Breaking news erupts in the media today as Robert Murdoch will be stepping down as the chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp. The 92-year-old media mogul responsible for turning a small Australian newspaper business into a mass media conglomerate suggested he’s in good health, but now’s the time for him to take on different roles within the companies. His replacement has also been announced.
Taking over for Rupert Murdoch will be his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, who will become the sole chairman on each company. Rupert Murdoch will take on a new role as chairman emeritus and plans to be more involved in the ‘contest of ideas’ according to a report on NBC News.
Rupert wills step down officially in November at a shareholder meeting. This is likely to become breaking news, again, next month. Of course, anything can change between now and November, but once these corporate step-downs are formally announced to the public, then they usually go as planned.
NBC News was able to provide quotes from the Murdoch family as Lachlan congratulated his father and they offered some other words amid the announcement of Rupert Murdoch stepping down. Some of the quotes shared by NBC News in the breaking news story about the corporate decision and announcement said the following:
“I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career,” Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.
“We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted,” he added.
Although Rupert Murdoch suggested he’s in fair health, it’s truly unknown what sparked his decision into stepping down and allowing his son to take over. Some speculate the situation and shakeups with Fox News may have contributed to the decision making.
Despite being at the top for so many years, Fox News itself has suffered a ratings decline when they parted ways with Tucker Carlson. When Tucker Carlson left Fox News, he began posting his own content on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Tucker Carlson’s new videos on X have received millions of plays, likely more views than he received on Fox News episodes.
Things got so bad at Fox News for a moment that MSNBC was beating Fox News in ratings, something that Fox News was not used to. In fact, Fox News ratings fell behind MSNBC for the first time in FIVE YEARS. That’s not a good sign for Fox News and they’ll need to figure out how to replace people like Tucker Carlson. But wait, there’s more. The pain doesn’t stop at the Tucker Carlson loss.
Fox News also failed to bring back popular political commentator Dan Bongino, a former secret service agent who once protected presidents and now runs his own podcast/video show. Having Tucker Carlson and Dan Bongino out at Fox News meant they lost another personality that conservative news fans really enjoyed watching for the most part. Losing two big personalities was likely a huge reason for ratings declines at Fox News.
And no one was safe. The Laura Ingraham schedule at Fox News was shifted during one of the several shakeups. Fox News has a lot of work to do if they wish to win back viewers and regain the dominance they once had, but how do they replace someone like Tucker Carlson?
Photo: Hudson Institute, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
"*" indicates required fields