Closing Summary
Here is a wrap up of the day’s key events and reactions following Rupert Murdoch’s announcement of his resignation from Fox and News Corp:
Fox said in an announcement on Thursday that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies. Murdoch vowed to remain engaged at Fox, saying, “I will be involved every day in the contest of ideas.”
His older son, Lachlan, 52, will become News Corp chairman and continue as chief executive officer of Fox Corp. “On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career,” he said.
Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of the media watchdog Media Matters for America, called Murdoch’s legacy “one of deceit.” Carusone went on to warn Lachlan Murdoch’s succession will likely intensify misconduct and misinformation, saying, “Lachlan certainly is a less competent leader than his father, but his worldview is considerably more brutal.”
In an interview with LBC presenter Andrew Marr, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt called Rupert Murdoch a “formidable operator” an “one of the giants of his era.” Reflecting on Murdoch’s resignation, Hunt said: “He is someone, who love him or loathe him, had a defining influence on all of our lives over the last half century.”
British television host Piers Morgan hailed Rupert Murdoch’s media legacy following his resignation announcement. “It’s been a privilege to work for him on and off for the past 30 years, and an ongoing masterclass in journalism & business,” Morgan said.
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Donald Trump Republican organization responded to Rupert Murdoch’s resignation by saying, “Don’t be fooled by this news.” “Rupert & Fox’s legacy will forever be putting in Trump in the White House & poisoning millions of minds across America,” it added.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Leader of the Opposition and former Leader of the Labour Party, said that Rupert Murdoch’s empire “has poisoned global democracy and spread disinformation on a mass scale.” “It’s time to break up monopolies and build a truly free media — one that exposes the truth, challenges the powerful and amplifies local voices building a better world,” he said.
The Hacked Off Campaign, which was established in 2011 in response to the phone hacking revelations involving the now defunct Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper, also responded to Murdoch’s decision. “Changing the man at the head of News Corp won’t make a difference – the problems in the Murdoch press and other parts of the national newspaper industry are systemic and can only be resolved with independent regulation,” it said.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe offers his analysis on the significance of Rupert Murdoch’s resignation amid a politically tumultous moment for Fox News and the American media landscape:
The resignation of Rupert Murdoch comes amid a period of unprecedented turmoil at his embattled Fox News empire, and leaves a number of questions hanging over the future of the nation’s most-watched rightwing network.
Exclusive reporting by the Guardian this week revealed that Murdoch expected a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over 2020 election lies would cost Fox News $50m. It was settled for an eye-popping $797.5m, the media mogul reportedly left “frothing at the mouth” in anger at Donald Trump, whose conspiracy theories over the 2020 election Fox personalities repeatedly amplified.
Murdoch, according to Michael Wolff, author of the new book The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty, often wished for the former president’s death.
Now, Murdoch is bailing out as other, perhaps more costly lawsuits are still pending, including a $2.7bn damages claim from Smartmatic, another voting machine manufacturer savaged by Fox’s on-air talent in similar fashion to Dominion.
For the full story, click here:
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British-American broadcaster Mehdi Hassan has criticized Rupert Murdoch’s legacy in a tweet following Murdoch’s resignation announcement.
“As Rupert Murdoch announces his ‘retirement’, a reminder that some of the worst things we have had to experience in recent years - the Iraq war, the rise of Trump, the Big Election Lie - are all thanks to him and to Fox.”
As Rupert Murdoch announces his 'retirement', a reminder that some of the worst things we have had to experience in recent years - the Iraq war, the rise of Trump, the Big Election Lie - are all thanks to him and to Fox.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 21, 2023
Watch my deep-dive on Murdoch: https://t.co/v2rruoQPjV
The Hacked Off Campaign, which was established in 2011 in response to the phone hacking revelations involving the now defunct Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper, has issued its response to Murdoch’s resignation, saying:
“Rupert Murdoch presided over a company where widespread illegality occurred and was subsequently covered up.
Every day, News UK’s unregulated newspaper publishers intrude on the lives of ordinary people and publish falsities with impunity.
But changing the man at the head of News Corp won’t make a difference – the problems in the Murdoch press and other parts of the national newspaper industry are systemic and can only be resolved with independent regulation.”
Updated
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Leader of the Opposition and former Leader of the Labour Party, said that Rupert Murdoch’s empire “has poisoned global democracy and spread disinformation on a mass scale.”
“It’s time to break up monopolies and build a truly free media — one that exposes the truth, challenges the powerful and amplifies local voices building a better world,” he added.
