Rupert Murdoch presents: Succession

Summary

Podcast Summary: Rupert Murdoch Presents: Succession

Today, Explained – Vox
Host: Sean Ramisviram
Guests: Dave Folkenflick (NPR), Oliver Darcy (Status News)
Date: September 30, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Today, Explained delves into the real-life drama behind Succession—the saga of Rupert Murdoch, his enormous global media empire, and the family battles surrounding the future of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Drawing direct parallels to the HBO hit, the hosts and guests dissect Murdoch's complex relationship with Donald Trump, his influence on American and global media, and the ongoing power struggles among his children to control his legacy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Murdoch-Trump Relationship: Two Sides of a Media-Political Coin

• The episode opens with a look at how Fox News, under Rupert Murdoch's leadership, became intertwined with Donald Trump’s rise and presidency.
  • [02:37] Dave Folkenflick: “The one thing Murdoch has always wanted and never gotten was a bat phone in the White House… And with Donald Trump, he got it.”
• Trump’s long-rooted relationship with Murdoch’s media—especially the New York Post and Fox News—predates his presidential run.
  • [03:24] Oliver Darcy on Trump’s Fox and Friends appearances: “He used to have that weekly segment where he would call in and opine on everything under the sun.”
• Murdoch’s personal skepticism about Trump didn’t stop him from leveraging Fox News as a kingmaker and ratings magnet.
  • [04:51] Dave Folkenflick: “Rupert just has kind of an amused contempt for [Trump]. He thinks this is not a serious person.”

2. Symbiotic Alliances and Betrayals

• Murdoch and Trump found mutual benefit in their relationship—ratings and influence in exchange for unwavering support—but underlying tensions persisted.
  • [05:23] Oliver Darcy: “Rupert Murdoch likes being in Trump’s good graces because it’s good for ratings, business… Trump likes Fox because it’s his megaphone.”
• Fox’s coverage during Trump’s presidency became “unquestionably… a propaganda mouthpiece for Donald Trump.”
  • [06:37] Oliver Darcy
• Fox’s pivotal call of Arizona for Biden in 2020 marked a rupture:
  • [07:29] Dave Folkenflick: “The Fox News decision desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden. That is a big get for the Biden campaign.”
  • [08:03] Oliver Darcy: “Donald Trump and his campaign are calling Fox News, calling the Murdochs, demanding that they retract the call. And Fox News stands firm.”
• Facing a conservative viewer exodus, Fox News doubled down with opinion hosts and softer Trump coverage.

3. Election Denial and Legal Fallout

• Fox aired election fraud conspiracy theories, leading to a historic defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
  • [10:37] Sydney: “Dominion Voting is now suing Fox for defamation… Court records unsealed Monday showed that Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged under oath that some Fox News hosts endorsed false claims…”
  • [11:14] Dave Folkenflick: “On the eve of trial, right before the trial starts, right before Rupert Murdoch has to testify in open court, they settle for $787.5 million.”
• After firing Tucker Carlson and facing a crisis of credibility, Fox’s strategy shifted as Trump reclaimed the presidency, now relying on the very media personalities they’d cultivated.

4. Murdoch Family Succession: Real-World Succession Drama

• Murdoch’s anxiety over liberal children controlling his conservative empire drives much of the recent family intrigue.
  • [16:44] Oliver Darcy: “It becomes clear to Rupert that if he should die, there is a very decent chance that the more liberal children might take control of his media empire.”
• The saga between sons James and Lachlan is “the most uneasy, publicly uneasy partnership you could imagine.”
  • [18:50] Dave Folkenflick: “Murdoch really pitted James and Lachlan against each other from the outset, and that’s kind of brutal. That was not necessary.”
• James Murdoch eventually resigned, explicitly denouncing Fox’s editorial direction.
  • [19:44] James Murdoch (via Dave Folkenflick): “My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.”
• Control over the family trust was hotly contested, with Rupert attempting—unsuccessfully—to change its structure to prevent non-conservative heirs from having influence.
  • [22:04] Oliver Darcy: “Murdoch tries to effectively oust his children from the trust… But he was effectively able to buy the children out in a $3.3 billion deal.”

