The Murdoch Empire's Greatest Test

[Stavros]

The greatest test is about to come: the survival of the Empire without the Emperor. The Children circling each other in the shadows. It might be consequential for the Empire's Legions and Slaves, and lead to a structural if not tonal shift in the media landscape populated by the anti-Govt, Markets-Know-Best. We wait and see.

The assessment in the UK that Murdoch played a key role in the transformation of the print industry is rubbish. Everyone knew the print newspapers were about to undergo a technological change, but while Mrs Thatcher urged Murdoch to take on the Unions which he was keen to do, and the Wapping confrontations made the headlines, the Mirror Group negotiated redundancy agreements with the Unions and made their transition to the digital world without a single strike or confrontation, which Murdoch could have done -but why choose peace when you can have war, a war he knew he was going to win?

Hence the Mantra to be Chanted when you want to undermine freedom, democracy and Government:

Where there is Balance, let there be Bias.
Where there is Celebrity, let there be Cheats.
Where there is Decency, let there be Dirt.
Where there is Honour, let there be Humiliation.
Where there is Innocence, let there be Indictment.
Where there is Sensible, let there be Sensation.
Where there is Truth, let there be Trash.
Where there are Values, let there be Vulgar.

[filghy2]

The old gnome is putting Lachlan in charge, and will still be pulling strings behind the scenes, so I don't think anything much will change until he dies.

Clearly no sense of irony in these comments in his statement:

"Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth."

[Stavros]

The old gnome is putting Lachlan in charge, and will still be pulling strings behind the scenes, so I don't think anything much will change until he dies.

Clearly no sense of irony in these comments in his statement:

"Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth."

A more elaborate version of your post! Interesting angle on the Australian dimension to Mudoch's permanent 'anti-elitism'...

Rupert Murdoch’s toxic legacy? The powerful can now blame the world’s ills on ‘the elite’ | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian

[filghy2]

There's a recent book on Murdoch's early career in Australia, which I haven't read. It seems he may have been genuinely anti-establishment back then, although ruthless pursuit of his own interests was always the priority.
https://theconversation.com/from-the...terests-207829

As with Trump, I think much of his antipathy toward educated elites stems from resentment that they have never given him the respect he felt he deserved.

[Stavros]

There's a recent book on Murdoch's early career in Australia, which I haven't read. It seems he may have been genuinely anti-establishment back then, although ruthless pursuit of his own interests was always the priority.
https://theconversation.com/from-the...terests-207829

As with Trump, I think much of his antipathy toward educated elites stems from resentment that they have never given him the respect he felt he deserved.

The critical point being he has never deserved it. I don't know for sure, but I think there was an arid intellectual climate in Australia in the 1950s which may explain why the most famous Australians we know in the UK spent most of their lives here rather than there, although I believe this changed when Bob Hawke was PM. I don't rate either Barry Humphries or Clive James, the former being an insult to the intelligence, the latter trading in his for a trashy tv sbow, though he was a great admirer of Philip Larkin, a poet of the most uninteresting poetry who has the highest reputation, based on what I don't know. As for Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes, both have, or did produce books worth reading, notably the book Hughes wrote on Goya.

The riposte to all this clever thinking is some thick-jawed Aussie crushing a can of Castlemaine in his hands before reaching for another and passing judgment in crude language on a passing Sheila. Crocodile Dundee syndrome, and one to which Murdoch has remained loyal ever since, presumably admiring the ruthless manner in which crocodiles snatch their prey and swallow them.

Why report the news when you can create it? And always kick your best mate in the balls to remind him who has the power.

[blackchubby38]

The greatest test is about to come: the survival of the Empire without the Emperor. The Children circling each other in the shadows. It might be consequential for the Empire's Legions and Slaves, and lead to a structural if not tonal shift in the media landscape populated by the anti-Govt, Markets-Know-Best. We wait and see.