Rupert Murdoch's media empire has poisoned global democracy and spread disinformation on a mass scale.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 21, 2023
It's time to break up monopolies and build a truly free media — one that exposes the truth, challenges the powerful and amplifies local voices building a better world.
Here are a few takeaways from Michael Wolff’s news book on the Murdoch empire, Fox and US politics, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
Murdoch did not expect Dominion to prove so costly:
Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for $1.6bn, over the broadcast of Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud in 2020. According to Wolff, in winter 2022, an irate Rupert Murdoch told friends of his then wife, Jerry Hall: “This lawsuit could cost us fifty million dollars.” When the suit was settled, in April, it cost Fox a whopping $787.5m.
Murdoch thought Ron DeSantis would beat Trump:
Murdoch reportedly predicted the Florida governor would beat Trump for the Republican nomination next year, siphoning off evangelical voters because “it was going to come out about the abortions Trump had paid for”.
Murdoch wishes Trump dead…:
“Trump’s death became a Murdoch theme,” Wolff writes, reporting the mogul saying: “‘We would all be better off …?’ ‘This would all be solved if …’ ‘How could he still be alive, how could he?’ ‘Have you seen him? Have you seen what he looks like? What he eats?’”
For the full story, click here:
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Donald Trump Republican organization responded to Rupert Murdoch’s resignation by saying, “Don’t be fooled by this news.”
“Rupert Murdoch may have stepped down at @FoxNews, but Fox remains an extremist MAGA propaganda factory. Rupert & Fox’s legacy will forever be putting in Trump in the White House & poisoning millions of minds across America,” it said.
Don't be fooled by this news. Rupert Murdoch may have stepped down at @FoxNews, but Fox remains an extremist MAGA propaganda factory. Rupert & Fox’s legacy will forever be putting in Trump in the White House & poisoning millions of minds across America. pic.twitter.com/uzb5C9CTNS https://t.co/wzsgj7HrVL
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 21, 2023
British television host Piers Morgan hailed Rupert Murdoch’s media legacy following the mogul’s announcement that he will be stepping down from his media empire.
On Thursday, Morgan wrote:
“Rupert Murdoch has been a bold, brilliant, visionary leader whose audacity & tenacity built a magnificently successful global media empire. It’s been a privilege to work for him on and off for the past 30 years, and an ongoing masterclass in journalism & business. Thanks Boss!”
Rupert Murdoch has been a bold, brilliant, visionary leader whose audacity & tenacity built a magnificently successful global media empire. It’s been a privilege to work for him on and off for the past 30 years, and an ongoing masterclass in journalism & business. Thanks Boss! 👏 pic.twitter.com/pBtuv8KogL
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 21, 2023
UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt says Murdoch 'one of the giants of his era'
In an interview with LBC presenter Andrew Marr, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt called Rupert Murdoch a “formidable operator” an “one of the giants of his era.”
Reflecting on Murdoch’s resignation, Hunt said: “He is someone, who love him or loathe him, had a defining influence on all of our lives over the last half century.
“His support for Margaret Thatcher in the Wapping dispute, was an extremely important moment in her leadership and she benefited enormously from his support,” Hunt said, referring to the lengthy failed strike by London print workers in 1986.
“I think I had moments of feeling different emotions when it came to Rupert Murdoch, if I’m completely honest…but as he’s stepping down today, I will just say simply this, I do have enormous respect for someone who was one of the giants of his era,” Hunt said.
Updated
Here is a Guardian piece from 1968 about Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the now-defunct News of the World newspaper:
The Guardian’s Jason Rodrigues writes:
The Oxford educated Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch first came to the attention of the UK public in the late 1960s, with his bold bid to buy the News of the World under the nose of Robert Maxwell, another media proprietor.
Still in his 30s, Murdoch made no secret of his ambition to acquire the British Sunday tabloid, that was founded in 1843, and use it as a stepping to stone toward expansion in all areas of communication, a news report in the Guardian, in December 1968, quoted him as saying: “we will manage the printing and paper interests as efficiently as possible, but I would expect the expansion to be in the fields of publishing and communication [television].”
The News of the World passed into the hands of Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd. in 1969, after a year-long struggle with Robert Maxwell’s Pergamon Press.
His ownership led to a significant shift in the paper’s content, with more emphasis on crime, sex, scandal, and human interest stories, extensive sports reporting, and occasionally outspokenly conservative editorialising.