5. Legacy and Tragedy: What Does Murdoch Leave Behind?

• Lachlan, now the “chosen son,” is expected to continue the ideological mission. Yet, the succession struggle left permanent family division.
  • [24:00] Dave Folkenflick: “Lachlan is not Rupert… he may not be quite as ruthless.”
• The episode closes on the theme that Murdoch’s greatest legacy may be the fracturing of consensus reality itself.
  • [25:12] Oliver Darcy: “Rupert Murdoch’s legacy will be leaving behind a world in which shared reality no longer exists and where a large portion… believes in debunked conspiracy theories, believes in lies, has been trained to hate the other side.”
  • [26:15] Sean Ramisviram: “It’s Rupert’s world and we just live in it.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:37] Dave Folkenflick: “The one thing Murdoch has always wanted and never gotten was a bat phone in the White House… And with Donald Trump, he got it.”
• [04:51] Dave Folkenflick: “Rupert just has kind of an amused contempt for [Trump]. He thinks this is not a serious person.”
• [06:37] Oliver Darcy: "Fox News in Donald Trump's first term unquestionably becomes a propaganda mouthpiece for Donald Trump."
• [11:14] Dave Folkenflick: “Right before Rupert Murdoch has to testify in open court, they settle for $787.5 million.”
• [19:44] James Murdoch (via Dave Folkenflick): “My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions. Sincerely, James R. Murdoch.”
• [22:48] Oliver Darcy: “…In exchange for rewriting the trust… Lachlan Murdoch on the throne.”
• [25:12] Oliver Darcy: “Rupert Murdoch's legacy will be leaving behind a world in which shared reality no longer exists... These are the narratives that Rupert Murdoch’s empire have helped promote…”
• [26:15] Sean Ramisviram: “It’s Rupert’s world and we just live in it.”

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:00 – 02:00: Introduction, Succession/HBO parallels, background on Murdoch
• 02:05 – 07:19: Trump’s relationship with Murdoch media, Fox News’ role in politics
• 07:29 – 11:14: Fox's call of Arizona in 2020, breakdown with Trump, ratings and credibility crisis
• 11:14 – 12:27: Dominion lawsuit, settlement, fallout, Trump and Fox News after 2020
• 16:40 – 19:44: Family succession drama, James vs. Lachlan, trust and control
• 22:04 – 22:48: The $3.3 billion trust buyout, Lachlan’s ascendancy
• 24:28 – 25:12: The tragedy of the Murdoch legacy, family division
• 25:12 – 26:15: The broader societal impact, legacy of division and disinformation

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Tone & Style

• The episode’s tone is incisive, sharp, at times sardonic, echoing both the high stakes and dark humor of Succession. Commentary is direct, critical, with a focus on cause-and-effect and the personal costs of Murdoch’s vast influence.

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For Listeners

This episode is indispensable for anyone wanting to understand not just the Murdoch family’s infighting, but also the way media power, politics, and personal legacy collide and shape our information landscape. Even those unfamiliar with Succession will find the real-world implications here resonate—this is modern history as viewed through the lives and rivalries of one powerful, polarizing family.

Transcript

[Sean Ramisviram]

Did you watch Succession on hbo? I loved that show. I would tell friends to watch it, but a lot of them would say, you know, I tried, but I hated all the characters. The funny thing about that, of course, is that Succession is loosely based on a real family. The kids fighting over who gets control of Daddy's empire. Those are the Murdoch children, the older Murdoch children, the unyielding, mercurial patriarch who built an empire that none of his children truly deserve. That's Rupert Murdoch. Of course, you'll remember Rupert from our show yesterday. We talked about his humble rise from Australian media Nepo baby to global media mogul on Today explained from Vox, the chickens come home to roost or the children come home to fight over Fox. Or Rupert realizes he can't quite control the monsters he's made. Let's go with D all of the above. Support for the show today comes from Anthropic, the team behind Claude. Today's news moves fast, but the most important stories deserve deeper thinking. Whether you're trying to understand the implications of a policy change or connecting dots across breaking stories, Claude, your new AI collaborator, can help you go beyond the headlines. Claude doesn't just summarize the news. It helps you explore the context, analyze the patterns, and think through what it all means together. Try Claude for free at Claude AI.

