‘You Think He’s Really Going Away?’ Fox News Insiders On What Murdoch’s Retirement Could Actually Mean
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
“Most folks are all saying the same thing: ‘You think he’s really going away?!’”
That was the sentiment of a high-level Fox News executive upon the announcement that 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch was stepping down from the top of his global media empire. He handed the reins to his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who was already the CEO of Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, and who will now lead both Fox Corp. and News Corp.
While the news sent shockwaves through the political-media world, those at the top ranks of Fox News made clear that the decision to step back doesn’t mean he’s retiring entirely.
“He’s distanced himself before only to step back in a more direct way like when he ran Fox News after Roger [Ailes] was forced out, and he had a blast doing it,” the high-level executive said. “The thing with Rupert that is a truism, you don’t know until you know. Tomorrow morning we could wake up and see he’s usurped Lachlan as CEO and chairman, and not be shocked.”
Indeed, Murdoch told Fox staffers in a company memo that he planned to remain involved in the business and present in its newsrooms.
Whatever the reasons for Murdoch stepping back, the executive speculated it has to do with financial considerations: “It’s all about the money. That’s always where it leads, especially with the Murdochs. They span continents but speak one language. Dollars. Has to be some sort of money trigger.”
“Lachlan takes the reins of a smaller if not diminished media empire that may not have the scale to compete without acquisitions,” the executive said. “Anyone who’s been in the room with him will tell you he doesn’t have the vision or the brains to grow and carry on the empire. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the beginning of an inevitable sale.”
One longtime Fox News staffer dismissed the idea that Murdoch stepping down had to do with a potential future sale of his assets.
“I don’t have any indication that it was anything other than just the time to do so,” they said. “I think the jury is still out on Lachlan and I think the future of the company will be fleshed out once Rupert passes.”
The retirement has prompted much speculation about whether Fox News might change with Lachlan at the helm. That’s unlikely: he’s been CEO of Fox Corp. for several years already. As for the political bent of the network, Lachlan is known to have more conservative politics than his father.
Several former Fox News staffers who spoke with Mediaite said they believed Fox News would be in worse shape under Lachlan’s full leadership.
“It’ll be worse with Lachlan at the helm,” one former Fox employee who spent years at the network said. “Lachlan demonstrated over and over again he was willing to turn a blind eye to the white nationalist rhetoric coming from people like Tucker [Carlson]. And even with Tucker gone, you will still have hosts like Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld giving the same not-so-subtle winks to white grievance that Tucker did every night on his show.”
In recent years, turning a blind eye to facts has cost Fox tremendously. The network settled the Dominion defamation suit over 2020 election misinformation for $787.5 million. The discovery in that suit proved not only damning but highly embarrassing for the network, revealing the lengths hosts and top executives went to promote the stolen election theory they knew to be false. The Smartmatic defamation suit, which makes similar claims to Dominion, is ongoing. Another defamation suit, from Trump supporter Ray Epps, landed over the summer.
Given the turbulence on the horizon for Fox, most sources who spoke with Mediaite said to expect Rupert to remain seriously involved from his new perch as chairman emeritus.
“He’s never going to fully give up power and control,” the Fox News executive said. “It’s who he is.”
