Rupert Murdoch's exit may reset Fox's relationship with Donald Trump
New York: Rupert Murdoch’s decision to stand aside from the media empire he spent decades building sent shockwaves through the US political landscape and received praise and condemnation from across the globe.
But there was one person who was conspicuously silent in the immediate aftermath: Donald Trump.
One of Lachlan Murdoch’s biggest challenges will be how to handle Donald Trump in an election year.Credit: The Age
The lack of acknowledgment underpins the on-again, off-again relationship between Trump and Murdoch.
Yet arguably no two figures in the right-wing world have gained as much from each other as the unlikely duo.
Fox powered Trump’s base during the last two presidential elections. Trump provided undeniable star power and entertainment for Fox’s viewers.
For that reason, Murdoch’s outlets have spent years propping up the former US president for the sake of ratings, even to the point of fuelling Trump’s baseless lies regarding the 2020 presidential election.
On the same page? Lachlan Murdoch, left, and Rupert Murdoch attend a gala in New York.Credit: AP
So as the race for the next election heats up, it begs the question: could Murdoch’s decision to hand the reins of Fox and News Corp to his eldest son Lachlan reset the fractured relationship with America’s 45th president?
A.J. Bauer, a professor at the University of Alabama who researches and analyses trends in conservative media, says it’s unlikely Murdoch’s retirement changes anything at Fox in the near term. He notes that Rupert has reportedly been less involved with day-to-day operations and Lachlan is more ideological than his father, so “I don’t see any reason to expect a moderated tone”.
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“I imagine that Fox’s approach to Trump will remain as it has been – preferring a less contentious and more pliable candidate that they can influence, like DeSantis, but willing to provide cover and support to whomever is the Republican Party presidential nominee,” Bauer says.
A possible sign of Fox’s continued ideological commitment: former prime minister Tony Abbott has been nominated to the board of directors.
Lachlan nonetheless takes the reins after a tumultuous period at Fox. In April, the company agreed to pay $US787.5 million ($1.17 billion) to settle a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems after the cable TV network accused Dominion of rigging its voting machines against former president Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
One week later, Fox announced that it was parting ways with right-wing identity Tucker Carlson, its highest-rating prime-time presenter, in a move that shocked the media world.
Now, the newly appointed sole chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp has the task of determining how the network should handle the continuing popularity of Trump – a man he reportedly doesn’t like, but who is currently the frontrunner to win the Republican nomination to run for the White House next year, despite his numerous legal woes.
Managing such an incendiary figure ahead of the next election could prove challenging given that the bromance between Trump and Rupert Murdoch has long been complicated.
Even before Trump was elected, Murdoch could barely contain his disdain for the reality TV star turned presidential hopeful.
“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” he tweeted in 2015 after Trump mocked the late Republican John McCain for having been captured as a pilot during the Vietnam War.
One year later, after Trump secured the nomination, Murdoch had changed his tune, in a sign of the marriage of convenience that has played out for years.
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On Trump’s part, tensions boiled over on election night in 2020 when Fox News’ decision desk projected Joe Biden as the winner of Arizona, ahead of many other networks.
It worsened in the aftermath of last year’s midterm election, when Murdoch publications like the New York Post backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as “DeFuture” – until his campaign failed to take off.
And then came the damaging lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News and its parent company, in which Murdoch revealed that network presenters had “endorsed” Trump’s lies of a stolen election knowing they weren’t true.
Not surprisingly, Trump was furious, suggesting that “if Rupert Murdoch honestly believes that the Presidential Election of 2020, despite MASSIVE amounts of proof to the contrary, was not Rigged & Stollen [sic], then he & his group of MAGA Hating Globalist RINOS should get out of the News Business.”
Murdoch has now stepped down from the news business, but it’s highly likely he’ll still be calling the shots.
Former president Donald Trump in South Dakota this month. Credit: AP
And regardless of who is at the helm, the Murdochs built a media empire by giving their audience what they want – and with 14 months until the presidential election, many of them still want Donald J Trump.
As Murdoch acknowledged during the Dominion hearings: “Nobody wants Trump as an enemy”.
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