[Strawberry Me Career Coach]

Todayexplained support for this show comes from Strawberry Me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job, or are you stuck in one you've outgrown or never wanted in the first place? Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving? Let a career coach from Strawberry Me help you get unstuck. Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner. Get Go to Strawberry Me unstuck to claim a special offer.

[Henry Blodgett]

A media analyst quoted earlier this year in the New York Times quote, rupert.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Has his mojo back. Well, we have a lot of experience.

[Donald Trump]

In producing newspapers and a lot of.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Feeling about where they fit in the society. They do undoubtedly still carry a lot of influence. I think probably not as much influence as politicians.

[Donald Trump]

Rupert is in a class by himself. He's an amazing guy. He's in guys and guys and guys and guys and guys and guys and guys.

[Dave Folkenflick]

The one thing Murdoch has always wanted and never gotten was a bat phone in the White House, similar to what he has at 10 Downing street, similar to what he typically had in Canberra. In the Prime Minister's office in Australia, he wanted a bat phone. And with Donald Trump, he got it.

[Oliver Darcy]

His relationship with Murdoch media Starts certainly years and years before he ever runs for president. Donald Trump's obviously a creature of New York and has a long history planting stories with the New York Post, a.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Source for a lot of their gossip reporting, and often a source for their gossip about himself because he's a bit of a gossip magnet himself.

[Oliver Darcy]

Marla boasts to her pals about Donald, quote, best sex I've ever had.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Trump himself was the source for that.

[Oliver Darcy]

And he was a fixture on Fox and Friends.

[Donald Trump]

I'm Donald Trump, and you're watching Fox and Friends, and if you turn the channel, you're fired.

[Oliver Darcy]

He used to have that weekly segment where he would call in and opine on everything under the sun.

[Sydney]

Donald, are you gonna be doing that anytime soon?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I'm not so sure. It doesn't look too good to me.

[Sydney]

I was talking about going shirtless.

[Donald Trump]

Well, shirtless I love.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Right.

[Donald Trump]

Shirtless I love.

[Sydney]

All right, let's talk about.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Can we move on? Ben? Rupert just has kind of an amused contempt for it. He thinks this is not a serious person.

[Oliver Darcy]

My name is Oliver Darcy. I am the founder and lead author of Status, which is a nightly newsletter covering the media industry.

[Dave Folkenflick]

My name's Dave Folkenflick. I am the media correspondent for NPR News. I'm also relevant to this conversation. The author of Murdoch's the Last of the Old Media Empires is.

[Oliver Darcy]

Donald Trump became a more serious candidate in the 2016 election. You certainly saw Rupert Murdoch's media empire start to scrutinize him more seriously.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Fox, being Fox, gets the first Republican debate, August of 2015.

[Oliver Darcy]

Megyn Kelly, who is an anchor at Fox News at the time, she asks Donald Trump about some of his previous statements.

[Sydney]

You've called women. You don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.

[Oliver Darcy]

Donald Trump does.

[Donald Trump]

Honestly, Megan, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you. Although I could probably, maybe not be based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldn't do that.

[Dave Folkenflick]

He makes this debate about his debate with this woman person representing the news industry, even though it's Fox, a friendly outlet, and it changes the nature of the debate.

[Oliver Darcy]

Donald Trump retaliates against Fox News, and it leads to this conflict between Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump.

[Donald Trump]

You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.

[Oliver Darcy]

Rupert Murdoch likes being in Trump's good graces because it's good for ratings, it's good for business, it's good for his bottom line. And Donald Trump likes to be in the good graces of Fox because it's his most powerful megaphone and he knows that a lot of people watch that channel, a lot of his bass watches that channel. And it's much better for Fox News to be in his corner than to be scrutinizing his actions. Ultimately, they move past it. Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump. They both realize that a symbiotic relationship is best for both of them.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Basically, Trump lit their ratings on fire. Trump is amazing television. So they are running pretty much everything he says live because they're so desperate not to miss anything he has to say or that people will turn elsewhere to wait for him.