The assessment in the UK that Murdoch played a key role in the transformation of the print industry is rubbish. Everyone knew the print newspapers were about to undergo a technological change, but while Mrs Thatcher urged Murdoch to take on the Unions which he was keen to do, and the Wapping confrontations made the headlines, the Mirror Group negotiated redundancy agreements with the Unions and made their transition to the digital world without a single strike or confrontation, which Murdoch could have done -but why choose peace when you can have war, a war he knew he was going to win?

Hence the Mantra to be Chanted when you want to undermine freedom, democracy and Government:

Where there is Balance, let there be Bias.
Where there is Celebrity, let there be Cheats.
Where there is Decency, let there be Dirt.
Where there is Honour, let there be Humiliation.
Where there is Innocence, let there be Indictment.
Where there is Sensible, let there be Sensation.
Where there is Truth, let there be Trash.
Where there are Values, let there be Vulgar.

This podcast I usually listen to had an episode a couple of weeks ago previewing the following book, "The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty", by Michael Wolff. One of the things they talked about was the succession plan once Rupert passes away and supposedly it breaks down like this. I'm paraphrasing the transcript of the episode, so there may be errors.

Upon his death, the power ownership of the company, the voting majority of the company passes to his four children in equal amounts and there is no tie breaker.

At this moment, Lachlan is the CEO of Fox and the executive chairman of News Corp. Apparently the newspaper side of the Murdoch holdings wants him to keep the job.

His brother, Jamie wants to take the job from him. Mainly for political reasons since he is a liberal and believes Fox is a cancer on the American political body and wants to turn into a force for good.

Their sister, Elizabeth sides with her brother Jamie. But also believes that its cable television, its not going to get any more valuable, and maybe they should just sell it.

The older sister, Prudence who has never been part of the company, lives in Australia, and tends to side with whatever the majority is.

Its Wolff belief that within a couple of years after Murdoch's death he can see either the end of Fox News or it being sold. He believes there is no way for Lachlan to maintain control of a US right wing network and that Jamie will win control of the company. But at the same time, Jamie doesn't want to sell it because of his desire to make it a force for good.

But by trying to turn Fox News into a force for good, all Jamie would be doing is turning a billion dollar grosser into CNN and this will eventually lead to showdown with the shareholders. A battle that most likely the Murdochs will win since its a family controlled company.

My two cents is this. Given how uncertain the future of linear television is, I would side with Elizabeth Murdoch and say the time is right to get out and sell. Having said that, the thing you worry about is the selling to the wrong buyer. The last thing you want is the network to fall in the hands of someone like the Saudis.

When it comes to James Murdoch's plan to turn the Fox News into a force for good. I really don't see what good he is going to do by having Fox News became a liberal network, just to wind up in third place in the ratings behind MSNBC and CNN. I also don't think having all three of the major cable news networks be left leaning, with the the right wing ones (OAN and Newsmaxx) on the fringes is a good idea either.

Now if James wants to turn the network into a place where the news is just being reported, with no commentary from either side of the aisle, (sort of like a 24 hour version of a 6:30 P.M. nightly news broadcast), that would truly be doing some good. Of course, the network would still probably come in third place behind MSNBC and CNN. But at least his conscience would probably be clear.

[filghy2]

I haven't read the book, but what is the evidence that James Murdoch would want to take Fox News in liberal (rather than more centrist) direction? Objecting to their one-sided propaganda doesn't necessarily imply wanting to go in the opposite direction. Apart from his objection to them publishing disinformation, I can't recall reading anything about his political stances.

I think the idea that you can be neutral by publishing only news and no commentary seems like a chimera. The selection of which news gets published always involves some value judgements. Facts are often not clear-cut or self-explanatory, so there has to be some analysis and interpretation. What people on both sides are saying is arguably news in itself.

Rather than avoiding commentary, maybe we need to go back to something like the fairness doctrine, although there are obviously big questions about how this could be enforced in the current political climate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine

[blackchubby38]

Here is a link to the podcast if anybody is interested. Its less than a 30 minute interview. Its the episode entitled, The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Empire from September 21st.

pod.link/1612131897