At age 92, media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced his retirement as chairman of Fox News and News Corporation. A long media career weighs on his figure; he achieved great influence in American society, in addition to adding several scandals, after accusing him of spreading conspiracy theories. Now his eldest son will replace him, with the expectation whether he will maintain his conservative political positions, facing the 2024 presidential elections.
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Rupert Murdcoh announced that, after a long career in the media, he will step down from his position as of November and “make way for new talent.”
The Australian tycoon, residing in the United States, managed to build one of the most influential news empires in the world, which includes the newspapers ‘The Wall Street Journal’ and ‘New York Post’.
“Throughout my entire professional life I have been involved daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. (…) It is the right time to assume different roles,” said the businessman.
Although Murdoch’s name has been visible for decades, he has become more popular since Donald Trump rose to power in the Republican Party in 2015.
Since then, he has been accused of turning his conglomerate into a platform for American far-right propaganda.
In addition, detractors of Fox News claim that the network spread unfounded conspiracy theories about the origin of Covid-19 and the controversial 2020 presidential elections in the United States.
Questions about Fox’s veracity
Precisely the position regarding these elections cost Fox 787.5 million dollars. In April of this year, the television network had to compensate the company Dominion Voting Systems to avoid a defamation trial.
The company in charge of voting machines in the US elections accused Fox, led by Murdoch, of spreading falsehoods about alleged fraud in the elections that gave Joe Biden the winner.
In March 2021, Dominion sued Fox after accusing it of making false complaints, which supported the speech of former President Donald Trump, who claimed that the company had manipulated the results to prevent his return to the White House.
After learning about the compensation, the same conservative network acknowledged that some of its reports were “incorrect,” while Dominion’s lawyer reacted by saying that “the truth matters” and “lies have consequences.”
Murdoch ventured into the film business
With a small chain of Australian newspapers, the now media mogul began his career in the 1950s, later becoming a major Hollywood executive in 1985, championing his “pioneer vision and spirit.”
His attention focused on the Twentieth Century Fox film studio, later acquiring it for $600 million from oilman Marvin Davis.
A year later, in 1986, Murdoch became interested in the television business and bought several networks in the United States, founding Fox Broadcasting.
But its positioning in the media began to consolidate in 1996, when it launched Fox News as a startup conservative and competitor of the CNN network, to become the main cable news channel in the United States, until today.
Uncertainty increases about the future of the emporium
Lachlan, Murdoch’s eldest son, is the current executive president of Fox Corporation and with the retirement of his father, he will become the sole president of both companies, without being clear if there will be important changes with the new management.
Although Rupert assured that his son will maintain the editorial line for which media companies are known.
“My father believed strongly in freedom and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause,” Murdoch told employees in a memo.
The same Fox News network was in charge of communicating the new announcements.
“His life’s work has left an indelible mark on the global media landscape,” said host Bill Hemmer. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here,” added host Dana Perino.
With local media
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