Generations of politicians have been willing to fly thousands of kilometres for an audience with Rupert Murdoch. But last week it was Murdoch (93), who travelled to Milwaukee to witness Donald Trump accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president, watching from a box in the arena.
Murdoch watchers say the media baron had not been to a US political convention in decades, if ever. Some saw it as a conciliatory gesture towards Trump – a man Murdoch has known for decades but never viewed as the best presidential material.
Others, including former executives, saw the trip as highlighting a more fundamental shift: Murdoch’s diminished influence, not just over a Republican Party that has been wholly remade in Trump’s image, but across the other strongholds in his conservative media empire.
David Folkenflik, author of Murdoch’s World, said the mogul’s appearance in Milwaukee was an act of “obeisance” to a politician who remains a huge draw to Murdoch’s Fox News network. “What we’re really talking about here is Murdoch making peace with Trump as still the defining figure of the Republican Party – and therefore his audience.”
Murdoch may control the most profitable, powerful media voice on the American right. But nothing seemed to go his way in Milwaukee. Trump selected JD Vance as his running mate on the first day of the convention – a pro-regulation, anti-Wall Street senator opposed by Murdoch, who preferred North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.
[ The uneasy truce between Donald Trump and Fox NewsOpens in new window ]
The Trump family then appeared to revel in ignoring his advice. “There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to him or to others,” Donald Trump Jr told a side event at the convention. “I don’t think that’s the case any more.” Fox declined to comment.
Murdoch watched the main speakers seated in the convention hall among the Maga faithful while a man he fired last year – the firebrand former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who now has his own YouTube channel – took a seat alongside the former president.
Murdoch, who has met US presidents going back to John F Kennedy, is not typically a man for the fringes. Over the past 40 years, the Australian press baron has acted as a power broker in the White House, Downing Street and Canberra, offering support and access to his Fox News outlets in the US, and an influential stable of print publications in Britain and Australia.
Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of the Independent and who has worked for Murdoch, said his “influence and reach” as a media mogul “has been unsurpassed in the last 100 years”.
Murdoch’s titles have taken pride in backing winners, from Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, to John Major in 1992 and most notably Labour’s Tony Blair in 1997, an unexpected bedfellow for the conservative Murdochs.
But in the most recent UK election, Labour swept to power with only lukewarm support from his Sun tabloid newspaper, while the Times did not endorse the winner, Keir Starmer.
Murdoch, who got married to his fifth wife Elena Zhukova last month, is said by company insiders to have loosened his grip on the day-to-day operations of his news empire as it goes through a generational transition. In September last year, Murdoch said he would stand down as chair of both Fox and News Corp, leaving his eldest son, Lachlan, in charge.
Lachlan is now taking on a much more hands-on role in the sorts of decisions that his father once controlled. “Rupert is definitely involved and interested in politics,” said one company executive. “But he has handed over to Lachlan.”
News UK insiders say the younger Murdoch was in the Sun newsroom and was instrumental in its decision to back Labour. They also say Lachlan held meetings with Starmer in the run-up to the election, the sort of political engagements that were once the hallmark of his father.
Even so, the low-key support for Labour is in stark contrast to the last time the Sun switched sides. Blair flew across the world to meet the magnate; Starmer was mostly interested that Murdoch’s titles did not cause him trouble, those close to him said, rather than actively seeking endorsement.
Even in the cradle of the Murdoch empire, his sway has begun to wane. Media analysts said it was notable that Australia’s Labor Party won power two years ago – without the backing of Murdoch’s outlets.
[ Fox News accused of imposing ‘soft ban’ on Donald TrumpOpens in new window ]
Trump has arguably posed much bigger challenges – and opportunities – for Murdoch than any other politician in his career.
Starting in the 1970s, Trump was a tabloid gold mine for Murdoch’s New York Post. Murdoch was said to be reluctant to get behind his bid for the presidency in 2016; those qualms were eased as Trump provided stellar ratings for Fox.
But the network’s support of Trump also cost it dearly: last year it agreed to pay nearly $800 million to settle a lawsuit brought by voting technology group Dominion, which accused Fox News of defamation after it aired false claims of election fraud in 2020.
The trial revealed caustic private messages about Trump between Fox executives, including an email from Murdoch urging them to “make Trump a non person” after the January 6th, 2021 riot in Washington.
The Post had a dismissive mention on its front page of Trump’s 2022 decision to run again for the presidency – “Florida man makes announcement” – while headlining the full news story: “Been There, Don That”.
Trump meanwhile used his Truth Social platform to take shots at Murdoch and its outlets. The former president said if Murdoch and “his group of MAGA Hating Globalist RINOS [Republicans in Name Only] honestly believes that the Presidential Election of 2020, despite MASSIVE amounts of proof to the contrary, was not Rigged & Stolen” then he “should get out of the News Business as soon as possible”.
Even if Trump is not the Murdoch’s first choice, media analysts say Fox needs the Republican nominee, who carries overwhelming support among much of its audience. Fox News now faces challengers such as Newsmax as well as X, whose owner Elon Musk is a Trump supporter.
“Trump is no longer beholden to Murdoch’s empire as he once was,” said one former Murdoch staffer. “There are viable [media] alternatives with younger demographics that mean more.”
For decades, Fox had an iron grip on conservative viewers through cable TV. But Emily Bell of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism said the “Maga right” now had alternative ways to celebrate all things Trump.
“It no longer sees Fox News as essential,” she said. “The buildout of an entirely different media ecosystem that addresses the far right – aided by Musk’s control of X – not only loosens Murdoch’s grip but loosens Fox’s grip too.”
For now, though, Fox News remains by far the dominant news source in the US. It scored its highest weekend ratings ever following the July 13th assassination attempt on Trump, attracting 6.9 million viewers – the most of any TV network. Its convention coverage drove the best ratings since the 2020 election.
Murdoch’s appearance at the Republican National Convention is also the latest sign that relations may be thawing as the election nears. Trump featured at a Fox town hall in January, and has appeared on or called into the channel since. His family and others in the Trump camp also regularly appear.
Any strains between Trump and Murdoch have also been exaggerated, others say, pointing to a podcast released this month in which the former president said: “I speak with Rupert Murdoch a lot. He’s as sharp as a tack.”
Even since the convention, Trump returned to his Fox-friendly posture by giving the network an endorsement in one of his first social media posts after President Joe Biden said he was dropping out of the race.
“Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on Fox News, rather than very biased [Disney-owned] ABC.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024
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