[Oliver Darcy]

But I'm sure Murdoch never thought Donald Trump would actually succeed in winning out in that GOP primary field and then becoming president.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Then he runs to the front of the line and pretends he was leading the parade all along. That's what Rupert Murdoch does. The President of the United States, my friend Donald J. Trump.

[Sydney]

Rupert Murdoch speaks with the President several times a week.

[Oliver Darcy]

Fox News in Donald Trump's first term unquestionably becomes a propaganda mouthpiece for Donald Trump.

[Sydney]

Trump's policies are working for African Americans and the results are now beginning to come in 20 year old NAFTA deal. It would not be renegotiated right now if not for Donald Trump.

[Sean Ramisviram]

And they also know that he's not.

[Henry Blodgett]

A fascist, he's not a racist, he's not a bigot.

[Oliver Darcy]

I think you almost see something that you have never seen in American politics, which is there is a channel on the air that is 100% committed to pumping propaganda on behalf of the president out to the masses in a way that's just unprecedented.

[Dave Folkenflick]

So Trump is delighted that Murdoch is sucking up to him.

[Oliver Darcy]

Largely speaking, these two are in tandem about messaging up until election night in 2020.

[Dave Folkenflick]

The Fox News decision desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden. That is a big get for the Biden campaign. Are you 100% sure of that call and when you made it and why did you make it?

[Donald Trump]

Absolutely, we made it.

[Dave Folkenflick]

After basically a half hour of debating.

[Donald Trump]

Is it time yet?

[Oliver Darcy]

And that sets Donald Trump totally off.

[Dave Folkenflick]

This was a blow because he's being repudiated and declared to having lost. Having lost not just by a television station publicly, but by the one he expects to be in his quarter in real time.

[Oliver Darcy]

Donald Trump and his campaign are calling Fox News, calling the Murdochs, demanding that they retract the call. And Fox News stands firm.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Trump starts attacking Fox and starts pointing people to watch Newsmax. And even farther right oan and he's saying, you know, Fox is betraying you and betraying me.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Fox is moving more and more to the losing wrong side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats, boring debates and they just want in. They forgot the people.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Millions of viewers bleed away. They just disappear.

[Oliver Darcy]

And panic just consumes the top executives, the top talent. They are watching their ratings collapse and they are wondering how they can turn this around. And what you see is Fox News immediately do its best to win back its audience by putting its opinion talking heads, the people like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham out front and center.

[Dave Folkenflick]

They don't really seem to care about the risks of fraud and those possibilities. Some completely deny that fraud even exists. And by the way, they are once again lying to the American people.

[Sydney]

I love these legal challenges because we have to get to the bottom of all this and expose fraud where it occurred.

[Oliver Darcy]

And simultaneously they soften their coverage immensely on Donald Trump.

[Donald Trump]

Well, they don't like the truth.

[Oliver Darcy]

Well, what can you do?

[Donald Trump]

I talked about a rigged election, which it was 100% rigged. I mean, look at what happened in Wisconsin.

[Dave Folkenflick]

As of tonight, tens of millions of Americans suspect this election was stolen from them. That means we now live in a country where a large percentage of our population no longer believes that our democracy is real. You know, Murdoch is clearly aware of what's going on, has no illusions about whether Biden won. You know, Fox's line that they settle on is, hey, the President United States is saying that there's fraud. It's newsworthy, it's inherently newsworthy. He's the most newsworthy person in the country and the planet and he's making claims about our constitutional system and the election or process. We have to air that and we have to acknowledge that in our reporting.

[Oliver Darcy]

And some of the personalities like Maria Bartiromo really embrace these conspiracy theories. And at the time, behind the scenes top executives allowed them to take hold on their airwaves.