Murdoch legacy 'one of deceit', says head of US media watchdog
Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of the media watchdog Media Matters for America, has released the following statement in response to Rupert Murdoch’s resignation and called Murdoch’s legacy “one of deceit”:
“Rupert Murdoch’s legacy is one of deceit, destruction, and death.
Wherever his media properties exist across the globe, they disregard basic journalistic practices and pump venomous misinformation into the public discourse…
Given the unparalleled global scale of his media footprint, no one on the planet has done more to spread lies denying climate change and undermine efforts to address the crisis than Rupert Murdoch.
The world is worse off because of Rupert Murdoch. No one should sugarcoat the damage he caused.”
Carusone went on to warn Lachlan Murdoch’s succession will likely intensify misconduct and misinformation:
“Lachlan certainly is a less competent leader than his father, but his worldview is considerably more brutal. His leadership will likely just intensify the misconduct, misinformation, and malevolence that have come to define Murdoch media.”
Updated
Here are some images of Rupert Murdoch throughout his life and media career:
Updated
Here are some reactions from industry experts on Rupert Murdoch’s announcement, Reuters reports:
Art Hogan, chief market strategist and B Riley Wealth says:
“Murdoch who is 92, is stepping away after a tumultuous year at Fox’s TV network. While his decision comes as a bit of a surprise, there is certainly some logic to the decision… Broadcast TV is in secular decline, and Fox has lost both on air talent and ratings. As one of his sons will be taking over the leadership role, we wouldn’t expect to see much of a reaction in the stock, which is unchanged on a year-to-date basis.”
Brian Weiser, a media analyst of advisory firm Madison and Wall says:
“Logically one would always have expected him to step aside at some point given his age, and the transition to Lachlan has been conveyed to the world for some time… His legacy for the industry – and the world - it’s mixed…
Clearly he’s done a lot for journalism, and many of his enterprises still produce a lot of important news which helps keep the world informed in ways that might not have occurred were it not for his leadership… But it’s impossible to ignore the other side of that, where Fox News amplified toxicity in the US political environment, and other properties similarly impacted other territories.”
Meanwhile, Matthew Tuttle, chief investment officer at Tuttle Capital Management says:
“[Murdoch’s legacy is] huge, good and bad. I think he was the first to make news really entertaining, but his decision to move Fox to the right created MSNBC and politicized news forever.”
The prodigal son: Lachlan's path to heading Fox and News Corp
Rupert Murdoch handing over the reins of his media empire to Lachlan is the fulfillment of a promise first indicated in 2019, when the elder Murdoch named Lachlan as heir to his business.
The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington has this profile of Lachlan:
Born in London and raised in America from the age of three, Lachlan has been a dominant but elusive figure within the Murdoch family. His first job within the firm was at the tender age of 18, and four years later he was running his first newspaper in Queensland, Australia, with the national title the Australian falling under his purview the following year.
By the age of 34, he was the third most powerful executive in News Corp with control over several Fox TV franchises in the US and the New York Post. But he displayed an ability to swim against the tide and confound media watchers when he then stepped unexpectedly aside, spending the next decade essentially in the Murdoch wilderness.
He founded a private investment firm, Illyria, in Australia and developed his own media portfolio.
Lachlan Murdoch returned to the family fold in 2014, earning himself inevitable headlines dubbing him the “prodigal son”. His return quickly put him back on the ascendancy, eclipsing the status of his more moderate and middle-of-the-road brother James and sisters Elisabeth and Prudence.
You can read the full profile here:
Key event
Here is the full letter from Rupert Murdoch about his decision to step down as chairman at Fox and News Corp:
Rupert Murdoch Resigns As Fox Chief, Hands Over Control To His Son
— NDTV (@ndtv) September 21, 2023
Read his letter to Fox employees👇 pic.twitter.com/Pwzo5ZGRz8
“I am truly proud of what we have achieved collectively through the decades, and I owe much to my colleagues, whose contributions to our success have sometimes been unseen outside the company but are deeply appreciated by me.
Whether the truck drivers distributing our papers, the cleaners who toil when we have left the office, the assistants who support us or the skilled operators behind the cameras or the computer code, we would be less successful and have less positive impact on society without your day-after-day dedication,” said Murdoch.
He went on to condemn what he called “self-seeking bureaucracies” and said that “elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rareified class.”
“Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth,” he said.
He added that he will continue to watch “our broadcasts with a critical eye,” and continue to read his companies’ newspapers and websites and books “with much interest.”
