Disappointed Trumpists have been shocked to discover that Rupert Murdoch thought half of what Donald Trump was spouting after the 2020 election was “bullshit and damaging“. Everyone else? They’re appalled that, “bullshit” or no, Fox kept on amplifying when the ratings turned sour.
The carefully cultivated mask of “news” has slipped, leaving Fox distrusted on the one hand, disbelieved on the other, and increasingly dismissed all around.
Its troubles flow from the chaotic final months of 2020, when Fox was wedged between the hard fact that Trump had lost his reelection bid and its Trump-supporting audience’s demand to be told that those immutable facts were false. To weasel through, many of its presenters endorsed the lie of the stolen election.
Now, two of the victims of that big lie — voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic — are suing Fox in multibillion-dollar claims for defamation. Over the past few weeks, in filings and depositions, we’ve discovered the justification for that weaselling: ratings.
With the filings, Fox’s legal problems have expanded. Rupert Murdoch’s admission that he showed Biden advertisements to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner before broadcast has been referred to the Federal Election Commission by Media Matters for America to determine whether it was an illegal corporate contribution.
US cable companies are under pressure to drop the station from their bundle. Reporting by the US traditional media is slashing away at Fox’s “news” credibility. In Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age — normally so cautious about poking the Murdoch bear — can’t get enough of it.
The Australian, on the other hand, has been remarkably quiet. Here, the mastheads have cast around for something they’d rather talk about — the 80,000-odd people with superannuation over $3 million facing the inconvenience of finding new ways to avoid tax on the money their money makes them.
The credibility crisis crashed into last week’s advertising numbers, which showed January’s spend in all Australian news media down 26.1% year-on-year. Print newspapers? Down 34.3%. Ouch!
What Houdini-like twist will Rupert perform to get out of the mess? Will the companies tack to the base, to accommodate an angry Trump and his supporters? Or bravely pivot back towards “news”? Here’s a tip: don’t follow the money the defamation will cost them — follow the money their power delivers.
Being the outrage manufacturer of choice is what gives Fox its power — including the power to make money by ensuring cable companies pay per subscriber to keep the network as a must-have part of their bundle.
Getting Trump off its back by giving him the air-time he wants is an easy first step. What’s that? Fox carried Trump’s weekend spiel at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)? Fancy that.
Next comes the management shuffling with what the fictional Roy family in Succession (streaming now on Foxtel) called “the blood sacrifice”. Fingers are pointing at Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott. “They’re leaving a trail of crumbs that lead back to her office,” National Public Radio’s David Folkenflik said last week.
Then, the board: on the weekend, Trump-supporting Steve Bannon warned the Murdochs: “you’re not going to have a network … we’re going to fight you every step of the way”. That “bunch of foreigners” (he meant the Murdochs), he told CPAC, should sack former Republican speaker of the house Paul Ryan from the Fox board.
Most worried would be the presenters identified by Murdoch in his deposition as endorsing the election fraud claims: Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo. No worries, Trump’s got their back, mixing up his metaphors on Truth Social to ask: “Why is Rupert throwing his anchors under the table?”
The Murdochs have long turned to their Australian talent to step up in a crisis. In the 1980s, it was Bill O’Neill who managed London’s print unions in the Wapping shift. In 2001, Daily Telegraph head Col Allan was whisked to New York to weave his tabloid magic with a struggling New York Post (and whisked back in 2013 to “help” the editors cover the federal election).
Over at News Corp HQ in Sydney’s Surry Hills, there’ll be a bit of resume polishing. One to watch: Paul (“Boris”) Whittaker, linked with Lachlan since they met working at Queensland Newspapers in the mid-1990s. Now Sky News head, Whittaker was recently made chair of The Australian’s newly created editorial board to keep an eye on the otherwise landmark appointment of Michelle Gunn as the newspaper’s first female editor-in-chief.
Last time the backlash to News Corp was this existential — after the billion-dollar UK hacking scandal — the Murdochs were forced to close the News of the World and withdraw their bid for Sky UK. The divided News and Fox are more fragile now. That makes big structural changes likely to follow on fast from any management shuffling.
What are Fox News’ chances of surviving this mess? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