[Sydney]

Sydney, we talked about the Dominion software. I know that there were voting irregularities. Tell me about that. Let's put it mildly. Dominion Voting is now suing Fox for defamation over the cable channels. What they describe as bogus allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Court records unsealed Monday showed that Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged under oath that some Fox News hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

[Dave Folkenflick]

On the eve of trial, right before the trial starts, right before Rupert Murdoch has to testify in open court, they settle for $787.5 million.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Okay, so Fox News went hard on election denialism. The big lie. They had to pay out a ton of money, almost $800 million for doing so. They fired Tucker Carlson. It feels like a turning point for the network. But now Trump's president again and he's littered his cabinet with Fox News talking heads.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Oh, he loves him. Something about people who appeared on TV and he loves them when they look the part.

[Donald Trump]

These are central casting. If I'm doing a movie, I pick you. General.

[Dave Folkenflick]

In terms of his relationship with Rupert Murdoch, it has been at once very strong and strained. You know, cutting the Murdoch's in seemingly to ownership of TikTok, giving them an entree into social and new media for this legacy media company of Fox Corp. You know, Trump is also suing Murdoch directly. You know, he sued the Wall Street Journal and rupert himself for 10 billion bucks for their reporting that he had sent a letter two decades ago to Jeffrey Epstein for his birthday. That was, you know, fairly sexually suggestive.

[Oliver Darcy]

Donald Trump in many ways is an outgrowth of the media environment that Rupert Murdoch shepherded into reality. Right. He is someone who just took it to the nth degree that no one else had been willing to go before. But Rupert Murdoch should know that he is the one that created the structure that allowed Donald Trump to become who he is in Rupert Murdoch. He does not like Donald Trump's antics. Rupert Murdoch is not someone who is going to be a maga Stan. But Rupert Murdoch is also a very conservative man. And so he wants to make sure that his media empire, his conservative right wing media empire that he has spent his entire lifetime building, does not slip away into his liberal son's or liberal children's hands. You know, at 94 years old, he's certainly thinking about his legacy and how to secure it.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Rupert Murdoch presents succession on Today Explained momentarily.

[Dave Folkenflick]

From Pushkin Industries, I'm Jonathan Goldstein and Heavyweight is back. The new season is bigger than ever. Bigger hopes.

[Sydney]

I keep waiting for the moment when he says, mom, I get it. I'm sorry.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Bigger dreams. Tom Hanks wants to meet with you. This is a real chance and bigger heartbreaks.

[Sydney]

I thought it would be my movie moment and maybe he would even whisper in my ear, I've always been in love with you.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Check out new episodes of Heavyweight on Apple podcasts.

[Henry Blodgett]

What makes for a happy life? In 1938, scientists at Harvard started tracking the well being of over 250 young people to figure that out. Now, almost 90 years later, the results are in.

[Dave Folkenflick]

There was learning people who learned and read and read and read and liked to learn. They were much happier as they got older.

[Henry Blodgett]

People who are really good at managing their feelings. But there was one thing that stood above all the rest. I'm Henry Blodgett and this week on Solutions, I talk to best selling author Arthur Brooks about the science of happiness. Follow Solutions with Henry Blodgett for more wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Hey, Alex Heath here, founder of Sources News and a contributor at the Verge.

[Henry Blodgett]

And I'm Ellis Hamburger, tech reporter turned industry insider. Working closely with today's hottest AI startups. We're excited to announce the launch of our new show Access with the Vox Media podcast network.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Access is the tech industry's inside conversation with Silicon Valley's most influential leaders. From the tech titans of today to tomorrow's most visionary builders.

[Henry Blodgett]

It's a show made by insiders for everyone who wants a glimpse into the future. In our first episode, Alex interviewed Mark Zuckerberg about Meta's latest smart glasses, the AI race, and what's next for the social media giant.

[Sean Ramisviram]

I mean, didn't you just tell Trump you were going to spend like 600 billion? I mean, that's.

[Oliver Darcy]

I did, yeah.

[Sean Ramisviram]

Through 2028, which is a lot of money.

[Oliver Darcy]

It is.

[Sean Ramisviram]

And if we end up misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars, I think.

[Oliver Darcy]

That that is going to be very unfortunate, obviously.

[Sean Ramisviram]

But what I'd say is I actually think the risk is higher on the other side. You can find the Access pod now on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Dave Folkenflick]

What does the fuck say?

