A Nevada commissioner ruled resoundingly against #Rupert #Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s #trust
-- to consolidate his eldest son #Lachlan’s control of his media empire
-- and lock in Fox News’s right-wing editorial slant, according to a sealed court document obtained by The New York Times.

The commissioner, Edmund J. Gorman Jr., concluded in a decision filed on Saturday that the father and son, who is the head of Fox News and News Corp.,
had acted in “bad faith” in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust,
which divides control of the company equally among Mr. Murdoch’s four oldest children
— Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence
— after his death.

The ruling was at times scathing.

At one point in his 96-page opinion, Mr. Gorman characterizes the plan to change the trust as a
“carefully crafted charade”
to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire
“regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust.

The battle over the family trust is not about money
— Mr. Murdoch is not seeking to diminish any of his children’s financial stakes in the company
— but rather about future control of the world’s most powerful conservative media empire,
which includes Fox News,
The Wall Street Journal,
The New York Post and major newspapers and television outlets in Australia and Britain.

James and Elisabeth are both known to have less-conservative political views than their father or brother.

If Mr. Murdoch fails to lock in Lachlan’s leadership of the company,
he will be unable to ensure that Fox News will remain a right-wing news outlet after his death,
putting in jeopardy the legacy of the conservative empire he had spent his life building.

In seeking to consolidate Lachlan’s control over this empire,
Mr. Murdoch has argued that maintaining the political bent of his outlets
— and stripping the voting power of three of his children
— is in the financial interest of all his beneficiaries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/business/media/rupert-lachlan-murdoch-family-trust.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Two outlets controlled by right-wing media tycoons are working in tandem
to aggressively push specious claims about President Joe Biden's fitness for office. 

On June 4, the Wall Street Journal published a 3,000-word article questioning Biden's mental acuity.

The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp, the media conglomerate founded by right-wing billionaire #Rupert #Murdoch.
. (News Corp is now chaired by Rupert Murdoch's son, #Lachlan.)

The Wall Street Journal article,
headlined “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Sipping,” boasts that it is based on "interviews with more than 45 people over several months."

But only one person is quoted on the record supporting the thesis of the piece: Former House Speaker #Kevin #McCarthy (R-CA).
“I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,” McCarthy told the Wall Street Journal. “He’s not the same person.” 

Relying on McCarthy as the lynchpin of the article is problematic. First, McCarthy is not a neutral observer. He is a partisan Republican interested in inflicting political damage on Biden.

Further, what McCarthy told the Wall Street Journal about Biden is directly contradicted by comments that McCarthy said previously
— both publicly and privately.

In the article, McCarthy criticizes Biden's performance in debt ceiling negotiations in 2023. But in March 2023, while these negotiations were underway, the New York Times reported that
"McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings."

McCarthy made similar comments about Biden in public, praising Biden as "[v]ery professional, very smart" and "[v]ery tough at the same time."

In October, when McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker, Politico reported that McCarthy "mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations."

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/sinclair-biden-slipping-wall-street-journal-hit

Rupert Murdoch, the Australian press baron who reshaped conservative media in his image, plans to step down as chairman of #FoxCorp. and #NewsCorp.
He will become chairman emeritus of the two corporations, Fox Corp. announced in a news release. His older son, #Lachlan #Murdoch, will become the sole chairman of both the firms.

https://www.nbcnews.com/media/rupert-murdoch-steps-chairman-fox-news-corp-rcna111323

#Succession anxiety: bombshell claims about #Rupert #Murdoch and family

Two people close to #James Murdoch say he is biding his time until he and his sisters can wrest control from #Lachlan. Some think James would purge Fox News and transform it into a centre-right alternative to CNN; others think he would sell up to private equity, prompting a “visceral fear” inside the network about its future.

Whether Lachlan, a reputed fan of “the good life”, even wants the top job is another question – though several sources confirmed he did.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/13/succession-anxiety-bombshell-claims-rupert-murdoch-family