Rupert Murdoch Buys Off Moderate Heirs, Ensuring Reign of Right-Wing Lunatic Son

You could argue there’s been no more destructive force to democracy than the Fox News empire. And now, that empire lost its last hope of moderation as 94-year-old gargoyle Rupert Murdoch paid off his moderate heirs, leaving control of the company to his 54-year-old fascist cheerleader son, Lachlan.

Three of Rupert’s children (Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch) were a threat to the hyper-partisan Fox News ecosystem. In an interview with The Atlantic, James suggested he may want to reform Fox to be more adherent to facts and less of a platform for consipracy theory kooks. That could only happen if they gained control of the company – something that was outlined in a trust Rupert set up for his children.

Rupert wanted to amend that trust to allow Lachlan alone to remain in control of Fox, but not all the siblings were on board. A judge ruled Rupert couldn’t alter the trust, so Rupert took the next logical step and bought them off.

The New York Times estimates each of the departing children will get about $1.1 billion each. And Lachlan gets to unleash his army of orcs on what’s left of our country’s functioning brain stem.

How Did We Get Here?

Fox News Channel is the 5th most-watched TV channel in 2024. It was only surpassed by the big 4 networks: CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX proper.

Rupert Murdoch launched Fox News Channel in 1996. His first hire was former Richard Nixon media advisor Roger Ailes. Ailes had a vision that largely continues today: flashy graphics, sensational headlines, and blonde female anchors in short skirts.

The blob-shaped Ailes had a penchant for sexual harrassment, and anchor Gretchen Carlson sued the company. They settled for a reported $20 million and Ailes was forced to resign. Anchor Bill O’Reilly and Fox settled several sexual harrassment lawsuits for $32 million.

When Fox News host Tucker Carlson waded too far into conspiracy by suggesting Dominion voting machines were rigged, Lachlan Murdoch made the call to cut Carlson loose in 2023. Fox ended up settling a lawsuit with Dominion for $787.5 million. That came three years after Fox lawyers successfully argued in court that no “reasonable viewer” takes Tucker Carlson seriously.

Fox News is an unreliable source for information. It is designed to divide the nation to prevent the majority from enacting laws that would curtail the power of the handful of billionaires that are eroding the benefits we should all enjoy. But hey, it’s nice to feel angry, huh?

The Fallout

The impact of Fox News is impossible to quantify, but most people would agree, America is in a far worse place than when Fox News went on the air in ’96.

Today, farmers are begging the Trump administration they elected for financial bailouts. Apparently, other countries would rather not pay insane tariffs doled out by a raving lunatic. And “bad weather” is impacting those farms as well. This bad weather is due in part to the climate change that Fox News denies. Undocumented farm workers are being scooped up in ICE raids, leaving produce to rot in the fields. As a result of all of this, farmers in the United States are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.

And it’s entirely likely that when those farmers head back home after a long day of backbreaking work, they flip on Fox News to hear about how tax cuts for the wealthy will somehow prevent brown people from moving to their neighborhoods.

Maybe one day, enough Americans will discover Fox News has been lying to them. But they’ve been getting away with it for nearly 30 years, and we probably haven’t seen the last of the damage to come.