[Sean Ramisviram]

Where does the drama between Rupert Murdoch's white children begin?

[Oliver Darcy]

I think the best way to say this is that it becomes clear to Rupert that if he should die, there is a very decent chance that the more liberal children might take control of his media empire. And if that were to happen, he fears that they would destroy it by moderating the news outlets, particularly Fox News. And he does not like this idea.

[Dave Folkenflick]

He said it's important that our properties remain conservative for the betterment of the of the country, but also for the financial fortunes of our holdings.

[Oliver Darcy]

So James Murdoch initially was seen as the successor to Rupert Murdoch second son.

[Dave Folkenflick]

James, who had been a very good broadcast executive and satellite TV executive. So he elevates James, and James, by and large, does really well. Until the tabloid hacking scandal. James Murdoch, who just a few years ago was very much at the center of the phone hacking scandal in Britain. In response, Rupert Murdoch shot his beloved News of the World newspaper. He even got a pie in the.

[Donald Trump]

Face by a protester when he and.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Son James were hauled before a parliamentary.

[Donald Trump]

Committee investigating phone hacking.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Rupert brings Lachlan back.

[Oliver Darcy]

The eldest boy.

[Dave Folkenflick]

I'm the eldest boy, and says, come on, I need you by my side. Lachlan had basically taken off for Australia in the early 2000s because he thought his dad wasn't sticking up enough for him, that he wasn't protecting him when Roger Ailes and other top executives were kind of sticking at him repeatedly behind his back. And Murdoch said, hey, if you can't swim in the deep end, then you don't deserve to run the company.

[Oliver Darcy]

Lachlan Murdoch does come back, and he.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Then basically puts Lachlan and James in power together, setting them against each other in the most uneasy, publicly uneasy partnership you could imagine. All right. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is preparing to step down as chief executive of 21st Century Fox, leaving his youngest son, James, to take over. Lachlan Murdoch, the other son of Rupert Murdoch, will move from Sydney to Los Angeles, where he'll become executive chairman.

[Oliver Darcy]

James and Lachlan Murdoch are expected to run the company as partners, even though James has the CEO title.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Murdoch really pitted James and Lachlan against each other from the outset, and that's kind of brutal. That was not necessary. They are first and foremost competitors. And this just over the next decade just sours the point where, you know, James speaks out against what the News Corp. Newspapers are doing on climate change, on immigration, on particularly January 6 and the 2020 elections, he walks away from the companies.

[Strawberry Me Career Coach]

James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has resigned from the board of News Corp.

[Sydney]

He cited disagreements over editorial content at.

[Strawberry Me Career Coach]

The company, which was founded by his conservative father.

[Oliver Darcy]

When he resigned from the News Corporation board, he blasted Fox.

[Dave Folkenflick]

My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions. Sincerely, James R. Murdoch.

[Oliver Darcy]

He's accused the media empire of misinformation and of poisoning the public discourse. And he has not been shy about it. As I've said in the past and on the record, there's plenty of stuff on Fox News that I disagree with.

[Sydney]

Do you think there's ever a future in which you would go back to Fox News?

[Dave Folkenflick]

I don't think so.

[Oliver Darcy]

I think they're off doing their own thing there. And so Lachlan Murdoch becomes chief executive officer of Fox Corporation, which is obviously the parent company to Fox News, and also News Corporation, which is the publishing arm that owns outlets like the Wall Street Journal and New York Post. And it becomes clear that he is going to be Rupert's preferred son, his.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Chosen son, in part because Lachlan is more cast in his image, in part because Lachlan shares his ideological outlook.

[Oliver Darcy]

But there is this family trust where each of the siblings has an equal vote.

[Sydney]

The trust designed 25 years ago, put the conglomerate, which owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and several international outlets, in the hands of all of Murdoch's news four oldest children. Murdoch explaining this decision in a 2006 interview.

[Oliver Darcy]

If I go under a bus tomorrow, yeah, it'll be.

[Dave Folkenflick]

The four of them will have to decide which of the ones should lead them.

