prime ministers whose agenda didnt comport with his own. And he was in the midst of the biggest deal of his life: Only a few weeks before his fall on Lachlans yacht, he shook hands on a London rooftop with Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, consummating a preliminary agreement to sell his TV and film studio, 21st Century Fox, to Disney for $52.4 billion. But control of this sprawling empire was suddenly up in the air.
The four grown children had differing claims to the throne. The 61-year-old Prudence, the only child of Murdochs first marriage, to the Australian model Patricia Booker (whom he divorced in 1965), lived in Sydney and London and kept some distance from the family business. But the three children from Murdochs second marriage, to Anna Mann (whom he divorced in 1999), had spent at least parts of their lives jockeying to succeed their father. Elisabeth (50), Lachlan (47) and James (46) all grew up in the business. As children, they sat around the familys breakfast table on Fifth Avenue, listening to their fathers tutorials on the morning papers: how the articles were selected and laid out, how many ad pages there were. All of them had imagined that his ever-growing company might one day belong to them. As friends of the Murdochs liked to say, Murdoch didnt raise children; he raised future media moguls.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-trump.html
BigmanPigman
(51,651 posts)Will they continue in his footsteps to spread his form of propaganda "news"?
They are totally into it. I remember a news article on them back in the 80s and how two of the sons were plotting to kill off their dad. Then when they made up after that, there was talk of them taking over all the broadcasting in the world, starting with Australia and moving into China and eventually here to be used for propaganda. Looks like they succeeded.
Rupert also gave us speaker gingrich. Never forget that. This empire of propaganda has been decades in the making. When Rupert kicks it, they could implode due to infighting.
badhair77
(4,226 posts)I did not realize how Reagans elimination of the Fairness Doctrine helped give us the Murdoch empire. Then there was the assistance of Roy Cohn. And in the past years Ruperts and Lachlans roles in moving Britain and Austrailia to the right. Dont like a countrys leader? Just get rid of him.
It will be interesting to see how the family functions once the father is dead. Their infighting could be the end of them. Lachlan has lost lots of company money before when he was on his own. He doesnt seem like a competent business leader.