This is the moment Fox News announced Rupert Murdoch’s decision to step down as chairman of his media empire:
Here's how Fox News announced the news about Rupert Murdoch pic.twitter.com/eSSYslHg50
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 21, 2023
In response to the announcement, Fox said, “We’d like to add our gratitude as well. Rupert Murdoch created all of this and so much more across America and the globe.
His life’s work has left an indellible imprint on the global media landscape. His contributions are both innumerable and extraordinary and we thank him for letting us be a part of it all.”
Lachlan Murdoch, 52, is currently co-chairman of News Corp and executive chairman and chief executive of the Fox Corporation.
News Corp is essentially the family newspaper and publishing business, Fox Corporation controls the TV news and sports empire.
Rupert Murdoch spun-off the film making business from the previous incarnation of News Corporation in 2013, as 21st Century Fox, which was acquired by Walt Disney Company in 2019.
Lachlan Murdoch issued a statement a short while ago, saying: “On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career.
He added: “We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted.”
The Fox founder’s decision comes five months after his news network paid $787.5m to settle a defamation suit brought by voting equipment company Dominion. Dominion charged that Fox had knowingly broadcast false and outlandish allegations that it was involved in a plot to steal the 2020 election.
Fox still faces a $2.7bn defamation suit filed by Smartmatic, a global election technology company, that also alleges Fox allowed its journalists and guests to broadcast falsehoods about its involvement in the 2020 election.
Updated
Rupert Murdoch will step down as the chairman of his empire in November when Fox and News Corp hold their annual meetings, it was announced just about an hour ago.
His own flagship US publication, the Wall Street Journal, described Murdoch’s seven-decade media career as having “revolutionized news and entertainment and made him one of the world’s most influential and controversial tycoons.”
In a memo to staff there, Murdoch wrote and the WSJ reported: “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles.”
He continued: “Our companies are in robust health, as am I. Our opportunities far exceed our commercial challenges. We have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years.”
After decades of speculation and much family wrangling in recent years between Rupert and his sons Lachlan and James, the senior Murdoch today finally anointed his eldest son, the right-winger Lachlan, as his successor at the empire.
He called Lachlan a “passionate and principled leader.”
Updated
Murdoch retiring from media empire after 70+ years
Rupert Murdoch, the US global media magnate, is stepping down at 92 from the business empire he started expanding in his native Australia at the age of 21, it was announced on Thursday.
In a note to staff first reported in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, he wrote: “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles.”
After decades of wrangling and the smash-hit television drama series Succession that appeared to mirror all too closely the power struggles of the Murdoch business clan, one of the most powerful media and, by extension, political figures of the 20th and 21st centuries is handing over the keys to his eldest son Lachlan.
Murdoch’s publicly-traded company News Corp, headquartered in New York, owns hundreds of local, national and international news outlets. In the US the company owns the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, a conservative-leaning tabloid. Also book publisher HarperCollins. In the UK he owns the dailies The Sun and The Times and owned the now-defunct News of the World weekly scandal sheet. He is famous/infamous for union-busting in the 1980s and influence over and secret deal-making with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
In Australia, News Corp owns The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, and The Australian.
In the television business, News Corp also owns the US’s right-wing channel Fox News, through the Fox Corporation, and, down under, Sky News Australia. Murdoch was the owner of Britain’s Sky News until 2018 and the film company now called 21st Century Fox until 2019.
Forbes estimates Rupert Murdoch enjoys a net worth of US $21.7bn.
Updated
Murdoch stepping down from media empire
Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chair of Fox and News Corp – ending a seven-decade run as one of the world’s most transformative and controversial media moguls.
We’ll bring you the latest news and reaction as we get it.
We have our separate US politics blog covering developments on Capitol Hill today while our live blog on the war in Ukraine can be followed here, with all developments brought to you as they happen.
Meanwhile, here’s what’s going on in the Murdoch world:
Rupert Murdoch, 92, the Australian-born creator of Fox News, is stepping down as head of both of both Fox’s parent company and his News Corp media holdings.
Fox said in an announcement on Thursday that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies.
His older son, Lachlan, 52, will become News Corp chairman and continue as chief executive officer of Fox Corp.
There was a family split over succession of the patriarch not too long ago, after decades of wrangling, which saw younger son James Murdoch walk away from the business that had shaped his life. Rupert’s daughter Elizabeth had avoided the succession battle all along.
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