[Donald Trump]

The Murdoch Family Trust is an asset.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Protection trust that holds the voting shares of Fox Corporation and News Corporation. The reason that there was this trust was that when he was with his second wife, Anna Torv Murdoch, and left her, she was seemingly entitled to half of what he owned. But she asked for a lot less than that. She said, but in exchange, I want you to ensure that their three children and one daughter from his first marriage be treated equally in the trust and have equal voting shares. And they will have to work out together how to lead and that way nobody's screwed over. And so Murdoch says, fine, I will do this. It'll be an irrevocable trust. And then he comes up through a couple years ago and says, I want to revoke it. Time and again he has done this where what he promises and what he writes down, he doesn't live up to.

[Oliver Darcy]

Murdoch tries to effectively oust his children from the trust and this court case plays out and ultimately Rupert Murdoch does not win and the children are going to stay as members of the trust. But he was effectively able to buy the children out in a $3.3 billion deal.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Rupert did not want James coming back with his sisters or even one of his two sisters in a four person boat and causing a stalemate as to what the direction of the company would be and causing a crackup of it. Rupert wanted his legacy cemented, and so the kids each got $1.1 billion in.

[Oliver Darcy]

Exchange for rewriting the trust. That will see them cede control and see Rupert Murdoch be able to get what he wants, which is Lachlan Murdoch on the throne. In his death.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Rupert Murdoch, he doesn't know how to show love very well. Aside from paying them off when they're upset, James doesn't speak to his father or his brother anymore.

[Oliver Darcy]

James Murdoch in particular has effectively been outcasts from the family.

[Dave Folkenflick]

There is a sort of winner take all mentality. There his two daughters, older daughters, decided to do this in part because they didn't want this clash and this resentment to define their last interactions with their father before his death.

[Oliver Darcy]

I think Lachlan certainly from an ideological perspective, will maintain his father's vision for Fox News and some of these other right wing outlets, which is to be a counter in their eyes to what they would call the liberal mainstream media. And he wants to take this company further to the right.

[Dave Folkenflick]

Lachlan is not Rupert Lachlan is not the political animal. He's not got the same sensibilities and inclinations. He, he may not be quite as ruthless.

[Oliver Darcy]

Regardless of what you think about Rupert Murdoch, he is a strong businessman. And the question is whether Lachlan Murdoch can continue to make the business moves that is going to see Fox News and some of these other outlets live long into the future.

[Dave Folkenflick]

To me, there's like a human tragedy to this. Like Rupert Murdoch never set his children up to sustain each other, to love each other, to support each other, to take pride in each other. He pitted them against each other. And I think that tells you in some ways something fundamental about who he is. And I think you can see that in some ways in his publications and in the kinds of ways in which they frame stories that the things are always sort of competition and confrontation and collision. And he took us back to an age where news organizations were more nakedly partisan and more interested in the exercise of the power of their, their owners than a news report that could be accepted by all sides.

[Oliver Darcy]

Rupert Murdoch's legacy will be leaving behind a world in which shared reality no longer exists and where a large portion of at least of the United States believes in debunked conspiracy theories, believes in lies, has been trained to hate the other side. These are the narratives that Rupert Murdoch's empire have helped promote for years and years to a very large audience. When you see Donald Trump up at the White House podium behaving frankly like a madman trying to control speech, acting like an autocrat wannabe, that is a direct result of the way Rupert Murdoch treated him, but also the media reality that Rupert Murdoch gave birth to.

[Sean Ramisviram]

It's Rupert's world and we just live in it. Thanks to David Folkenflick from NPR.org and Oliver Darcy from Status News. Thanks to Peter, Peter Balanon Rosen for making our show Today with Denise Guerra. Thanks to Jolie Myers for editing with help on FAQs from Laura Bullard. Thanks to Patrick Boyd and Adrian Lilly for mixing and thank you for listening. I'm Sean Ramisviram. This is today explained from Vox. You can become a vox [e-mail] members. Easy enough. To further entice you, there's a deal right now in our membership you can support shows like this one we brought you today for 30 30% less than what you would usually pay. Plus you won't have to listen to ads anymore. Easy enough Vox.com members to join.