media
Rupert Murdoch steps down as head of Fox and News Corp. back
Media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch (l) and his son Lachlan, photographed before a conference in the US state of Idaho. photo
© Andrew Gombert/EPA/dpa
He is considered one of the most powerful media moguls on the planet. Now Rupert Murdoch is handing over the Fox group and the publisher News Corp. to his son.
The powerful media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch steps down as head of the US Fox group and the publisher News Corp. back. The 92-year-old wanted to hand over the management to his son Lachlan, he announced on Thursday, according to the TV channel Fox News.
“I am writing to inform you all that I have decided to move to the role of chairman emeritus at Fox and News,” Murdoch wrote to employees, according to his own broadcaster. There had been speculation for years about his departure, which would involve possible changes in company management.
“Throughout my professional life I have been exposed to news and ideas on a daily basis and that will not change. But now is the right time for me to take on other roles,” Murdoch continued. His son will continue to run both companies.
Influential media empire
Born in 1931, Murdoch began building his global media empire at the age of 22, with a newspaper in his native Australia. With tabloids like “The Sun” he uncompromisingly relied on sensational journalism, and with channels like Fox News he later focused on political opinion-making, which is also seen as a pioneer for Donald Trump.
Murdoch had already expanded his media empire to the USA in the 1970s. In addition to the Fox channel group, the portfolio now also includes the newspapers “New York Post”, “The Sun” in Great Britain and the US financial newspaper “Wall Street Journal”.
Murdoch’s close ties to power and his ability to harness the political elite to his interests are legendary. “Republicans originally thought that Fox was working for us. Now we realize that we are working for Fox,” former US President George W. Bush’s speechwriter David Frum once said in a TV interview.