Lachlan Murdoch was on the other side of the world, in Australia, when his father Rupert’s media empire in the United Kingdom became entangled in a spiraling scandal. One of Murdoch’s newspapers, the tabloid News of the World, had not only hacked the phones of celebrities, politicians and members of the royal family. But also that of a murdered girl and relatives of dead soldiers.
While the youngest son, James, struggled through a public hearing at Rupert’s side, Lachlan celebrated the good life as an investor. His father’s troubles, and ultimately the closure of the tabloid News of the World in 2011, were far away for him.
And yet like the prodigal son, Lachlan returned as a favorite. From November he will even become boss, after the resignation of 92-year-old Rupert, announced on Thursday. Lachlan (52) will take charge of the global media company News Corp. He was already in charge of the American Fox Corporation, the business unit that owned the television channel Fox News.
Conflict
Lachlan Murdoch steadily worked his way up to become his father’s favorite. Sister Elisabeth is known as the most competent offspring, but she would never have aspired to follow in her father’s footsteps. James had already turned away several years ago, out of dissatisfaction with Fox News’ role in the hardening of American politics.
The four children from Rupert Murdoch’s first two marriages, including the reclusive eldest sister Prudence, have an equal share in the family trust – which could create a stalemate if Rupert dies. The group was what it was because Rupert Murdoch designed it that way, said author and Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff in an interview with Vanity Fair. His latest book will be published next week The Fall about Fox News, in which he posits that the most likely scenario is the break-up and sale of News Corp. If it doesn’t succumb to family discord, due to a possible return of James.
But as long as old Murdoch lives, Lachlan can lean on his father’s advice and support. Lachlan’s first steps in his father’s footsteps were in Australia. The British-born, raised in the United States, was put in charge of two newspapers in his twenties, in the country where he had never lived. An adventure in the emerging mobile telecom industry ended in a debacle. The company One.Tel, also active in the Netherlands at the beginning of this century, ‘burned’ hundreds of millions of Australian dollars from News Corp before it went bankrupt.
Back in the US, Lachlan received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the prestigious Princeton, and subsequently became publisher of the tabloid The New York Post. As a board member of News Corp, he came into conflict with channel boss Roger Ailes of Fox News in 2005. Father Rupert chose Ailes in a conflict over control at the right-wing conservative TV channel that was never really resolved, after which Lachlan went his own way. He became an investor and moved to Australia, living outside his father’s sphere of influence. It was not until nine years later that he returned to the fold of the company.
Lachlan’s most difficult year
He turned out to be cut from the right Murdoch cloth. His investment in an Australian group of brokerage sites and real estate advertisements turned out well: REA Group is now a billion-dollar company. Nothing seemed to stand in the way of a succession to the throne, especially as brother James increasingly turned away from his father’s media power.
His political radar appears to be as opportunistic as his father’s. When Roger Ailes had to make way in 2016, after several female Fox News employees testified about inappropriate behavior, a more moderate course for Fox News would have been obvious. But Lachlan had no problem with the virulent right-wing radical sound of Fox News and the channel’s symbiotic relationship with future President Donald Trump. Under his leadership, Fox News became more and more alt-right, with his favorite Tucker Carlson as figurehead. Fox News had the most-watched TV shows on cable.
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Lachlan’s most difficult year was in the aftermath of Trump’s lost presidential election in 2020. Fox News’ performed a balancing act between truth and madness. It is clear that Lachlan did not intervene when Fox News circulated conspiracies about manipulated voting machines. The software is said to be to blame for Trump’s election defeat in 2020. Manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against the channel. Lachlan continued to insist that what Trump and his representatives (including conspiracy theorist and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani) said was newsworthy.
Still, Fox Corp, owner of Fox News, settled for $787.5 million. This prevented painful public interrogations of Lachlan and his father. The son said at an investor meeting a month after the settlement was reached that “I do not believe Fox News or our hosts have committed defamation.” He called the settlement the “right business decision.”
A version of this article also appeared in the September 23, 2023 newspaper.