Retirement at 92 for one of the media giants. Australian-born American tycoon Rupert Murdoch leaves office to leave management of his empire to his son. And in the United States, it is an empire that counts in American society.
1 min
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
Weighing and counting has always been Rupert Murdoch’s goal. In the mid-1980s it was already essential in Australia and Great Britain. But he also wants America. To be able to establish himself in the local media market, he took American nationality.
His newspapers, the tabloid New York Post and daily business Wall Street Journal are quickly becoming, each in their own right, truly conservative and willingly anti-elite institutions. An idea that Rupert Murdoch takes to the extreme with the creation of the Fox News news channel.
During the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, the channel took up the cause of Donald Trump. This strong support will weigh heavily on the popularity of the former president. This will end up being expensive. Rupert Murdoch himself admitted that the channel had broadcast false information and he had to pay nearly $800 million to voting machine manufacturer Dominion to avoid a defamation lawsuit.
Star host Tucker Carlson was fired and the network moved away from Donald Trump. But the fundamentals will not change. In his message to his employees, Rupert Murdoch explains that his son Lachlan, who succeeds him, is also absolutely committed to the cause.
I don’t think there’s going to be a drastic change in leadership, because his son was already in the Fox News organization. Even though Rupert Murdoch is 92, he said he will continue to watch TV and advise his son. So I have the impression that there is a changing of the guard but that it won’t be very very far away…
Valérie Baudoin, associate researcher at the RaoulDandurand chair at the University of Quebec in Montreal