As the final series of HBO's hit drama Succession goes to air, the Murdoch media empire that inspired the show is dealing with its own dramas.
NBC reported this week that Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and Lachlan Murdoch (son of media mogul Rupert) made the decision to fire controversial host Tucker Carlson from the network.
It came just a week after Fox News agreed to pay a massive $787.5 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges related to Carlson and other high-profile Fox hosts' support of Donald Trump's stolen election claims.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. Photo: DREW ANGERER
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Australian freelance journalist and writer Paddy Manning, author of The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch, has been keeping a close eye on the latest developments.
Tucker Carlson was ratings dynamite for Fox, but he got too big for his boots, Manning tells Kim Hill.
“He is their biggest star and yet, in some ways, I think this has been coming for a while. He's been touted as a presidential candidate, he's almost grown more powerful than the network. He's a kingmaker inside the Republican Party in America. And I think in some ways, he's been thumbing his nose at the Murdochs.”
Manning says that while Carlson’s support for conspiracies such as the great replacement theory has driven advertisers away, the business remains robust.
But the evidence that came out in the Dominion Voting Systems case was a bridge too far for Lachlan, he says.
“Some of that went to Tucker Carlson's view of management at Fox News, and there's speculation about the CEO Suzanne Scott, who was personally appointed by Lachlan when he ousted Roger Ailes from the network over sexual harassment claims.”
A lawsuit has been filed against Carlson by a former producer for a “vile and toxic and discriminatory work environment at his show,” Manning says. Allegations that Carlson himself was chauvinist, sexist and discriminatory as an employee, “proved too much for too much for Lachlan”.
The evidence that emerged in the Dominion Voting Systems case revealed a deep cynicism among senior executives at Fox, he says. None of them believed the 2020 election had been stolen from Donald Trump and yet that was what their audience, the foundation of their cash cow, wanted to hear.
“The mantra that they came up with was that they needed to respect the audience. And the way they decided to do that was to lie to the audience.
“And I don't know how you can square that circle. You can't do both, ultimately, Fox is a news network. And it's got to be premised on the truth. It is cynical, but it's a business decision for them.”
When the time comes and Rupert dies, the trust which controls the Murdoch empire means Lachlan’s influence is likely to wane, he says.
The Murdoch siblings, who had been reported by the New York Times keen to sell out to Rupert and Lachlan, no longer wish to, he says.
Photo: supplied
The Murdoch family trust is structured with eight votes; Rupert has four, and each of the four elder children (Prue, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James) have one each.
"When Rupert dies, his four votes expire. And so, the four kids have to decide who will lead them. And that structure has been in place for more than a decade and it can't be changed.”
Lachlan’s siblings intend to steer Fox to the centre, he says.
“In a way which protects and enhances democracies around the world, rather than undermines them.
"One financial analyst told me, and this was picked up by the US media, this dynamic is that the day Rupert dies is the day Lachlan gets fired, effectively, by his siblings.”
Although there is talk that Carlson’s sacking was to placate the three more liberal-leaning Murdoch siblings, he says, more likely it’s the family following, “an iron law”.
“And I wrote this in the book of the Murdoch empire that no talent is irreplaceable.
“Tucker had simply got too big for his boots to use the old saying, and I think they've taken the opportunity with the revelations out of Dominion and the revelations in this new suit by his former producer, they've taken the opportunity to get rid of him.”
Succession may dramatise the lives of the miserable rich, but he doesn’t believe that’s the case with Lachlan (the Murdoch who most resembles character Roman Roy).
Manning says Lachlan enjoys his money. He has lavish homes in the US and Australia, buys a new super yacht every 10 years and chooses to base his family in Sydney.
“I think that speaks volumes about their real view of the direction of America, politically, culturally, and I think that suggests that he's not necessarily all on board with everything that goes to air on Fox News, but he's happy to continue to reap the dividends.”